Preface
On April 12, a video on the Internet touched the hearts of many netizens.
The person in the video is faced between life and death, praying and writing "Don't extubate, I want to live".
In the face of the patient's desire to survive, the family was helpless, there was no hope of treatment, so they endured the pain and extubated and ended the life of their relatives with their own hands.
Don't extubate, I want to live
On April 12, an incident happened in Gansu that made the majority of netizens cry.
A 56-year-old patient with kidney failure has been treated in the hospital for a long time, but in the face of high treatment costs every day, his family has already been bankrupt, but there is still no cure.
If you survive in the hospital, you can only run out of people and money, and the doctor has also issued critical illness notices again and again.
As a family member of the patient, in the face of the critical illness notice, they also knew that there was no hope and need for treatment, and with the consent of the hospital, the patient was sent home by ambulance with a ventilator.
The patient's family did not want their loved ones to walk in the white-walled hospital, so they decided to return home for a final goodbye.
The patients at home can only rely on the ventilator to maintain their lives, but the cost of the ventilator for an hour is 15-20 yuan, for this family, they have spent all their family funds, and they really cannot afford to pay for the long-term ventilator.
Back at home, the family members are ready to say goodbye to their loved ones one by one and see the last face of their lives.
Six hours passed, and the family discussed preparing to unplug the ventilator, let the loved ones leave quietly, and end the torture caused by such a long period of illness.
At this time, the patient seemed to sense something and wanted to say something, and the family also saw that the relative seemed to have something to say, so they brought a pen and paper.
At this time, the patient used all his strength to write a few words crookedly on the paper, and it was these words that made the family cry.
She wrote, "Don't extubate, I want to live", these words deeply contain the patient's strong desire to survive, she is only 56 years old, she still wants to live.
In the face of the desire of relatives for survival, the family is also very worried, and we can feel the pain and pain in the hearts of our families just by watching the video.
As a family member, I also know that the ventilator is what maintains the patient's life, the ventilator is there, the patient is there, and once the ventilator is stopped, it is equivalent to directly sentencing the patient to "death".
However, the family could no longer afford the high cost, and after much hesitation, they decided to stop the ventilator, and after ten minutes, the patient swallowed his last breath in the company of his family.
The walls of the hospital had heard prayers more devout than those of the church, and at the last moments of their lives, their families could only be quietly accompanied by them, unable to do anything......
So, is it legal for such a family member in the video to take the initiative to end the patient's life when they know that the patient's treatment is hopeless?
Is it legal for the family to do it?
Isn't death scary? I think it's scary, but in reality, most people are still very afraid of death, and they fall into deep fear when they think that they may not exist one day.
In fact, in our country every year, there are millions of cancer patients or patients with serious diseases, and many families are facing high medical expenses, and spend all their money to save the lives of patients, but in the end they still fail to keep them, and end up with no personal wealth.
In the above case, the 56-year-old patient was sentenced in the hospital that there was no point in treatment, and he was brought home, and his family pulled out the ventilator and stopped the patient's life.
When netizens saw such a thing, they were sad and had deep doubts at the same time, when the patient still wanted to live, the family discussed extubation, is this behavior legal and legal?
This is not only a question of law, but also a question of human nature, emotions and morality.
Every life is precious, we should cherish our own lives and the lives of others, if in the face of patients, no matter what the circumstances, as long as they still have a trace of desire to survive, we should do our best to protect and treat.
Therefore, from a moral point of view, it is unacceptable for family members to extubate in the face of relatives and desire to survive, after all, it takes great courage to end the lives of one's own family members with their own hands.
However, family members often do this because of various factors, such as economic pressure, environmental factors, etc., and they must bear certain legal responsibility for doing this act as a last resort, because it will directly lead to the death of the patient.
From a legal point of view, this needs to depend on specific laws and regulations and judicial practice, and in the mainland, the criminal law has clear provisions on intentional injury, homicide, etc.
If extubation is found to be intentional injury or homicide, then the family may face legal liability.
In addition, medical institutions and medical staff have a responsibility to ensure the safety and dignity of patients, and may also face legal liability if their actions result in injury and/or death of patients.
