Death Panel: Canadian judge orders family to remove son's breathing tube

[Little-Acorn]

Hey, the kid is going to die anyway, so may as well just pull the plug on him now. It'll cost less money than what his family wants.

I'm glad no one in this country is calling for Universal Health Care programs that might eventually give government the power to make decisions like this in America.

Are they?

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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/22/canadian-family-fights-babys-beathing-tube-place/

Canadian Family Fights to Keep Boy's Breathing Tube in Place

Published February 22, 2011

The Canadian family of a 13-month-old boy clinging to life support has defied a court order to remove the boy’s breathing tube and now is looking to an American hospital for what experts say would be a miracle recovery.

The boy, Joseph Maraachli, has been in a vegetative state at a hospital in London, Ontario, since last fall. He’s been treated for a neurodegenerative disease that doctors ruled leaves no hope for the boy.

A Superior Court judge, in turn, ordered that Maraachli’s breathing tube be removed on Monday. But his family refused, insisting that the boy be released to his family’s care, according to CBC News.

“I belive in my son,” Moe Maraachli, the boy's father, told Fox News on Monday. “I will never let my son die in the doctors’ way.”

The family says removing the ventilator would promise an agonizing death for the boy.

 

[dogtowner]

Not sure how relasing him to his familiy's care doesn't include leaving the ventilator at the hospital. I guess they might have found one on eBay.

But if that's what they want, why not ?

Infections are a pretty ****ty way to die as well.

NO good outcome possible here.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

we don't live in Canada

also if a insurance company said same thing, would you care? no

and yes, its true...sometimes..people are really sick...and it is a waste of money to keep throwing at the sickness thinking a "miracle" will happen.

Conservatives cried for months that Shivo could come back..when dead...they checked. and her brain was half the expected size...

Speaking of her...you know what the "death panals" really are? end of life planning....aka do you want to be a veggie for 10 years or do you want to not have them waste money and hook you up to machines against your will...one of the key reasons that case even made it as far as it did.

of course you could look at a real "death Panal" under Republicans in AZ...but since its run by a Republican I guess your in favor of it

 

[Dr.Who]

The kid was never going to live on or off the ventilator. The question was whether or not he would die a painful death on the ventilator or a less painful death off of it. Apparently the family had a sister with the same disease earlier and she died off the ventilator.

All that would be needed is a tracheotomy so that the boy could be moved home. Trach tubes are cheap and the kid was not going to live a long time on the vent. This was not about the money.

If an insurance company denied this the family would be able to pay the hospital cash as they are willing to do when and if he gets moved to the States. This is about a government refusing the family to be able to determine the care for their kid and not allowing any choice. The state is even refusing the family visiting rights. Furthermore if an insurance company refused this the family could appeal to an objective outside system -the courts. They can't appeal to an objective court now because it is the courts that are against them now.

At the moment the family is waiting to see if the courts ALLOW them to move the kid to the States.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

the debate should be assisted suicide then...that would solve the issue.

 

[Dr.Who]

The debate is about a government telling a family how they are going to give their son the best medical care he can get. It is about politicians making medical decisions for people almost exactly as was laughed about when the term "death panel" was coined and applied to health care in the States.

In this case a government is telling a family that their son must die by having a ventilator removed and choking on secretions and mucus rather than dying of his disease while breathing through a tracheotomy. The "panel" has argued that the trach would be too painful (though anesthesia could be given) but has ignored that the choking on mucus without anesthesia would be more painful.

It is about a government panel of one telling a family that they cannot move their child to another hospital that would do what they want even though both the transferring hospital and the second hospital are both fine with the transfer.

 

[Rick]

Let 'em die - the magic socialism cure for high medical costs ......

 

[pocketfullofshells]

The debate is about a government telling a family how they are going to give their son the best medical care he can get. It is about politicians making medical decisions for people almost exactly as was laughed about when the term "death panel" was coined and applied to health care in the States.

