The partner of a friend of mine is dying.
Mar. 21st, 2009 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhythmaningI learned that the partner of a friend of mine is fatally ill. They were on holiday in Germany when he collapsed. He is a lot older than my friend and me, and had suffered from different long term illnesses for a while.
He is effectively brain-dead, and kept alive through medical intervention.
My friend's situation is pretty horrible, and raises a couple of big issues.
Firstly, they aren't married. So when he was taken to hospital, she had no rights - she wasn't his next of kin. They have been together for about twenty years, and yet her position wasn't recognised. The British Consulate (who apparently were brilliant) helped her get appointed as medical guardian (or something), so it was sorted out, but it was very stressful.
Secondly, if she and the medical advisers decide that in fact it is best to let him die, they stop feeding him: he starves to death. It is possible they remove hydration too - dying of thirst would be quicker. I assume that he would feel nothing, and simply waste away. At least I hope so. But this seems very slow and protracted. (I could be wrong.) It sounds inhumane - on the survivors if not the patient. As my friend said, if he were an animal he would be treated a lot better.
It all sounds very, very hard.
He is effectively brain-dead, and kept alive through medical intervention.
My friend's situation is pretty horrible, and raises a couple of big issues.
Firstly, they aren't married. So when he was taken to hospital, she had no rights - she wasn't his next of kin. They have been together for about twenty years, and yet her position wasn't recognised. The British Consulate (who apparently were brilliant) helped her get appointed as medical guardian (or something), so it was sorted out, but it was very stressful.
Secondly, if she and the medical advisers decide that in fact it is best to let him die, they stop feeding him: he starves to death. It is possible they remove hydration too - dying of thirst would be quicker. I assume that he would feel nothing, and simply waste away. At least I hope so. But this seems very slow and protracted. (I could be wrong.) It sounds inhumane - on the survivors if not the patient. As my friend said, if he were an animal he would be treated a lot better.
It all sounds very, very hard.
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