This is so unbearably sad

↑ sequoia ↓

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 7:34 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

BDE

I'd rather live near the Gaza strip, than in Chicago. It's the only place in the US that is worse than Detroit.

My mom’s neighborhood near Albany Park is very quiet and safe. Very diverse — Poles, Germans, Mexicans, Central Asians, Iraqi Christians. I never felt uncomfortable there.

↑ FranticFrummie ↓

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 7:36 am

Quoted from the article:

More than 1,600 people have been shot in Chicago so far this year. Over the July 4 holiday weekend, 100 people were hit by gunfire, 18 of them fatally, according to the Chicago Police Department.

This makes Sderot look like Disneyland.

avrahamama ↓

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 7:47 am

sequoia wrote:

I just don’t understand how doctors and parents are sure they understood him correctly.

Maybe he wanted to live 😢

This. It was the most heartbreaking part of the whole article.

ddmom

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 7:47 am

"Saturday night, doctors asked Lewis to make a choice: remain on a ventilator for the rest of his life or remove life support. He blinked his choice to his parents and doctors: remove the ventilator."
I hope they understood the blinking the right way!!! It drives me nuts when drs predict the future.
Yes I do believe in miracles.
Very sad story. I hope the entire family a nechama. Crying

SixOfWands

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 3:55 pm

sequoia wrote:

Why couldn’t they wait?

“Medical ethics” seems to be code for “killing disabled people.”

It was his choice to disconnect the ventilator.

While he was cognitively aware, he never would have left his bed. Never used the bathroom on his own. Never turned the page of a book. Never eaten. Probably never spoken. Never able to kiss or hug or marry or have children.

He had the right to choose not to exist that way. Exist, not live.

Medical ethics doesn't mean prolonging death, forcing people to linger on a ventilator just because we can. It demands mercy.

Let's hope none of us ever have to make that decision.

↑ sequoia

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 3:59 pm

SixOfWands wrote:

But they could have waited. He might have gotten used to it enough to want to live.

Many quadriplegics lead fulfilling lives, even if they need help in the bathroom.

To force this decision on a young man, only 20 years old — to force him to make an *immediate* choice right after regaining consciousness — is wrong. Period.

↑ avrahamama ↓

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 4:06 pm

SixOfWands wrote:

He was shot Thursday night and elected to be taken off life support Saturday night. I don't see how it's ethical to even force or ask for someone to make such a decision so hastily.

I don't think it's very compassionate to even broach the subject without extensive conversations. Yes conversations. If he could communicate his wishes to be take off life support he could at least work on understanding what kind of life he could have lived. And there are stories of those who live with debilitating illnesses who do manage to live.

We should never know more sorrow. Hashem should watch over us all. Please bring us mashiach and being us closer to Hashem in peaceful and loving ways.

icedcoffee

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 4:27 pm

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago.....ital/

Fwiw, that article says he was able to spell out with blinks "If I have to live like this, pull the plug please. Seriously" instead of them asking him to blink once for yes / twice for no type of situation.

Still, I'm surprised it all happened so quickly. He was still in a huge shock. I have a family friend who tragically was in an accident a few months ago and became paralyzed from the neck down. Since then, the adjustment to the new normal has grown leaps and bounds. She's also made so much physical progress bh. But I don't know what this man's prognosis or situation was. If the rest of his life was truly going to be just blinking out of a hospital bed, it's hard for me to judge. I guess it's not my place to judge either way. Horrible terrible situation all around.

JoyInTheMorning

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 4:51 pm

This is a heartbreaking story. I can't stop thinking about it. But regarding quadriplegia: Even as dire a situation as being paralyzed from the neck down is not uniform. C1-C3 cervical injuries are far more severe than C4-C7 cervical injuries. Not being able to breathe on one's own, not being able to eat, probably not being able to talk -- that goes far beyond standard quadriplegia. It is not just a question of needing to have someone else's help in going to the bathroom or having to use a wheelchair or having a full-time aide. I don't think we can judge a person's decision.

It is of course true that one never knows how people recover. But I think he had a right to make his own decision. But I can't stop mourning.

imorethanamother

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 4:55 pm

sequoia wrote:

I hear this.

I think from a Torah perspective, this isn't an easy choice. It doesn't seem like they consulted with a Rav, they just gave the choice in the hands of a 20 year old and then boom.

It's a tragedy, either way.

Crookshanks

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 5:08 pm

imorethanamother wrote:

This.