Just like that scene in The Abyss, the decision to “give up” on someone who has “died” is not always a good one (see amazing, touching story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/6403389.stm). It strikes me that there is an enormous trust put in medical staff. The parents of this miraculous boy (and the sage nods of The Abyss crew saying “she’s gone...” or “it’s over... “) got it wrong. Why did they trust the opinions of doctors? I imagine these doctors are right perhaps 90% of the time in their jobs so perhaps on most cases they should be trusted, however sometimes the arrogance of the medical profession gets in the way of doing the right thing. Just because 99.999% of children who have heart attacks and lose consciousness for 30 minutes don’t come back to life does it mean that doctors should stop trying in all cases? The doctors know the statistics, but the parents don’t.
Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh on the medical staff who probably did all they could, but I can’t help thinking that I would be trying everything in my power to bring my child back to life even if it meant giving the kiss of life for a week. There’s always a chance. Isn’t there? Miracles do happen!
I think Shakespeare had it right (as he usually does) when he said: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (or something like that anyway), which I think means that there’s so much that is unknown to humanity and it doesn’t take much to have some humility and say that you don’t know something. There should be more of that in the world.
On a different note – this amused me today: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale.
Especially the bit: “The United Bristol Trust and North Bristol NHS Trust, the largest NHS trusts in Bristol, do not use [it].”
Ironic?
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