Letter: Dealing with life and death

Wednesday, June 5, 2002 | 9:22 a.m.

As a registered nurse on an intensive care unit, I must take issue with Ray Harbert's view in his June 2 letter, "Life prolonged long after all hope is gone." It is not the Christian moral bent or the greed of the medical community in regard to prolonged life. I deal with this issue every day, along with my colleagues and the physicians who manage their care.

We are there to save lives and to follow the patients' wishes as best as we can determine. We are not Jack Kevorkians running around trying to snuff people out because we are infatuated with death. People are encouraged to make a choice to determine what end-of-life measures they want: Some choose to have everything done and others want to just pass away quietly and as comfortably as possible. Others pick and choose what procedures they want or do not want.

If the person is incapacitated and unable to make such a choice, the spouse or closest family member must do it for them. If no one is available, a public administrator can make this choice.

It is not for us to determine a person's fate -- we know they are going to die and we know it is a matter of time. We have wrestled with the moral and emotional conflicts on a daily basis. We have our views and discuss it passionately at those nursing stations on a weekly basis. We are not God and we already feel we are walking a razor-thin line between killing someone and letting them go naturally.

Unfortunatley, Mr. Harbert's acquaintance is typical of the majority of our patients. Some have determined what choices they want in this current era of life-sustaining options. We understand that families have difficulty letting go and live in denial. If you don't want to have your life prolonged when all is lost, determine what end-of-life measures you want and let your wishes and desires be known, and we will be glad to accommodate.

LANCE BAKER