Last night we watched a new show, Three Rivers. We missed the first five minutes, but apparently it takes place in a major hospital in the transplant department. Within minutes I was hooked.
Mandy Patinkin guest starred on last night’s episode, a performance that should definitely garner him an Emmy. He was awesome. He played the part of a patient who was slowly dying from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and had been involved in a car crash. To summarize, there was some internal damage that meant he would have to live what was left of his life on a ventilator, having the machine breathe for him, essentially losing what little mobility he still had.
I have never knowingly met anyone who had this insidious disease, but Mandy was totally believable in this role. He brought the character to life. His character decided that he did not want to live that way any more. That he wanted his death to mean something. ALS was not going to be the victor here. He decided to donate his organs to those in need. His daughter wanted to block it, he was her father and she didn’t want him to die. But soon his heart was spoken for, then his lungs, his kidneys – many people’s lives would be changed due to his selfless gift.
In a very poignant moment you see the doctor asking the patient to sign the organ transplant release – something that is generally done by the family of the person that has passed and is making a gift of their loved one’s organs.
He was being kept alive artificially by the ventilator. Without the vent he would be dead. He died on his own terms – giving life and quality of life to others. He didn’t let the ALS win. As they wheeled him off to the Operating Room to begin the harvesting of the organs, he seemed so at peace. It was so emotional – his daughter saying goodbye, all the families of the patients that were to receive his organs were lining the halls as he went by. I was sobbing so hard at this point – poor KoD’s shirt got totally tearstained!
But is it morally and ethically right for a dying person to decide when to die? They portrayed a discussion between the doctors and the ethics committee and a vote on whether they were going to allow the patient to terminate his own life on these terms. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of him being able to choose.
On the one hand I am against any type of euthanasia – life and death is all in God’s hands, it’s up to Him to decide. But this man was put on a ventilator, and without it he would have died. How do we know whether it was the right thing to do or not, to put him on a vent? Maybe his time would have been up without the vent and by putting him on the vent they were just prolonging his life unnecessarily. But then again. on the other hand, he was dying, it was just a matter of months if not weeks. He wanted his death, that was going to happen anyway, to mean something. Shouldn’t he have that choice?
What about the surgeon who opened him up to take his heart? Did he actually technically kill him? How can a doctor knowingly partake in a surgery like this knowing his patient was going to die under his knife? Even if the medical ethics committee signed off on it?
While the show moved me more than any show in recent history, it left me very confused about who was right in this.
Please, share your thoughts. I would just like to add that we all know that this is a contentious issue, but please comment politely and do not attack people of differing opinions. If anyone knows the Halacha on this issue, please do not hesitate to share.
14 responses so far ↓
hadassahsabo // November 16, 2009 at 5:14 pm |
click on this link from Rabbi Josh Yuter – his thoughts on organ donation, that he wrote after a medical ethics conference at Yeshiva University.
Audrey // November 16, 2009 at 5:29 pm |
Hello My Friend,
I work in a major Transplant center here in the city, the cases I deal with are traumas and cerebrals anneurysms on patients who are officially brain dead, and it takes 2 physicians and multiple tests to confirm brain death and it is spanned over many hrs., so legally when the surgeon performs the harvest the pt. is dead, only being kept on life support to perfuse the organs until ready for transplant. Audrey
hadassahsabo // November 16, 2009 at 5:48 pm |
but in this case, the patient himself decided to have his organs harvested – can that fly legally?
Daniella // November 16, 2009 at 6:21 pm |
Even though a patient like this could get through all this chaos and survive, I can’t say it would be illegal or anything bad actually. It was his decision to die, and like he said, there is a difference between suicide and the choice to give up your one life to save more than one, so I can’t really say this would be illegal since it’s the patients choice to do what he or she wishes to do.
Lady Lock and Load // November 16, 2009 at 6:38 pm |
What happens when it’s techiyat hamaitim, if someone gave up an organ or limb does one come back to life without those organs/limbs?
Fern Cohen // November 16, 2009 at 7:08 pm |
I have ALS [diagnosed Jan, 2004] and I have been told that no one will want my organs when I die. Eventually all ALS patients have to make the decision to go on a vent or die. I have already appointed 2 friends as health care proxies and told them no trache and vent. To be on a trache and artificial ventilation means having to be in a nursing home for the rest of one’s life unless there is a huge amount of money. To come home on artificial ventilation costs about $100,000 a year and there are very few who can afford that. It is hard to live with any quality of life on artificial ventilation. The depiction of most ALS patients in the media is grossly inaccurate. I wish they would consult with the ALS community. If Mandy Patinkin gets an Emmy for this performance, it will be an insult to ALS patients everywhere.
KickALS // November 16, 2009 at 8:28 pm |
All of this is a matter of opinion, religion, politics…the right to life..etc…
but I will say that Mandy Patinkin’s performance was absolutely horrendous. All he had to do was do a little research or visit with even one person with ALS to see that people with ALS don’t speak like that. He was making the most stupid faces and it was pissing me off. Even if his character was diagnosed the day before this car accident, he would not have been laughing as hard as he was (in the opening scene) with ALS nor would he with a torn diaphragm. It was so inaccurate and horrifying. I’m sure for Hollywood’s sake, it was a tear jerker and even more so, a sad reminder to those who have lost loved ones to this devastating disease.
