tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post4978860972147053396..comments2024-02-24T18:44:39.324-08:00Comments on Trials & Tribulations: The Long, Sad Death of Jahi McMath: The Circus in Oakland—There Are No WinnersSprockethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837416113512618694noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-64559703146594491312014-01-06T10:44:44.054-08:002014-01-06T10:44:44.054-08:00Comments on this post are now closed. Please move ...Comments on this post are now closed. Please move to new post to leave a comment. Thank you! Link to new entry:<br /><br /><a href="http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2014/01/jahi-mcmath-merely-dead-or-really-most.html" rel="nofollow"><b>Jahi McMath: Merely Dead, or Really Most Sincerely Dead?</b></a>Sprockethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03837416113512618694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-34054622399888261392014-01-06T10:25:53.675-08:002014-01-06T10:25:53.675-08:00I have a legal question - In the brief filed Dec ...I have a legal question - In the brief filed Dec 30, page 3 of 16 right under the headline of "Facts" Mr Dolan writes...<br /><br />"On Dec 9, 2013 Jahi McMath underwent a routine tonsillectomy...."<br /><br />Is this not at minimum contempt of court? Or defrauding the court? Can someone put in any inaccurate language they want to in court documents?Cherlynnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-89705285707490785412014-01-06T10:24:10.619-08:002014-01-06T10:24:10.619-08:00Thank you all who have created and contributed to ...Thank you all who have created and contributed to this blog. It's been very insightful and has cleared up a lot of confusion I had with Jahi's very sad situation. There is one question that burns in my mind though. Where is this sweet girl's soul?" To me, when a person is absolutely dead, that person's soul has permanently left their physical body. As I understand Jahi is brain dead, but not cardiac dead. I've read accounts where Doctors have said things like, "when the life machines are turned off, Jahi will likely die within 10 minutes" and that "her death will be painless." That tells me that technically Jahi is not 100% completely dead, right? I worry that this girl's soul hasn't left her physical body permanently and is sadly stuck in limbo (so-to-speak). GoGoGadgethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16796618919477855299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-87398554729308146622014-01-06T09:45:42.901-08:002014-01-06T09:45:42.901-08:00I live near by CHO, and - for purely selfish reaso...I live near by CHO, and - for purely selfish reasons - I'm glad that the media circus will be moving on elsewhere. <br /><br />As for where that is... as has been mentioned, someone at the destination (be it a funeral home or a "clinic") is bound to leak information to the media, and it'll start again...<br /><br />It's a horrific situation and I really hope the family can finally get past this strange state of denial that they're in. Jahi needs a funeral, not a feeding tube.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-15434743034098103302014-01-06T09:38:26.332-08:002014-01-06T09:38:26.332-08:00The attorney for the family is now stating that Ja...The attorney for the family is now stating that Jahi's body is in such poor condition that she might not survive. See this article: <br />http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_24853880/jahi-mcmath-brain-dead-girl-moved-undisclosed-care<br /><br />"He also said the girl's body had "deteriorated so badly" during her treatment at the hospital that the long-term prognosis for survival is not an optimistic one.<br /><br />"She's in very bad shape," he said. "Right now, we don't know if she's going to make it."<br /><br />I just want to say that as an attorney who works primarily on health care-related cases, who serves as legal guardian for several severely disabled individuals who can't make their own decisions, and who has done numerous investigations for the local family court on when to remove life sustaining apparatus, I find this attorney's behavior and comments to be reprehensible. I understand the need to zealously represent a client. I certainly understand how difficult it is to deal with people suffering from extreme grief and denial. But I cannot understand, no matter how hard I try, how he can make such blatant misstatements of fact. <br /><br />This person is allegedly a personal injury attorney. He must have some experience with looking at a medical record, and certainly must operate his practice on the basic premise that doctors have expertise which non-medical personnel do not. (I'm sure he has relied on plenty of doctors' evaluations to support a claim of injury when it suits his client's purposes. Yet in this case he acts like not one expert who has opined that this child is dead is entitled to even the slightest acknowledgement.)