daniela -“The nurse would have been covered by Good Samaritan laws in regard to not being liable for damages of all sorts that arise from her intervention and had she been fired, she could have sued and likely won,”
You sound like a lawyer or legal student -which one?
No she wouldn’t be covered and I’ll show you this in my next post.
“but realistically, she would not have been fired at all in connection to the incident, but rather, she would have been let go with some pretext in a few weeks. Which would have been impossible to challenge and also one’s name becomes “known” and one is not offered work, and proving discrimination is next to impossible. Had she done CPR against the employer’s protocol, perhaps she was better off resigning and giving interviews to the media, which would have had good chances to land her a job at a facility with different policies – but likely, not close to home.”
She won’t find work because they all have the exact same policies.
Perhaps medical law is Not your specialty?
“I am aware that we would not be required to jeopardize our job, but still it is despicable.”
I can’t agree with your assessment of “despicable”, unless this applies to almost e/o in the US. She was prevented from helping this sick person due to the company’s policy. And these policies were created due to the Gov’s laws. You can find fault with the laws, but not with s/o who feels they must listen to these laws!
“A normal person would at the very least feel bad about it.”
And how do you know that she didn’t? Are you G-d? Are you a mind reader? So the rest that you wrote is mute.
“A 24hr button (not sure how exactly is called) is a timer which beeps an alarm after 24hr it has been operating. Staff can push a button and reset the counter. Or, if nothing is done, the machine shuts itself off after, I think, 6 or 12 more hours. This allows doctors to set up life support measures and if the patient is stabilized but has otherwise bleak prospects, the family and their rabbi can decide not to continue with efforts; if the patient looks like is responding well, he/she can stay on the respirator (or other life-support) as long as necessary. Such a device is available in Jewish hospitals but I don’t think is very common elsewhere. If the problem is unavailability of the device, a normal timer plug can help. If the problem is that staff is not going to accommodate the patient’s and family’s wishes and beliefs, there is no easy solution.”
I’m not familiar with this timer -is this something that Israeli hospitals have? Maybe the purpose of the timer is for Shabbos use of the ventilator? I don’t know what it has to do with removing a pt. from the vent. I think you are getting two things mixed up. If s/o acc. to you can’t unplug the machine because it’s killing -setting a timer is no different. And anyway if s/o doesn’t have this timer, but doesn’t want to unplug the machine -all they have to do is wait till maintenance time -where the machine is shut off and not put them back on afterwards. Maintenance is at least once a day -sometimes more.
“And please give me a break about ethical committees. Even nazis had them (and to their credit, the “program” with regards to handicapped people was shut down pretty quickly when such ethical committees objected).”
I wasn’t talking about committees. I said they learn Ethics in school. I find it ironic that a legal student or lawyer is lecturing about ethics. I personally have found lawyers and Judges to be the most unethical people around. With your comparison to the SS -this doesn’t even deserve a response.
“I was talking about medical personnel who are uncomfortable with some people’s suffering or supposed suffering – a sedated old person in an ICU does not feel pain, but is difficult to watch and is disturbing, especially for those who share a certain view of life and death”
I see nothing wrong with sedating a pt. so they don’t feel pain!
“and I was talking about medical personnel who “avoid delaying” the unavoidable, in most cases feeling good about it. By the way, “the unavoidable” is unavoidable for everyone, and no one can say how long they will live nor if we will be healthy or disabled (we can have an accident this very day) but this sobering thought does not seem to cross everyone’s mind. It should.”
I have no idea what you just posted.