Paralyzed deer hunter chooses to end life support

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http://www.centurylink.net/news/rea...p-injured_indiana_hunter_chooses_to_end_li-ap

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tim Bowers got to decide for himself whether he wanted to live or die.

When the avid outdoorsman was badly hurt Saturday in a hunting accident, doctors said he would be paralyzed and could be on a ventilator for life. His family had a unique request: Could he be brought out of sedation to hear his prognosis and decide what he wanted to do?

Doctors said yes, and Bowers chose to take no extra measures to stay alive. He died Sunday, hours after his breathing tube was removed.........more at link.....

He was asked to decide on this the day after his accident. He just got married in Aug. and has a baby. I just feel he should have been given more time to think about this.
 
Good point, Reader. We'll never know whether the patient's decision was a knee-jerk reaction to a dreadful prognosis or his sincere, well-reasoned wish.

The article is so badly written. I hope they asked him more than "do you want this?", the answer to which is obviously no. That's not the same question as "do you prefer death to a ventilator?"

On another note, I hope he was well sedated after they took him off the ventilator. There's no need for him to suffer more than he already had.
 
I think it is wonderful that the family gave him the option to choose his fate. Many families would be too selfish and only think about their own wants and needs.

People should have the right to choose how they die. This man will now be remembered as the active healthy loving man that he was and his child will always remember his father like that.

Sad thing is this happened because he fell out of a deer stand, this is why hunters are supposed to wear harnesses! Most all fatal hunting "accidents" involve hunters falling out of their deer stands when they nod off.
 
What bothers me is that this man was brought out of sedation yet he was still under the effects of drugs when making his decision.
 
It bothered me because he might have been able to breath later on. They didn't totally know for sure, but knew he'd be a quadriplegic.
 
Reader thanks for the link

snipped from article.

Through it all, Shultz said, her brother never wavered in his decision to die.

"I just remember him saying so many times that he loved us all and that he lived a great life," she said. "At one point, he was saying, 'I'm ready. I'm ready.'"


I see him as being a very brave man.
 
I have very mixed feelings on this. Years ago on one of those ER reality shows, they included the case of a man who had just been paralyzed in a surfing accident. I'll never forget the doctors saying that almost all patients immediately ask for euthanasia (as the patient in the show was doing) because they can't imagine living out their lives paralyzed but after they've had therapy and time to adjust, they begin to accept it. I understand it was a heartbreaking decision for everyone involved but I also can't help but feel it may have been made too soon.
 
I too think it may have been made too soon.
 
I hope people realize that quadriplegics on ventilators have a fairly SHORT life expectancy with a whole lot of pain/suffering in that time. It isn't as if they can just learn to adjust and then they can see their grandkids one day.

I will assume this gentleman and his family knew more about the situation than we do and they made a sound decision.

For those SCI v-quad patients who survived the initial injury and began rehabilitation, 90% survived the first year while only 33% survived five years.

http://netbelieve.com/4quadlife/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=18
 
I feel badly for his family -- there may always be moments when they wonder if they made the right decision to bring him out of sedation and let him make this decision -- or whether he was not intellectually sound enough (due to the meds) to make this decision with a clear mind.
 
What bothers me is that this man was brought out of sedation yet he was still under the effects of drugs when making his decision.

It doesn't say that.

Reader thanks for the link

snipped from article.

Through it all, Shultz said, her brother never wavered in his decision to die.

"I just remember him saying so many times that he loved us all and that he lived a great life," she said. "At one point, he was saying, 'I'm ready. I'm ready.'"


I see him as being a very brave man.

So do I. They simplify things for these articles. But the fact is, this was a decision this man had made long before. Prior to the accident, he had emphatically stated he would not want to live paralyzed, in a wheelchair. This was known to the medical team. And nothing indicates that this was some snap decision on the part of a confused man.

I see an entire medical team involved, a pregnant wife who has no reason to want her husband dead, and the man's brother and other relations and friends, all supporting his decision not to allow further, life saving measures.

IMO, everyone should be allowed to state whether advanced technology may be employed to continue their own life, or whether nature should be able to take its course.
 
Good point, Reader. We'll never know whether the patient's decision was a knee-jerk reaction to a dreadful prognosis or his sincere, well-reasoned wish.

The article is so badly written. I hope they asked him more than "do you want this?", the answer to which is obviously no. That's not the same question as "do you prefer death to a ventilator?"

On another note, I hope he was well sedated after they took him off the ventilator. There's no need for him to suffer more than he already had.

We actually do know. He had been clear prior to the accident, that he would never want to live that way.
Shultz said her family had an idea what her brother would want because he had previously talked with his wife, Abbey, whom he married Aug. 3, about never wanting to spend his life in a wheelchair.
She knows that not everyone would make the same decision. But she's thankful her brother was able to choose for himself. http://www.centurylink.net/news/rea...p-injured_indiana_hunter_chooses_to_end_li-ap
 
I hope people realize that quadriplegics on ventilators have a fairly SHORT life expectancy with a whole lot of pain/suffering in that time. It isn't as if they can just learn to adjust and then they can see their grandkids one day.

I will assume this gentleman and his family knew more about the situation than we do and they made a sound decision.

He had always said that he didn't want to be on life support or other extraordinary measures, this wasn't a spur of the moment thing. We don't know how long he was out of the pain meds before he made the decision and he lived for several hours; at any time he could have changed his mind.
 
