Euthenasia in New Orleans Hospitals

[Lisa]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/10/12/katrina.hospital/index.html

The Louisiana attorney general's office is investigating allegations that mercy killings occurred and has requested that autopsies be performed on all 45 bodies taken from the hospital after the storm

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/10/12/euthanasia.ethics/index.html

"Imagine if you're in a situation when somebody has a ventilator and the electricity goes out, and then the generator goes out," he said.

"You have someone who is going to slowly suffocate, a person who is going to die," he said. "If you're in that situation, you ask, 'How do I relieve the suffering of this person who is dying?' "

Beit to wrong, right or otherwise, my heart goes out to those health care professionals in that situation. What does one do? Sit there and watch people die helplessly or help them end their suffering?

 

[OUMoose]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/10/12/katrina.hospital/index.html



http://edition.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/10/12/euthanasia.ethics/index.html



Beit to wrong, right or otherwise, my heart goes out to those health care professionals in that situation. What does one do? Sit there and watch people die helplessly or help them end their suffering?

I would like to have thought the hospitals would have evacuated them as a proactive step, since they KNEW something like this could happen.

I work in a hospital. We have a plan for when the power goes out to our servers. Then we have a plan for if the power and gens go out. Then we have a plan for when THAT plan fails. Could that happen? not likely, but yes, it could. I also know that the clinical areas have 10 times the plans that we do.

Now I have a counter-question. Who is more responsible? The hospital for not taking steps to ready critical patients for the biggest storm in recent history, or the family whom did nothing to move the patient to another facility after seeing the hospital was doing nothing?

 

[arnisador]

It's hard to imagine what the right thing to do is in a case like that.

But it's easy to imagine that better planning could have prevented some of this from happening.

My instinct is that this is not a situation that calls for mercy killings, and that for all they knew a helicopter could've shown up any time. But, I guess one would've had to have been there.

 

[TonyM.]

It's ritual abuse and murder.

 

[mantis]

It's ritual abuse and murder.

"it's ritual abuse and murder" not the killing itself only, but the fact that they hid this for over a month to hide the size of the disaster and their inability to handle the disaster. that is murder on the side of the doctors and media. shame

 

[arnisador]

It's ritual abuse and murder.

How is it ritual abuse?

 

[Lisa]

I would like to have thought the hospitals would have evacuated them as a proactive step, since they KNEW something like this could happen.

I work in a hospital. We have a plan for when the power goes out to our servers. Then we have a plan for if the power and gens go out. Then we have a plan for when THAT plan fails. Could that happen? not likely, but yes, it could. I also know that the clinical areas have 10 times the plans that we do.

Are we sure they had none? or could it be that this disaster was on such a large scale that it caused a domino effect and everything fell apart? I don't know. I guess time will tell. Every hospital would like to think their plan is fool proof and it is, until something comes along and thows a wrench into it.

Now I have a counter-question. Who is more responsible? The hospital for not taking steps to ready critical patients for the biggest storm in recent history, or the family whom did nothing to move the patient to another facility after seeing the hospital was doing nothing?

Hospitals are thought of as safe havens. People automatically think they are ready for disasters such as these. Asking if the families are responsible is not fair. We as a society tend to trust that things will be taken care of abeit that it is somewhat naive on our part. Perhaps many of the families didn't have the means to remove their loved ones. I feel for the families and the staff stuck in this situation.

I am curious as to what the investigation into these euthenasias will bring forward.