Reply #58: $10,000 per day [View All]

During med school I did a pediatric intensive care unit rotation and cared for a child in a worse situation. CT and MRI showed progressive brain dysfunction and there was a minimal amount of reflex function, but no independent movement. The child was on a ventilator, needing constant turning due to atelectasis (lung portions collapsing) and would have continuing pneumonias and tracheitis with all sorts of bugs due to the tracheostomy. After a year, the father had come to terms with his child's state, but mom held out hope that God would intervene and that taking the child off life support was not natural. It was sad to see, but she of course held the final choice in her hands.