<br /><br />I would not be surprised if the family finally gave up and removed the body because the clock was ticking down, and it serves them better to announce that Jahi "died" away from the hospital so that no one will be able to say exactly what happened in the end. Had they waited until Tuesday, when CHO could have removed the ventilator, everything that happened would have been well-documented. Now that they have Jahi's body, they can claim anything they like, including that she was becoming more responsive but, as the attorney seems to be suggesting in the press statement I just quoted, they can claim that CHO took such bad care of her body that she was too weak to heal.<br /><br />My heart breaks for the family, in that I am from a family that lost a child. I know what it is like to touch a deceased child who is still warm. There are no words to express that grief, and my sympathies go out to them on the loss of Jahi. From the pictues she looks to have been a lovely girl with a beautiful smile.<br /><br />But this attorney's behavior in terms of his statements to the press is still reprehensible.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-5735331071642697552014-01-06T09:22:44.827-08:002014-01-06T09:22:44.827-08:00@Anon JANUARY 5, 2014 AT 11:58 PM - "uncle ta...@Anon JANUARY 5, 2014 AT 11:58 PM - "uncle talks about $350 million settlements" - where was this reported?<br /><br />A follow on question, would the family sue CHO for the money to keep Jahi's body on support? What is the likelihood of that? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-4905731679999293672014-01-06T09:09:58.970-08:002014-01-06T09:09:58.970-08:00I'd like to know how this New Beginnings Outpa...I'd like to know how this New Beginnings Outpatient Faciity can be licensed to care for Jahi. They are NOT licensed to care for someone who is on a ventilator. They cannot get that licensing overnight. <br /><br />Plus, there's the fact that the East coast is in the midst of another blizzard right now with high winds. below freezing temps. No medical helicopter is going to fly a non-emergent transport anywhere. Any doctor who would perform a trach and a feeding tube on a dead person ought to have their license revoked.<br /><br />The judge who kept granting the family the TRO's ought to be permanently disbarred from ever practicing LAW again.<br /><br />I hope the truth comes out how the family kept parading visitors in and out, fed Jahi ice cream and a hamburger(as I've read this on more than one website in the comment section) in the immediate post-op period..so I believe that they had something to do with the post-op hemorrhage and cardiac arrest that lead to the brain death of their daughter. I<br /><br /> feel they are fighting for her life because they feel a tremendous amount of guilt. But enough is enough! This circus has gone on 3 weeks too long!KK,ICU CCRNnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-87236480902707108672014-01-06T08:52:25.238-08:002014-01-06T08:52:25.238-08:00People keep mentioning the Zack Dunlap case as an ...People keep mentioning the Zack Dunlap case as an example of "someone coming back from brain death".<br /><br />Actually, the Dunlap case is a textbook of how NOT to do a diagnosis of brain death.<br /><br />1. They initiated the tests WAY too soon. 36 hours after trauma is too soon. But, we are talking _days_, not _weeks_ in how long you should wait. Drugs, hypothermia, and head trauma can all cause TEMPORARY (and reverseable) loss of measureable blood flow and significant measureable electrical activity.<br /><br />2. They ran ONE PET scan. The standard is TWO PET scans, at significant intervals (I have seen 6, 12, and 24 hour intervals, depending on jurisdiction).<br /><br />3. The patient was apparantly exhibiting textbook responses to physical stimuli that indicated that he had NOT suffered whole brain death.<br /><br />i.e., Zack Dunlap was misdiagnosed in an egregious breach of the medical standards of practice. He did NOT "recover after being brain dead".<br /><br />Jahi doesn't fall into ANY of the issues that confuse the Dunlap case. She is dead, and has been dead since at least 12 Dec 2013.<br /><br />The only reason a death certificate has been issued while the heart still beats is that the family has insisted on keeping the heart beating through artifical means (yes - the heart beat is ENTIRELY sustained by artifical means - i.e., if you turned the ventilator off, it would stop in about a minute, beacue it wouldnt; be getting the artifical support of oxygen ventilation) more than three weeks after the girl _died_. Yet they insist that according to their medical beliefs, she isn't dead until the heart THEY ORDERED BE KEPT BEATING ARTIFICALLY stops "on its own".