chronic vegetative state

Drove to Charleston to see my father in hospital. He had another stroke, a major one. A tube attached to a hole in his head is draining the blood out.

The part of his brain with his personality and memories and all, that’s gone. He’s a few autonomic functions and reflexes shy of being brain dead. They called it a chronic vegetative state.

Two days ago, my mother put in a do not resuscitate order. We talked to a family counselor, who explained that in order to do organ donations, they have to wait until his brain stem stops working completely, which it would upon another brain hemorrhage. We also have the option of taking him off life support, but in that case, they couldn't use his organs.

So, my mother has a horrible decision of whether and when to pull the plug. He’s lasted longer than the 72 hours they initially predicted, and has been stable with no change for days. He could persist like this for days or weeks or even months.