See this is one of the grey areas of the ethics and the law. It really does sound like the sooner the better for all concerned, but they can't sedate her because that would kill her, even though they are withholding food. I actually don't think the doctors would tell your parents that unless they really believed it though. I am just thinking, man, if the sooner the better, then why not just give her a nice shot.... but that would be all too easily abused, would be the concern of course. So they take this passive course which is actually harder. Hmm. I know you said no sympathy is required, but you have it anyway. It has to be hard on everyone.
Dana On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 12:12:22 -0600, Deanna Schneider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > To my knowledge, she did not express what her wishes were before she > was too far gone to ask. My father has been her legal guardian for at > least 5 years. > > My mom said that the doctor's are telling her that it won't be a > painful way to go, as she won't notice that she's thirsty/hungry. (I > don't know how true it is.) I know that when I've seen her try to eat, > she usually forgets what she's doing almost instantly. I haven't seen > her in a while, so I'm not sure how much she's deteriorated. > > There's no hope for a cure for Lewey Body. My parents have been trying > to find a research institution to donate her brain to when she dies. > There hasn't been nearly the research on Lewey Body as there has been > on Alzheimers. But, if Alzheimers is bad, Lewey Body is his mean and > nasty uncle. You get all the dementia of Alzheimers, plus psychosis > and parkinsons-like symptoms (tremors/loss of muscle control). The > drugs that control the psychosis are all forbidden, as they can kill > Lewey Body patients. She can't really be sedated, either, because it > would kill her. (I'm not sure why, but it's something about how the > Lewey Body affects the brain and how the drugs do, too. They cause her > to have mini strokes and such.) > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:145532 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
