alt Hacker NewsI'd be curious to read about 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 year follow-up.
Party pooper warning.
I'm afraid I don't have rose tinted glasses, due to personal experience with a family member with TBI (accident at age 16, 3 weeks in a coma). The aftereffects are profoundly destabilizing to his environment. I sometimes have quite a dark view of people's need to be a rescuer and celebrate the "alive!", when they don't have to deal with the next 40-60 years of living...
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The paper has the warning phrased differently. "He can at least be an organ donor", basically, in the summary.
Your comment and the thread it started helps me a little with dealing with a close person's father's dementia.
While I don't know, I suspect the boy's parents do not share your views. He is able to ride a tricycle and improving.
>40-60 years
Oh shut the hell up! We are in the midst of massive technological revolution year on year especially related to biology and brain function. Yes, ALWAYS rescue someone. Treatment progresses it never stops or moves backwards.
I feel you, I also unfortunately have experiences with that. It has profoundly changed my view on living, especially how I want to be treated when someday I'm heavily sick.
A family member in a coma takes a heavy toll on you, emotionally and financially. They are simultaneously there and not there. If they did not write down how they want to be treated you can never make a decision where you are sure what's right, or if they even want to be kept alive while not living. Eventually, when all your savings are burned through, when you might need to sell your house, you really wonder if that's what they wanted and if all that was worth it.
For me, the decision is clear: when I'm not able to make my own decisions turn everything off and let me die.