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Letters |1 January 1997

Physicians' Attitudes about Patients in the Persistent Vegetative State

William W. Stead, MD

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Author, Article, and Disclosure Information
  • Arkansas Department of Health; Little Rock, AR 72205-3867
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TO THE EDITOR:
I was pleased to see the article [1] and accompanying editorial [2] on the PVS. The paper by Gilligan and Raffin [3] and the essay by Dr. Hansot [4] brought to mind personal experiences with two older sisters, one of whom remained in a PVS for 5 years. During that time, the nursing home insisted on maintaining the flickering flame of life. Her living will and a letter from her long-time personal physician were ignored. They relented shortly after she qualified for Medicaid.
The other sister was on a respirator because of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that developed after decades of smoking. Efforts to wean her from the respirator had failed three times. She was growing weaker and suffered during her occasional wakeful periods. The young pulmonologist ignored her living will and would listen neither to me, board-certified in pulmonary disease, nor to our niece, a board-certified internist with considerable experience in geriatrics. As in Dr. Hansot's experience, the pulmonologist never returned to the bedside.
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Stead WW. Physicians' Attitudes about Patients in the Persistent Vegetative State. Ann Intern Med. ;126:90. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-126-1-199701010-00024

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Published: Ann Intern Med. 1997;126(1):90.

DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-126-1-199701010-00024

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Print ISSN: 0003-4819 | Online ISSN: 1539-3704

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