In this case a government is telling a family that their son must die by having a ventilator removed and choking on secretions and mucus rather than dying of his disease while breathing through a tracheotomy. The "panel" has argued that the trach would be too painful (though anesthesia could be given) but has ignored that the choking on mucus without anesthesia would be more painful.

It is about a government panel of one telling a family that they cannot move their child to another hospital that would do what they want even though both the transferring hospital and the second hospital are both fine with the transfer.

And someone always will...the goverment, your insurance , or your pocket book. Shoot the kid up with something and end it painlessly...issue solved...

 

[Rick]

Shoot the kid up with something and end it painlessly...issue solved...

Any MORE questions about leftwing "medical care"?

With their plug-pulling on the comotose, their advocacy of a system that tells the seriously ill to just go home and die when cures exist, their slicing up and vacuuming of fetuses out of the womb, they remind me of Stalin's famous chilling comment on killing people who are seen as an impediment to the forward march of socialism:

"No man, no problem."

 

[Dr.Who]

And someone always will...the goverment, your insurance , or your pocket book. Shoot the kid up with something and end it painlessly...issue solved...

Insurance companies and pocketbooks are not refusing to let parents choose - only the government option is!!

If an insurance company denies payment a parent still has the right to pay themselves. If ones own pocketbook "denies" payment one still has the option to appeal to the kindness of friends, strangers and institutions for assistance. But in this case a government has refused to even let the parents transfer the kid to a willing hospital without its consent.

The gov should never be in the position to give medical care. A government that has the power to give has the power to take away. No insurance company or lack of funds will ever have the power to actually take away ones choice. At worst an insurance company or pocketbook will not be able to fund a choice and that is an important difference as we can see in this case.

 

[dogtowner]

And someone always will...the goverment, your insurance , or your pocket book. Shoot the kid up with something and end it painlessly...issue solved...

Wrong about the ins co. they will write you any policy you want. but employers see the cost and say 'how can we whittle that down ?'.

if you want X, it costs Y. can't afford that Rolls Royce ? we also can sell you the Chevy. still too much ? the used Yugo perhaps ?

INSURANCE companies are NOT the problem, MEDICAL COSTS ARE. And obamacare does NOTHING about that.

 

[Dr.Who]

INSURANCE companies are NOT the problem, MEDICAL COSTS ARE. And obamacare does NOTHING about that.

Sure it does. It creates the mechanism for government officials to limit what medical care someone can get so that when less care is available less needs to be paid out.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Insurance companies and pocketbooks are not refusing to let parents choose - only the government option is!!

If an insurance company denies payment a parent still has the right to pay themselves. If ones own pocketbook "denies" payment one still has the option to appeal to the kindness of friends, strangers and institutions for assistance. But in this case a government has refused to even let the parents transfer the kid to a willing hospital without its consent.

The gov should never be in the position to give medical care. A government that has the power to give has the power to take away. No insurance company or lack of funds will ever have the power to actually take away ones choice. At worst an insurance company or pocketbook will not be able to fund a choice and that is an important difference as we can see in this case.

the kid is dead...does not matter what happens...or who covers insurance...if they want it painless, there should be that option.

And pretending that just paying for it yourself if insurance will not, its short signed and ignorant of the fact that for the vast majority...that is not a option...if the cost was that low the most could just pay for it...then most likely it would be covered.

Unless you have money out the *** then you have 2 options..the government says what is covered...or a for profit company does.

 

[Dr.Who]

the kid is dead...does not matter what happens...or who covers insurance...if they want it painless, there should be that option.

You are right there should be that option. But the gov has specifically not allowed that option. They cannot get the tracheotomy and they cannot transfer to another hospital.

And pretending that just paying for it yourself if insurance will not, its short signed and ignorant of the fact that for the vast majority...that is not a option...if the cost was that low the most could just pay for it...then most likely it would be covered.

The average cost of a tracheostomy in the US is $1208.

The parents want to pay for it and it would be a very viable option except that the "death panel" says no.

Unless you have money out the *** then you have 2 options..the government says what is covered...or a for profit company does.

Really? Those are the only two options you see? I know that other options have been mentioned multiple times. Where were you?