Real Life Drama

So my dear friend ends up taking care of a near drowning victim. She's from an ultra religious family, and they don't accept the concept of brain death.

Brain Death is one of the worst terms ever proferred by ethicists. It really means "death," since no one has ever come back from brain death. Still, to religious kooks, the fact that a heart can be kept beating, even when the brain is essentially jello, gives hope that the Invisible Man in the sky can still swoop down and cure the patient.

My friend's colleagues and nurses are angry at him for not "standing up to the family," and getting the corpse out of the hospital. The family's angry at him for being "too aggressive" in his attempts to explain to them that their beloved daughter is gone, and continuing mechanical support is harmful and hurtful.

I really hurt for him during this time. He's doing everything completely right, both from a medical and a human standpoint, and he's being villified. I hope there's some reward in store, somewhere and somehow.

In a related story, I got a call from an old client who wanted me to take his nephew's case. The young man was in the middle of a burglary, when spotted by the authorities. In attempting to escape, he jumped into a canal and drowned.

I'm not taking the case. I have that option. My friend doesn't.