Dead Enough - the fifth estate

My father in law had a stroke a few years ago and died with in a few weeks. They did a MRI and said he had zero brain activity it was just a white cloud so they were just letting him die. After two days he sat up and greeted us and asked for his sons guitar which he had brought. He was a incredible singer, musician he played 5-6 beautiful sons and sang. I found the doctor brought him to the room and said is this what you call zero brain activity. After about 20 minutes there was 7-8 doctors, nurses also in the room. I think they were shocked. After about 90 minutes he told the doctor to be nice to people and said to each of us he was going to sleep for a while held each of our hands. He then lied down after a ice cream bar and died 3 days later. I asked the staff to explain that, they couldn't.

I can't imagine the guilt of being pressured to make the choice for a loved one and then wondering if they may have recovered. My own medical horror story that really opened my eyes about how important it is to advocate for yourself . I lost 1 baby during a twin pregnancy and the doctors and nurses all pressured me to terminate the surviving baby 23-25 weeks along because she had poor medical prognosis. They made it sound so hopeless and were quite annoyed that I wanted to wait to miscarry naturally, since they all seemed to think that would be the outcome anyhow. I had such a tiny glimmer of hope for my baby, they used the term "incompatible with life". She's going to be 7 on the 1st. She's healthy, typical, an all around amazing kid. I wouldn't want to picture my life without her. I'm so grateful that I didn't let the doctors pressure me but I wonder how many other people were told things like "hopeless" and "incompatible with life" and then wondered if they made the right choice 😔💔

when my son was 12 we were told he wouldnt survive an hour after a massive bowel obstruction surgery...all organs had shut down.....we were too afraid to let him go...7 weeks later he came out of icu and spent 5 months on the general ward....today he is about to turn 21....fragile but happy♡

I can imagine being in a coma and hearing people saying stuff like "she's not gonna make it, her organs are failing" scary af.

My father was a healthy 24 year old and working as an RN in 1987. Being a nurse, he did not believe in an "after life" and that it's basically lights out and the void. While walking down the hallway and conversing with a couple of co-workers he went into sudden cardiac arrest. No pulse, not breathing, completely unresponsive. He remembers hearing someone yell the code for such a medical event and then running in response to assist in aiding the patient, only to realize that he wasn't running, was above the people he had been walking with, and see that it was his body that they were working on. One of his co-workers was so upset that she started crying and had to be brought into another room, away from the scene. He followed into the room (floating through the wall) and proceeded to listen to the conversation of her and the nurses trying to calm her down. He suddenly felt like he had a bungee type cord around his waist and was suddenly whipped back into his body, which now had pulse restoration after some AED shocks, and was out of the hallway and in a room. While in his body he felt no pain and wasn't aware, basically like sleeping. Shortly after that he again lost his pulse and this time found himself floating in the room with his body and the staff frantically trying to bring him back. He watched for a bit, then looked into the hall where he saw another co-worker drop a burgundy colored pen, watched it roll, then stop at the base of a door a few yards down the hall. Then, the bungee cord feeling happened again and hours later he woke up in a hospital bed in serious, but stable condition. At first when he mentioned his experiences they were dismissed as dreams, things he heard when he still had some vitals, or hallucinations. He then relayed the conversation that his colleagues had when they were comforting the other nurse in the separate room back to them and also relayed the pen incident. Changed his perspective and that of those co-workers forever. Though he wasn't on life support, the experience taught him that there is a lot we do not know. Where as he would discredit such "paranormal" or religious claims prior to his experience, he does not now and that has enabled him to be a better nurse and care giver, especially to those near death.

Wow!!! This REALLY gives us organ donors something to think about. Someone placing the value of my organs over the value of truly saving my life, does NOT sit well with me. I think we can all agree, as a person willing to be an organ donor, we are already selfless. I'm sorry if a situation makes it that my organs are no longer good if you don't get them out within minutes, I want my life saved first. I'm giving my organs ONLY if saving my life is not possible. But now im supposed to trust in a doctor to decide that? Wow!!

I literally know 3 different people who were in a coma.. 2 of them were for a few months and one was for a few YEARS but they ALL heard EVERYTHING being said around them. The one guy I know was in a motorcycle accident and they thought he had brain damage (I'm so glad they did not take him off of life support!) but to this day, every year on the anniversary of him waking up from his coma, he reminisces about the things that he heard people saying in his hospital room while he was under.. he remembers his mom praying over him and he knows which prayer it was.. he remembers one of his friends playing a song he likes.. he remembers what the doctors said.. he literally remembers it ALL so don't underestimate the human body and mind and don't ever put too much belief in what doctors and nurses tell you.. they only know what they are taught in medical school.. they don't know EVERYTHING.

my son has had 2 liver transplants, one at age 14 the other at 23. waiting for the second one his organs began to shut down. his kidneys went and he went on dialysis. a donor liver came only a short time later. after everything was done our doc told us our son, at the outmost, only had a week to live after the kidneys shut down. today he is 31, healthy and giving back as a registered nurse. I can only say I am so grateful to those families that saved my son's life. both transplants were done in Texas.

When in the Cardiac Care Unit after a heart attack..having no advocates..the nurses became like, acted like family to me, a 53 yo with no prior history. One of them quietly warned me/schooled me not only with words..but gestures, etc. to get all paperwork in order after explaining what could/has happened in that ward. I have on my DL that I'm an organ donor. After this incident, I began researching and what I found..made my skin crawl. Nurses Rock.

Doctors have zero idea if a comatose patient with no heartbeat can feel pain. I used to know a bunch of nurses who worked on the organ removal team at UCLA. They saw tears flowing from the eyes of many such patients as their organs were been removed just a minute or 2 after their heart stopped. That freaked most of those nurses out and within short order they requested to be assigned to other teams/departments.

I used to be an organ donor until I saw first hand how eager the harvest team was to sign on the line. I know personally of two patients who surprised their doctors and came back, both living productive lives. Had their families signed on when approached they would not be here today. I am all for organ donation but am not on board with giving up too quickly.

We were told my uncle would be a cabbage and it would be a mercy if he he died, when being asked for his organs. He was a 22y.o Man in the prime of his life (had motorbike accident). Thank God my gran refused, after too much pressure. He went on to live a normal life - no brain damage

When i was on life support my family got told i wasnt going to make it and even if i did i would be a cabbage total brain damage BUT i pulled through and i write this now to tell you that 8 days after my family got told that i signed myself out of hospital and have no brain damage and i made a full recovery.

Having worked in the Medical Profession, i heard this years ago. A lot of Doctors refuse to carry these cards to donate...for obvious reasons!

My sister was "written off" more than once by doctors. In 2013 we were urged to sign a DNR for her against her written and verbal wishes while she lay unconscious and on life support in the ICU due to hospital errors. We refused. She recovered.

having been in a coma myself i just want to say: Be careful what you say around the comatose .. i could hear but not respond

Trust in the Medical Industry?? That trust needs to be earned and it's been violated for so long.

I’ve decided to go off the list here in America when I go in for my enhanced license. I want to donate, but I trust my family and friends to decide when is appropriate over it being a free for all chosen by strangers.

My god I feel bad for the familys that listened to those doctors now feeling guilty because they pulled the life support.

I was in a coma for 3 mths after my gastric bypass caused a perforated ulcer. I ended up with massive internal bleeding and had to have emergency surgery. My heart stopped during surgery. I was down for about 20 mins. I then went into sceptic shock. I was on a vent unable to breathe on my own. Drs told my husband I had maybe a 6% chance of coming out of the coma. He said they pushed him hard daily to stop life support and donate.