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
Hospitals have a medical ethics committee that would come in and make that decision. Pulling the plug, essentially removing the patient from a mechanical ventilator, is often seen as essentially allowing someone to pass away. Going a bit further, oftentimes it also means removal of life sustaining drugs for supporting adequate blood pressure and/or basic bodily functions (i.e., nutrition, electrolytes, blood products). I’ve seen patients die almost immediately, and I’ve seen patients linger for days once the ventilator is pulled. It’s always a weird situation for all bedside attendees, but the medical ethics committee essentially steps in when there is 0.00 quality or chance of life once care is removed.
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