Do you think anyone has the right to take a "hopeless case"person off of life support?

do you think so?also who do you think has the right

depends on what you mean by hopeless person.

is the person brain dead? then I think next of kin, two attending physicians or a judge should all individually have the right. if the next of kin won't, then either of the other two should still have the right. there's absolutely no point spending huge amounts of money keeping protoplasm alive. if the brain's gone, the body is gone.

yeah, yeah...i know of the three or four cases were the doctor's made a mistake. that's why I would want two different doctors to agree. frankly, i'd rather they made a mistake and killed me than left open the possibility of keeping my body alive like that.

other than that, it gets sticky. next of kin should always have the right, especially when backed up by a medical opinion that recovery is unlikely. if the next of kin won't do it, I'd even consider going further and letting physicians pull the plug. I've seen next of kin who were just so wound up in their grief that they could not make a logical statement about the situation. They'll tell a doctor to do everything possible for their 95 year old demented mother who's spent the last 20 years in a nursing home and who, if she makes it through this crisis, is still probably going to die of the same thing within the next month. So the hospital spends tens of thousands of dollars and limited hospital resources that could be going to the 5 year old who get hit by a car.

I know I'm going to get grief about making economics part of the issue, but think about your child can't get the help he or she needs because the doctor or bed or surgery room is being taken up by someone who needs to be allowed to die with some dignity.

No

I think it has to be a general decision among the person's family, not just one person. If they're married, the husband/wife may want them to die, that why it should be a family decision.

They should only be taken off if there is no hope of them ever getting better.

Yes.
But I don't think a person should starve to death or be deprived of oxygen. I think the case of "euthanasia" comes into play. You're better off to give the person a lethal injection, that way they are spared of the drawn out death. Some people would rather be dead than a bed ridden vegetable for the rest of their life.

well the family or guardian has the right only. well this is so touchy subject. if they know his her brain is dead then its only right and simply what should be done. its hard to do this i had one cousin this was done to. there have been instances when someone comes to live again and its a miracle that they make it ok. they have and God is the only one to do this so if you were to do this and he wanted this person alive they would be alive. take care with the decision.

It's hard to say which is ethical...letting them suffer from being a vegetable or letting them die...but it's the family's right by law...I feel that if anyone does it ti should be the closest of kin...if I were on life support and they KNEW they couldnt save me I'd want my mom to tell them to "pull the plug".

i think its the parent's decision, or if married, the spouse.

as sad as it is, i think it's necessary when there's absolutely no brain activity. it's just a waste of electricity.

i think the family should have the right too i mean if there hopeless and they'd be in a vegitative state forever then whats the point i meani would like to be taken of life support if that happened to me
but that's just me

No. Who determines at what point a person becomes a "hopeless case"? There have been too many stories about people miraculously coming out of comas when they weren't expected to.

God is the giver of life, and only He has the right to take it. We don't have the right to play God.

Nicholas Sparks' latest book The Choice is a very intriguing look at this very issue. Of course it is sweet and sad like most of his other books (Message in a Bottle, The Notebook, Walk to Remember, etc.)

Read this and you might have some more insight on the subject from the perspective of a loved one faced with that decision.

Yes. Since when do we have the right to keep them on it? Death is a natural thing

i think that person has the rigth to say before their death that they do not want to be kept alive by life support. so other people have a right to honor their wishes.

as for a family i think that they do have a right, because if nature was left to itself that person would not live on.

Also, the person is not really living and enjoying life.

When you say a hopeless case, i mean people who are physically and mentally incapacitated. Who are only surviving because of the apparatus.

That is like playing god to pull someone off life support. Nobody has the right to say if a person should live or die, but at some point you have to ask yourself what is morally right. A loved one, such as a spouse, should have some say in the matter, but ultimately that is a very touchy subject.

How hopeless, how long, and are they in pain? If they are not in pain or if pain meds work for it no. If the the pain is unbearable then I would have to think on it. Pain is the only reason to kill someone. Why do I believe this? I seen or heard of over 7 cases where the person died way before their time. In no case was the person in so much pain that drugs didn't help relieve it. In one case the wife didn't even visit her husband for the 10 days he was awake she only came when he went under so she could have them pull the plug.

its hard descion to make. one thing doc. don't tell when on life support for long time, brain turns to jelly. very few have come off life support and able to function again. may not have right, are you able to take care of him/her.

"Anyone", no.
Family members, yes.
Friends in abstentia of any living relative, perhaps.
The State? Depends, but I'd hate to be the one making the decision!

Check out the links below,
which are wrapped in legal jargon,
but presents the issue from all sides
(n.b., the last two links are for specific circumstances,
but the general principles apply to most situations).

If you are want to make your thoughts known
concerning such an eventuality,
you will need to fill out a Living Will.
Any attorney can handle that for you,
but, for the most part, you can "do it yourself"
by typing your State's name and the words "living will"
into your favorite search engine.
Somewhere in the list of results will be a government page
explaining your rights in that State,
and may even provide a link
to a sample, valid, blank living will document
(note: some States do not allow Living Will's
where a pregnant woman is involved;
now who says women aren't second citizens?). ;)

i had to with my father,,i knew him so well, it took me all of 4 hours to make it.he was speaking to me even on support, in my mind..it took him 2 days to pass.you have to know the person like a part of you...that day on i was a different person.

I think there's something called an "advanced directive" that legally documents the hopeless case person's wishes that a specific loved one make that difficult call when the situation arrives. Everyone has agreed to it ahead of time.

'The right' is such a presumptuous phrase, for obvious reasons. Anyone cursed with this responsibility would, of course, be the closest to the afflicted. It should, initially, be a strictly medical evaluation based on medical facts, and only an evaluation for the next of kin; if he/she objects, then he/she rules. My neighbor made the decision the day after Christmas when told his wife would be a vegetable after an operation following a stroke. He knew what her wishes were so he made the decision to cease life-support. He is now remarried and past the worst crisis of his life. He happens to be a clergyman and rests easy that he carried out what had been his wife's own decision.