Once again, we see and hear of distraught parents who wish to ignore medical fact, as well as the knowledge and opinion of the most senior medical practitioners; and instead cling to their delusions regarding their dead son.
They found young Archie Battersbee unconscious at home, unresponsive and, once in the hospital, and checked out by medically-trained technicians, found to be brain-stem dead. His heart is still, strangely enough, still beating, but the young boy’s system is, otherwise, unresponsive to any stimulus at all.
A High Court Judge ruled that the doctors had correctly diagnosed, that the kid was, to all intent and purpose, dead: the medical equipment keeping his bodily functions going should be switched off, and let the kid be buried or cremated without any further drama.
The truly deluded parents still cling to the the delusion that somehow, a miracle will bring their dead son back to them, and have initiated a request to the Court of Appeal to vacate the previous ruling.
It is a sad thing to watch, as parents attempt to fight reality, but, unfortunately, they can fight even further, but they can never argue against the facts. A truly helpful friend or relative should maybe take both parents aside, and ask them to face reality: their boy is dead, at his own hand when participating in some gross Internet challenge: and now his tortured remains should now be left in peace, so that they both can begin the grieving process.
Sorry, but miracles don’t happen, because they don’t exist.
We have experts telling us things all the time and time and time again it is found they are wrong. I'm beginning to think we need a look at the use of the word expert.
ReplyDeleteThis is a sad case. Personally I think he is gone and has been for some time but I understand them chasing the hope after all you have to remember that somewhere in the US one fifth of those surveyed think Biden is doing a good job so we are clearly not the most rational creatures when our trigger points are concerned.
My view is that Doctors advise and Parents decide.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if, when they get the inevitable go-ahead to switch off, they will be crass enough to try to persuade the grieving parents to donate his organs? Yes. Probably.
ReplyDeleteThey will do so. These are the ideal cases for that. Plus I understand it helps grieving parents know that their childs sacrifice helped others..
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