Life Support..Are We Doing The Right Thing?

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dailey

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My grandmother, who is 85 yo, is on a breathing tube (life support) as of last week. In addition to not being able to breathe on her own, she also has a bad heart, lungs and liver. She coded blue twice about a week ago and was resuscitated due to her children’s request (brain scans show no damage).

At this point, no one knows if she’ll be able to eventually breathe on her own. Also, she does not seem to recognize family members or even comprehend what is going on. She spends much of her day wincing and fidgeting in bed, obviously in pain. 😦 The nurses also keep her restrained since she is constantly trying to pull out all of the tubes in her body. At this point, I just pray that God will take her and end her suffering. But what if He doesn’t? I called my Church but was not able to speak to my priest since he will be gone for a few days. Just wanted to come here and see if any of you have been in this situation…and also what does the Church say in these circumstances? My relatives just made the decision tonight that if she coded blue again, that they should resuscitate her…even though it will most likely result in broken bones due to my grandma’s fragile body and osteoporosis (they did not need to do compressions the last two times).
 
dailey said:
My grandmother, who is 85 yo, is on a breathing tube (life support) as of last week. In addition to not being able to breathe on her own, she also has a bad heart, lungs and liver. She coded blue twice about a week ago and was resuscitated due to her children’s request (brain scans show no damage).

At this point, no one knows if she’ll be able to eventually breathe on her own. Also, she does not seem to recognize family members or even comprehend what is going on. She spends much of her day wincing and fidgeting in bed, obviously in pain. 😦 The nurses also keep her restrained since she is constantly trying to pull out all of the tubes in her body. At this point, I just pray that God will take her and end her suffering. But what if He doesn’t? I called my Church but was not able to speak to my priest since he will be gone for a few days. Just wanted to come here and see if any of you have been in this situation…and also what does the Church say in these circumstances? My relatives just made the decision tonight that if she coded blue again, that they should resuscitate her…even though it will most likely result in broken bones due to my grandma’s fragile body and osteoporosis (they did not need to do compressions the last two times).
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Dailey,

I have been on the recussitating end too many times. This is just how we are trained. It is a sad situation. There needs to be a advanced directive before someone like this arrives at the hospital otherwise it is up to the hospital committee to decide what to do and when. The family is usually consulted however if a advanced directive is in force prior to getting to the hospital then that takes precedence. I don’t know if there was one.

Many decisions are made including sadly whether to provide nutrition. A ventillator and an Intravenous will not sustain life. My experience tells me that sooner or later the question of nutrition will be addressed. Usually decisions will be for comfort and hydration. It is not easy to go through and believe me it is not easy to be on the other side.

My prayers are with you.
 
All I can say is that the Church does not require that a person be put on extraordinary means to keep them alive. Catholic advanced directives need to be in place, and the case of each individual medical circumstance needs to be considered.
 
You may want to consult the National Catholic Bioethics Center. They are trained to answer these types of questions. I will be praying for your family.

ncbcenter.org/
 
dailey said:
My grandmother, who is 85 yo, is on a breathing tube (life support) as of last week. In addition to not being able to breathe on her own, she also has a bad heart, lungs and liver. She coded blue twice about a week ago and was resuscitated due to her children’s request (brain scans show no damage).

At this point, no one knows if she’ll be able to eventually breathe on her own. Also, she does not seem to recognize family members or even comprehend what is going on. She spends much of her day wincing and fidgeting in bed, obviously in pain. 😦 The nurses also keep her restrained since she is constantly trying to pull out all of the tubes in her body. At this point, I just pray that God will take her and end her suffering. But what if He doesn’t? I called my Church but was not able to speak to my priest since he will be gone for a few days. Just wanted to come here and see if any of you have been in this situation…and also what does the Church say in these circumstances? My relatives just made the decision tonight that if she coded blue again, that they should resuscitate her…even though it will most likely result in broken bones due to my grandma’s fragile body and osteoporosis (they did not need to do compressions the last two times).
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Catholic teaching is that she should be given sufficient pain relievers to relieve the pain, lest she fall into despair with the pain.

And if the amount needed to relieve the pain might hasten her death, it falls under the principle of double effect: the person is doing a good act (relieving pain) for a good purpose (pain relief) with an UNintended side effect (death).

I assume the breathing tube is attached to a ventilator? Ventilators count as *extra-*ordinary care; it is moral to decide not to use it or to remove it, if its continued use poses a grave burden (discomfort to the patient, financial, etc).

Resucitation is, of course, not required.

I am very sorry that you and your family are going through this; have the doctors said that your grandmother is dying? It can be very hard for family members to allow someone ot die–it feels like they are “giving up” on their well-loved relative.

:gopray:
 
dailey said:
My grandmother, who is 85 yo, is on a breathing tube (life support) as of last week. In addition to not being able to breathe on her own, she also has a bad heart, lungs and liver. She coded blue twice about a week ago and was resuscitated due to her children’s request (brain scans show no damage). .
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I’m sorry you are going through this and very very sorry your grandmother is. I have left very clear instructions in my own case DO NOT RESUSCITATE. It’s unfortunate that your grandmother didn’t make a legal document and explain her own wishes to her children. People in the heat of the moment are loathe to make the decision to let the person go. They feel guilty and want to do what is right. People think death is the worst outcome. You and I know it is not.

I pray they will allow her to move on now. I pray with you that God takes that decision out of their hands. I also think there needs to be a meeting of the adults with the power to make the decisions and have them decide before hand what will happen next time. They need to stop thinking of it as “killing their mother” and start to think of it as “letting her pass.”

In general, I believe there is far too much medical interference with the natural process of letting go of our bodies and moving on.
 
Thank you so much everyone for responding. I really appreciate all the information and kind words.
 
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