2/21/2014  
                                            No time to declare life 
(This blog as all others are based on my experiences and observations and those of family and friends)

     Health care in this country has to change in the sense that all life has value and is not to be destroyed. You and I would go to the doctor and the hospitals thinking they will help and are  knowledgeable to help when one is not able to care for self. I no longer believe that illusion.  Many times it is  a wrong assumption that is paid for by the patient and their family.  Lately now in the news I have noted that many people who have had serious injury to the head or body are removed from  life support after a few days with the diagnosis of Brain Dead. What do we as health care providers really know about brain death and actual death of the whole person? We know some but not enough to use the brain as an indicator of death for the whole being. There has been many documented cases of people who have awaken from a coma and live their new normal if not in time normal lives ( before coma). Now some would say that pupillary reaction ( response of the eye to bright light) and the established protocol for death is more than adequate but from my experience this has proven to be subjective to the examiner. 
      In this day and age there is a race to harvest organs or to free up equipment because for this client it is not cost effective, they score too low on the quality of life scale.  An elderly white man who is a famous politician or of great wealth has more quality of life points than a young black male.  Continue to observe the news and life in this country to illustrate this event.
 The young man would be highly prized as an organ donor and the white man as a valuable contributor to society, alive.
      The more we think we know, the more we do not know, and lack the adequate wisdom to apply correctly the little we do know.  And pride makes one too arrogant to admit one's limitations.  This to me is the summation of all so call advancements in health care with every new toy or idea proclaimed and utilized in the great experiment of patient care.