Tani and Gloria Cruz“Hopeless” and “brain dead” are expressions which have to be used with great caution, it seems, judging from the experience of an Australian woman.

“Hopeless” and “brain dead” are expressions
which have to be used with great caution, it seems, judging from the experience
of an Australian woman.

Gloria Cruz, 56, had a stroke in her sleep
and was operated on at a Darwin hospital. Doctors told her husband, Tani, that
her case was “hopeless” and that she would probably die in 48 hours. They
wanted to turn the ventilator off, but Mr Cruz asked for a 48-hour reprieve. “I’m a Catholic – I believe in miracles,” he
pleaded.

Later a doctor, social worker
and patient advocate all rang him and once again insisted that the ventilator
should be turned off.

After two weeks it was turned off. And three days later Mrs Cruz
awoke, to the astonishment of the hospital staff. Now she is alert and in a wheelchair at
the hospital. Her husband told the Northern Territory News: “She’s well on the way to recovery.” ~ Northern Territory News, May 11

Michael Cook
brain death

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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