The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162443   Message #3867494
Posted By: Senoufou
21-Jul-17 - 09:03 AM
Thread Name: BS: The Very Sad Case Of Charlie Gard
Subject: RE: BS: The Very Sad Case Of Charlie Gard
That's an extremely interesting article Iains (sorry, misspelled your name in my last post)

The thing is, these cases are all very complex. But in Charlie's situation, he wouldn't live more than a few minutes once the ventilator was switched off. In the Briggs case, even if sustenance and liquid were withdrawn, the poor patient might linger for several days. And while PC Briggs had probably expressed his own views to his family before his accident about his wishes, Charlie is only an infant and has no wishes of his own. This throws into focus the fact that every single case is different, and any guidelines are just that.

A friend of mine has had a Living Will drawn up, in which she expresses her desire not to be resuscitated or have her life prolonged under certain conditions. She wanted me to be a signatory, but I'm afraid I couldn't bring myself to take on such a weighty responsibility.