Why was Ariel Sharon kept alive for 8 years in a brain dead coma?

Is that something the Jewish religion does or what?

Resurrection?

PkrBum wrote:Resurrection?

I think that's the forte of Christians, isn't it?

I just hope what the doctors say is right,  and there's no chance that somewhere in the deep recesses of Sharon's mind that he was aware of being hooked up to a feeding tube for 8 years.  Because if he was,  that would be worse than any hell.

I guess it could be worse. He could have been subjected to something like this.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ted-williams-frozen-head-batting-practice-cryogenics-lab-book-article-1.381985

Same reason the US pumps millions into Israel to keep it alive.

Was his medical condition known by the general public? I did not know, but thought maybe it was just me being unaware.

Happens all the time both here and abroad . . . where's Kevorkian when we need him?

QueenOfHearts wrote:Was his medical condition known by the general public?  I did not know, but thought maybe it was just me being unaware.

It had been reported but I don't remember the media doing anything to question it.

Life vs. Living: Lessons from Sharon’s Last Years in a Coma
The former Israeli prime minister died Saturday after 8 years in a vegetative state

http://healthland.time.com/2014/01/09/ariel-sharon-coma-lessons/

This is a good read and helps explain what happened with Sharon.

Things are different in Israel. Traditionally, the concept of brain death didn’t exist, as death is considered the simultaneous shutting down of the body’s primary functions—from the pumping of blood to breathing and thinking. But with the introduction of technology to keep some body systems working—such as the heart and lungs—the need to redefine death became critical. And the idea of brain death—similar to a death caused by a heart that stopped beating or lungs that stopped breathing—seeped into the culture and legal system as Sharon hung on. In 2009, the Israeli government passed the Brain-Respiratory Death Law that addressed religious concerns about defining the line between life and death and the latest medical knowledge. It required that several brain scans and other techniques would have to verify an irreversible lack of brain activity in order to declare the patient brain dead. The law was an attempt to encourage organ donation from patients whose bodies were otherwise healthy, but whose brains had all be ceased to function.

Even with the new medical criteria, however, some Israelis found it hard to relinquish religious concepts of life and death, and continued to find any life, even in a vegetative state, worth preserving. In the two years following passage of the law, the number of brain death determinations dropped by nearly 30%, from 12.9 per million population to 16 per million.

That’s likely why scientists performed brain scans on Sharon last January, and reported that they detected brain activity in response to voices of his family members, but not to other noises. Did that indicate he was aware of his surroundings, that his brain was conscious in some way? His doctors maintained that the activity was not necessarily a sign of awareness, but to some, it is. Neurologists remain at a loss to explain exactly what such brain activity means. And that uncertainty only perpetuates the painful and passionate debate over how much medical treatment is justified for patients in vegetative states.

I keep thinking about this line in that report...

His doctors maintained that the activity was not necessarily a sign of awareness, but to some, it is.

This makes it so bizarre.  The same people who are arguing that Sharon "had a sign of awareness",  are the ones who want to keep him alive.
In other words,  they're the ones who think he still has some awareness of his situation.  And,  because of that,  they want him to maintain the awareness that he's lying there day after day,  month after month, year after year,  in a vegetative state.
All because of attachment to some stupid religious bullshit.  That is so horribly cruel and inhumane that I cannot even wrap my mind around it.

Bob wrote:I keep thinking about this line in that report...

His doctors maintained that the activity was not necessarily a sign of awareness, but to some, it is.

This makes it so bizarre.  The same people who are arguing that Sharon "had a sign of awareness",  are the ones who want to keep him alive.
In other words,  they're the ones who think he still has some awareness of his situation.  And,  because of that,  they want him to maintain the awareness that he's lying there day after day,  month after month, year after year,  in a vegetative state.
All because of attachment to some stupid religious bullshit.  That is so horribly cruel and inhumane that I cannot even wrap my mind around it.

It is not cruel and in humane if Sharon had the same religious beliefs.

QueenOfHearts wrote:

It is not cruel and in humane if Sharon had the same religious beliefs.

I seriously doubt Sharon ever made a decision that he should be kept alive for 8 years in a vegetative state.  
But if indeed he did make that decision and he's that much of a masochist,  then I would agree that it is his right.
But that doesn't stop making be insane.