Re: Fired Nurse Claims Terri Feels Pain

Even the most severely brain damaged person will respond to pain. It does not necessarily mean they experience pain. The body has a physical reflex to pain which is indicative of SOME neurological function, indicating that Terri is not completely "brain dead". Medicating a hospice patient for pain is common practice, even if one is unable to discern whether or not that patient is actually experiencing pain. Hospice is a place where a patient can be kept comfortable and allowed to die, hopefully, in peace. I hope that Terri andher family are able to find some peace before her time comes; what an awful way to exit this earth, under so much drama and tug-of-war politics. Feeding tubes ARE considered a form of life support. There are forms that a patient can sign, while they are able, specifying what degree of resuscitation they wish to have perfomed on them in such an event. Intubation, CPR, chemical resuscitation, chest compressions, feeding tubes, or comfort measures only are all parts of that document. A person can specfy how much or how little should be done for them. The point is, nutritional therapy IS MOST CERTAINLY considered a form of life support. For without it, a woman like Terri would surely die. Which is the dilemma we now face, isn't it? There are too many political strings being pulled and hidden agendas being fought for... we need to respect this woman's wishes and the memory of the person she once was instead of fighting over her like that. I only wish that she had made her desires more clear to EVERYONE in her family, so that this sad debacle did not have to go on.