Say someone (in the U.S.) without any family at all winds up at a hospital and goes comatose, needing to be on life support. Would they be on life support indefinitely or would anyone have the authority to ‘pull the plug’ so to speak? Sorry it’s kind of a dark question but these are the kinds of things keeping me up at night haha.
In: Biology
As a member of my facility’s ethics committee, I can say that we will perform an exhaustive search for family. After that of money are found, we look for someone who knows the person and would have their best interests at heart. If we can find absolutely nobody, then, at least in the stat of California, we as a committee are able to decide for the patient what a reasonably prudent person would decide in that situation, keeping in mind the ethical principles of beneficence and non-malefiscence which are to “do good” and to “do no harm”. In my experience of patients in a comatose condition in full life support, we will be consulted after about a week and a half in order to determine the goals of care and code status.
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