The ALS community is so desperate for awareness & there was a huge outpouring of hope that this would help to put ALS in the minds of those who have never heard of it- but it did not. It did not describe ALS What-so-Ever!
And I might add, that the difference between ALS and many other fatal diseases, is that- as Fern explained-…If you cannot afford or do not have the family support, then people with ALS do not have a choice to live or die. But those who do- and those who choose life- can live productive lives, filled with dignity and love. It is a terrible, outrageous horror to learn that not only are you faced with one of the worst diseases in the world, you have to make this choice. There are very few disease where you get to opt out like this. There are many people living on a ventilator who have no regrets and although have been stricken by ALS which paralyzes your entire body- have the support to remain happy and alive.
The Leonard Florence Center for Living in Chelsea. Mass. is a prime example of exactly the opposite of the premise of this movie. The first of many high-tech facilities enabling people with ALS to live on a ventilator by a group of forward thinking people who realize that technology + Care + Love, make living with ALS a reality. It is the first of many to open- and I pray it gives everyone who chooses to live despite ALS the opportunity to say F U ALS! THAT is taking control of ALS. Not dying from it.
ps That show sucked
Kathy // November 16, 2009 at 8:43 pm |
It is a choice. My Mother chose to not be on a vent. She said that she did not want to live like that. I tried to get her to change her mind but she wouldn’t . She talked with our Pastor several times. I asked her what they talked about and she said I just want to make sure that I go straight to heaven with no stops inbetween.
I miss her everyday of my life. She was my best friend. She was very strong about her decision and it was her decision.
Megan // November 16, 2009 at 11:54 pm |
I have F ALS. Out of my uncles and dad none wanted a vent. I do. God already chose to take us with our dignosis. As far as cost, I have insurance. My mother has been told and will fullfill my wishes of taking me off of it when I no longer can communicate and I am locked out. . My death will NEVER be my choice. As far as being stuck in bed, a vent is portable. Just because someone has ALS does not mean they can’t use their being somehow and be a posative influence on others. If I could still love than I can keep going and live to the full potential of my being as God intended. I am donating my body to science and if I could donate all my organs I would . I speak only for myself and no other patient. And yes the show sucked .
Michael Feldstein // November 17, 2009 at 10:10 am |
What happens when it’s techiyat hamaitim, if someone gave up an organ or limb does one come back to life without those organs/limbs?
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If Hashem can resurrect people from the dead, don’t you think He can provide you with new organs!
Organs decompose after death anyway in a matter of weeks.
Halachic organ donation is a very complex subject, and the best place to find out more information about the subject is on the Halachic Organ Donor Society website (www.hods.org). It includes more tha 100 different articles, video testimony, and a fair presentation of this complicated issue.
In short, the halachic argument is not about whether organ donation is allowed or not but about the halachic definition of death. Some poskim (most notably Rabbi Tendler) hold that halachic death is defined by brain stem death, in which case a person may donate organs after the brain stem has died but while the heart is still beating. Others (most notably Rabbi Bleich)believe that halachic death is defined as cessation of heartbeat, in which case you would halachically be murdering a person if you harvested organs after brain death but before the heart stops beating.
All 50 states and virtually every country in the world has defined legal medical death as brain stem death.
Hope this helps folks understand the issue better.
Chuck Hummer // November 17, 2009 at 12:33 pm |
Like Fern, I have ALS and would love to see an accurate portrayal of living and dying with ALS. TV and films have predominantly chosen to skew their message to tears rather than reality. What a shame for there is much to learn from those of us living and dying with this disease.
As far as living on invasive ventilation, there are some who have made that choice and have the internal strength to live a satisfying life. I wish that I will have that strength when I am faced with that decision, I have asked about the time when one no longer wishes to take extraordinary measures like invasive ventilation and I have been told without exception that there is no moral reason to continue ventilation and to let nature takes its course.
hadassahsabo // November 17, 2009 at 12:38 pm |
I have been reading through the comments here about how ALS affects people’s lives in such an invasive manner. I am in awe of those who have the strength to go through every day struggling with this disease and the hardships it foists on them. You are brave people. I pray that a cure is found for this insidious disease, and that it is found very soon to help all of you.
Rose // November 17, 2009 at 2:07 pm |
yea i watched it too and had to go thru a heart and double lung transplant myself..if i had to be put on life support for the rest of my life yea i would chose to terminate the life support in fact i have a living will that says just that. if a person wants to die and not live like a vegatable or in a wheelchair and they r going to die without the support yes they have the right to decide when they die
Rebecca // November 17, 2009 at 8:02 pm |
I think is is such a mitzvah to donate ones organs. With a donation, so many people can go on to live wonderful lives and the person who gives up his/her organs is not living a quality of life anyway. In the case of someone who dies and the family gives the organs, here again, so much of a loved one lives on. I know from the time I was a little girl my mother made me promise that I would contact the eye bank so that her corneas could be used. I don’t know how she knew that the rest of her organs would not be salvagable way back when but she did. I did exactly as she asked and I knew that she was content. I don’t know the official Jewish take on it but I would go more with my emotional feelings. I am an organ donor.