I have very mixed feelings on this. Years ago on one of those ER reality shows, they included the case of a man who had just been paralyzed in a surfing accident. I'll never forget the doctors saying that almost all patients immediately ask for euthanasia (as the patient in the show was doing) because they can't imagine living out their lives paralyzed but after they've had therapy and time to adjust, they begin to accept it. I understand it was a heartbreaking decision for everyone involved but I also can't help but feel it may have been made too soon.
Though his brain was not injured, his body was irreparably broken. Surgery could fuse the vertebrae, but that would only allow Bowers to sit up. He would never walk or hold his baby. He might live the rest of his life in a rehabilitation hospital, relying on a machine to help him breathe.
Shultz, an intensive care nurse in Las Vegas, has seen it happen in her job. But her medical training also meant she understood the severity of her brother's injuries. His C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae were crushed.http://www.centurylink.net/news/read/category/Top%20News/article/ap-injured_indiana_hunter_chooses_to_end_li-ap
75 people -family and friends- were in the hospital with him when he died. His pregnant wife, his intensive care nurse sister, etc. I think those who knew him best would know if this decision was made too soon. And since he apparently made his wishes known long before the accident, I have no problem with this.
 
When I started cancer treatment, I was given an Advance Directive to sign, if I chose to do so. Even if one didn't exist here, it was well known what his wishes were.
 
This brought back the memory of my aunt who started showing the symptoms of ms (in her late 20's) years before it was diagnosed, back in the late 60's. She passed away a few years back in her early 70's. The last fifteen plus years she could not move from the neck down. My mom and I would go visit often and take food, she was my mother's brothers' wife. Towards the end on one visit she told my mom that had she known when she was first diagnosed that she would end up the way she did, she would have taken her life years before. My mom and I were both shocked as she was a strict Catholic. So I guess until you are in a situation that will forever change your life you really don't know what you would want. I can't imagine being a quad.
 
I finally read the article (well, a different one, but I'm sure the info is the same)...this guy was a father to be? And you mean to tell me he said, "Nah. I'd rather be dead than see the birth and watch the life of my child"?

I don't buy it. He couldn't have been in his right mind. And if he was...I'm sorry. That sounds pretty selfish to me. Then again, suicide is, in itself, a selfish act, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. To have left his child to never know his/her father, and to leave the child's mother without the benefit of not having to go it alone....? What is the thinking there? Was he so altruistic that he felt he would be doing them a "favor"...so they could have a "normal" life, if he was out of the picture?
 
I finally read the article ....this guy was a father to be? And you mean to tell me he said, "Nah. I'd rather be dead than see the birth and watch the life of my child"?

I don't buy it. He couldn't have been in his right mind. And if he was...I'm sorry. That sounds pretty selfish to me. Then again, suicide is, in itself, a selfish act, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. To have left his child to never know his/her father, and to leave the child's mother without the benefit of not having to go it alone....? What is the thinking there? Was he so altruistic that he felt he would be doing them a "favor"...so they could have a "normal" life, if he was out of the picture?
SBM BBM

I think some people in that position, esp. those who have already has serious discussions w. family & friends, and esp, esp, esp those who have executed written advance directives expressing wishes not to continue life w. certain technology or certain impairments, would see it as altruism.

If this man wished the best for his wife and child, isn't it possible that
he wanted them to be free to have a life not centering around him, bedfast, on a ventilator, etc. possibly for years, w. no or virtually no recovery or regaining of health/movement, etc?

Not saying this would or should be the case for anyone else injured like this, or suffering from other dehabilitating disease, etc.
Just saying it should be an option. And in this case, unlike so many others, he got a chance to reaffirm his wish.

That said, I agree the medical prognosis was reached pretty quickly.

Advance medical directives and health care powers of attorney may be a good topic for The Jury Room? Going there to start a thread. :seeya:).
 
I finally read the article (well, a different one, but I'm sure the info is the same)...this guy was a father to be? And you mean to tell me he said, "Nah. I'd rather be dead than see the birth and watch the life of my child"?

I don't buy it. He couldn't have been in his right mind. And if he was...I'm sorry. That sounds pretty selfish to me. Then again, suicide is, in itself, a selfish act, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. To have left his child to never know his/her father, and to leave the child's mother without the benefit of not having to go it alone....? What is the thinking there? Was he so altruistic that he felt he would be doing them a "favor"...so they could have a "normal" life, if he was out of the picture?

I can tell you sitting here today, in good health..
I would not want to live as a quadriplegic. I'd rather be dead. I never want to be a burden on my loved ones and I wouldn't want to be in a nursing home.
I'd be outta here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
It was on the front page of the IndyStar

"The last thing he wanted was to be in a wheelchair," Abbey Bowers said Wednesday. "To have all that stuff taken away would probably be devastating. He would never be able to give hugs, to hold his baby. We made sure he knew that, so he could make a decision. Even if he decided the other thing, the quality of life would've been very poor. His life expectancy would be very low."...
Tim Bowers' sister, Jenny Shultz, an intensive care nurse in Las Vegas, has seen it happen in her job. But her medical training also meant she understood the severity of her brother's injuries. His C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae were crushed.
"I just remember him saying so many times that he loved us all and that he lived a great life," she said. "At one point, he was saying, 'I'm ready. I'm ready.'"

What made Caplan more comfortable about Bowers' decision was that Shultz said her brother recently told his wife he never wanted to spend his life in a wheelchair.

http://www.indystar.com/usatoday/article/3461259

He survived 5 hours with the tube out and in those hours he could have changed his mind. While he more than likely suffered from a brain injury as well his mind and thoughts were intact and he had talked to his wife prior about not wanting to in a chair.
While I agree it does seem like a knee jerk reaction patient's need to be given autonomy and a choice what goes on with their body when they have no control over what it is doing. He seemed to be right of mind when he chose..
 

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