554: Moral Hypocrisy

[jen_aside]

Can you believe I've now seen "hypocrisy" misspelled so many times that I had to look up the correct spelling to make sure? =/

I meant to talk about this commentary, but I put it off because I didn't want to jam up a whole bunch of BIG TOPICS in the same day, particularly given that most of you skim them as it is 9_9 but the jist of it goes that

Comments

[digoraccoon]

Meh, the comotose man in my opinion was an exception to the standard ways of brain comas. Mr. Schiavo did what he thought was best and I have no reason to question him.Since we don't fully understand the brain we can only speculate. :)

[jen_aside]

Well, my comment is more, "That's a long time to wait for a shred of hope." Not to mention the costs of keeping someone alive that long are astronomical and getting more expensive with each passing year :/ I'm sure that someone who woke up from such an extended sleep wouldn't immediately say, "Why didn't you kill me!?" or demand to be put to death, but for a caretaker, that time is torturous, which is why I'd rather pre-emptively say, "Good gad, cut me off after no longer than a few months of failure to improve" :/

[digoraccoon]

I agree, it is a long wait for any hope of recovery and I'd probably go your route. Maybe set up some sort of will or trust for such a situation.

as in "I trust you'll pull the plug before this drags on for years".

[sirfox]

in the case mentioned of the comatose guy, most of his brain was still there, but the connections were fouled up. In the case of Terry, after the damage caused by the stroke which followed her heart attack (if i remember right) most of her brain was *gone*, and a simple CAT-scan would have shown that, too. I don't know why they didn't ever do one, but the post-mortem autopsy showed that crucial portions of her brain, including those for vision, were no longer present.

It's a far step between re-crossing a few wires to jury rig functional portions of a brain, and totally regenerating some very highly complex nerve tissues altogether.

I agree with you on the subject of the spelling abuses which that word has endured. It's enough to make you utter a Hypocritic(al) Oath.

[jen_aside]

Well, you and I know that, but it gives [a very weak] fuel to those rabid types who believe in hope more than scientific evidence.