We should also not ignore the fact that the law is not a panacea, and in some cases, the law cannot fully solve everything, for example, when a family member is facing great financial pressure or emotional distress, they may choose to use illegal means to relieve the burden or seek relief.
At this time, in addition to punishing according to law, we also need to think about how to reduce the occurrence of such incidents by improving the social security system and strengthening medical assistance.
In the face of this patient in Gansu, there is a very high desire to survive, but the family is helpless, but there are still some people who would rather die than live.
Some people beg to die, some to live
I don't know if you still remember that in 2023, a mother unplugged the oxygen tube of her 2-year-old son, and this documentary made everyone cry when they watched it.
The two-year-old child was lying in the intensive care unit of the hospital with tubes inserted, and the doctor said that there was no need for treatment, and the child was suffering from the disease every day.
Because of congenital heart disease and pneumonia infection, which caused the brain to shrink, there was no hope of cure, and he relied on these tubes and ventilators to maintain his life every day.
It has been a year in the hospital, and the family has no financial support for the high medical expenses every day, and the doctor also advises the child to go on like this, and there is only pain every day.
But the mother firmly believes that a miracle will happen, but despite the doctor's best efforts, nothing has work, all the treatment has no meaning, and even if she persists, it will only make the child suffer more.
Looking at her child on the hospital bed, she couldn't let the child be tortured like this even if she was in pain, so she decided to give up, as a mother, this decision also made her heart like a knife, and the doctor also took a final photo of the child as a souvenir.
After that, the doctor removed the child's oxygen tube instead of the mother, and the child without the oxygen tube cried bitterly and had difficulty breathing, and by the time the doctor sent the child to the mother's arms, the child was already purple, and no response was received despite the mother's screaming for her child......
This mother personally brought her child into this world, but also ended this lovely life with her own hands. How the mother wished that her child could call herself "Mommy", but she could no longer hear her.
This incident is also the removal of the oxygen tube, but in the face of such a painful situation for the child, what will we do? As a mother, as a doctor, we have done our best, sometimes death represents another life?
Some people sacrifice everything to survive, but there are also those who are bent on death.
In April 2023, on a bridge in Chengdu, a mother of more than 1 year old child stood on it, and below her was her more than 1 year old child, she had a very strong desire to die, and the people next to her were also persuading the mother, the child is still so young, don't think about it.
But she said, "I'll take the doll with me."
The child under him kept calling "Mom, Mom", and the mother probably couldn't bear it, so she gave her mobile phone to the child and asked her to put it in the car.
The child didn't know what her mother was going to do, but she still took the phone away very obediently, and turned around to put it back, that is, at the moment of turning around, the mother jumped down without hesitation.
Fortunately, the mother was successfully rescued by firefighters.
In the face of such a young child, this mother is bent on death, how desperate should she be to make such a move?
Netizen evaluation
After these videos spread on the Internet, netizens also expressed their opinions.
Some netizens said that this patient can still write, and his mind is still conscious, is it too cruel to do so? And the patient also said that he still wants to live.
In the face of such a thing, some netizens said that they have also experienced that in the face of incurable diseases, there is no other way than to take money to continue their lives, and in the end, they will be empty of both people and money.
In fact, most people are faced with the choice of life and death, we can't do anything to satisfy others, if we choose to live, it will cost a lot of money to support, and the cost of each day may be tens of thousands.
If we choose to die, then we will be burdened with infinite self-blame in our hearts, will we regret that we did not hold on to it one day, and maybe a miracle will happen?
But this multiple-choice question is really too difficult, and no one knows what the real answer should be.
epilogue
When we talk about the topic of death, we look at it with a heavy heart, and indeed, this topic seems to be something that most people don't want to bring up.
However, we have not experienced many things, nor have we experienced such heartache and helplessness, and we are unable to evaluate the psychology of the parties, "without the suffering of others, do not persuade others to be kind".
What we can do is to maintain a heart that reveres life, every life is precious, and maintaining a healthy body is the most important thing.