Bullet in My Brain

The Terry Shiavo case has been all over the news. Shiavo is the forty-one year old woman who has been in a vegetative state for the last fifteen years. Her husband is ready to have her disconnected from her feeding tube. Her parents want to keep her alive.

I understand it is hard for people to let go of loved ones. We see it all the time in patients of advanced age without mental capcity and multiple medical illnesses, who are still full codes.

And I understand that Terry Shiavo is a relatively young person, but I would not want to live like she lives. I know few people in EMS who would.

We walk out of a nursing home after bringing a vegetative patient back from the hospital trip. "Just put a bullet in my brain,” my partner says.

***

Three calls: an elderly insulin dependent diabetic who forgot to eat and was unconcious until I gave her some D50 and woke her up, an MVA with no injuries, and an old man with an injured hand from smacking it against the bed rail.