At what point is the line drawn?
This is not for the faint of heart! This is a real life horror story from first hand experience and still quite depressing. I no longer work in the medical field because of religion.
With these several threads on abortion, capital punishment etc., where some responses were "it is always wrong to kill", I thought I would go all the way.
Again! This is not for the faint of heart. This is a true story. I was there.
In the mid seventies, I worked at a children's hospital in the emergency room as an EMT. If things were slow in the ER and there was a shortage on one of the floors, they would send some of us up to help out. I was assigned to the 'premie' unit one night where the premature infants were kept on life support because 'pulling the plug' was not acceptable.
Now, this is not an isolated case nor the worst case I have ever had to deal with. This baby was 2-3 months premature and had a breathing tube and an IV for food. The child was never conscious and for all intents and purposes, dead. The problem was that the heart did not know this and kept on beating, so exhaustive efforts (labor, resources, finances, etc) were made to keep this child alive.
One of the maintenance procedures each shift was to remove the breathing tube, clean and re-insert it. One shift that I was on, as the nurse removed the breathing tube, the tongue came out with the tube. After cleaning, the nurse attempted to re-insert the tube and now pieces of the mouth were coming apart, This child's whole body was completely necrotic. It was like old angel food cake and yet the heart kept going and so the resources.
It was "against god's law" to pull the plug and end this poor child's life.
This is not for the faint of heart! This is a real life horror story from first hand experience and still quite depressing. I no longer work in the medical field because of religion.
With these several threads on abortion, capital punishment etc., where some responses were "it is always wrong to kill", I thought I would go all the way.
Again! This is not for the faint of heart. This is a true story. I was there.
In the mid seventies, I worked at a children's hospital in the emergency room as an EMT. If things were slow in the ER and there was a shortage on one of the floors, they would send some of us up to help out. I was assigned to the 'premie' unit one night where the premature infants were kept on life support because 'pulling the plug' was not acceptable.
Now, this is not an isolated case nor the worst case I have ever had to deal with. This baby was 2-3 months premature and had a breathing tube and an IV for food. The child was never conscious and for all intents and purposes, dead. The problem was that the heart did not know this and kept on beating, so exhaustive efforts (labor, resources, finances, etc) were made to keep this child alive.
One of the maintenance procedures each shift was to remove the breathing tube, clean and re-insert it. One shift that I was on, as the nurse removed the breathing tube, the tongue came out with the tube. After cleaning, the nurse attempted to re-insert the tube and now pieces of the mouth were coming apart, This child's whole body was completely necrotic. It was like old angel food cake and yet the heart kept going and so the resources.
It was "against god's law" to pull the plug and end this poor child's life.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