<br /><br />Of course, the longer her body is allowed to degrade while kept artifically and incompletely preserved via medical "support", the less the chance that an autopsy will be able to determine whether the cause of death was ultimately malpractice by the hospital or noncompliance by the family.<br /><br />That DOES affect the payoff. If there is NO malpractice, the family and lawyer get _nothing_, AND the family will be (theoretically, not that I expect them to EVER pay) on teh hook for the cost of treatments, certainly for teh use of resources after 12 Dec 2013. <br /><br />If there _was_ malpractice, there is a reasonable chance they can get the hospital to eat the costs, even for the post-mortem resources.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-40148982149008679142014-01-06T08:32:25.516-08:002014-01-06T08:32:25.516-08:00Reading the comments on this blog reveals that peo...Reading the comments on this blog reveals that people are under the impression that Jahi had three separate surgeries to correct her apnea. She had the three surgeries in tandem, NOT separately.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-35523975978083505792014-01-06T05:40:55.364-08:002014-01-06T05:40:55.364-08:00According to this article, the family has already ...According to this article, the family has already removed her body from Children's.<br /><br />http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/06/health/jahi-mcmath-girl-brain-deadAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-48036775370116729662014-01-06T04:30:22.371-08:002014-01-06T04:30:22.371-08:00It was stated in a recent Mail Online article, the...It was stated in a recent Mail Online article, the body was released to the mother by coroner. Then transported by ambulance to the mother's "HOME"!?! There was also mention of intent for some long term facility to care for. <br />But as I understood it to mean, the family has essentially drug a corpse home with them in the interim bc they didn't like the Drs' prognosis. Horrifying! Those poor siblings will have nightmares for life.<br />-CTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-61119141629512395622014-01-06T03:49:47.146-08:002014-01-06T03:49:47.146-08:00Now, to address several questions. Given that ther...Now, to address several questions. Given that there has been a change in the situation and Jahi has been removed from CHO the people who previously posted these questions may no longer be looking for answers but I will briefly address some of them. Firstly, with respect to Jahi's obstructive sleep apnoa - I have discussed paediatric OSA with a paediatric specialist colleague of mine who states that the treatment options are different compared with adult OSA. While weight loss is still encouraged it is more common to proceed to surgery because hereditary large adenoids are far more common in paediatric OSA than in adult OSA and these can only be fixed surgically. Therefore Jahi's surgeries were not unreasonable and sometimes several procedures are necessary until a good outcome is achieved. This should put to rest the comments stating that Jahi's family were irresponsible in opting for surgery for her or questioning the reason that doctors advised surgery in a child.<br /><br />Secondly, many people have been asking about suctioning in the post operative period. Once again this is speculative including no clear information on the type of suction device used. Jahi's family have stated that they suctioned her when she began bleeding but I have read at least two articles that state that Jahi's mother was given the suction device by a nurse to use. Suctioning performed aggressively or using a hard tipped suction device can in fact exacerbate bleeding. Usually we attempt to pack the mouth, nose and throat region to tamponade bleeding following a mouth, nose or throat surgical procedure. This helps to settle bleeding better but can be difficult to do without compromising the patient's airway. In very complicated or risky patients we keep them intubated post-operatively for twelve hours with packs in their throats and mouth to stabilize all bleeding sites and maintain a secure airway. We then extubate them the next day and monitor their haemostasis.<br /><br />There have been conflicting comments regarding the family being irresponsible to encourage Jahi to eat post-op and suctioning her without supervision and also comments stating that the CHO ICU is an open unit with only curtains between bays allowing nurses to observe all bays so therefore the family's claims that they called for nurses and received no help is inaccurate. ICU is an area of one-to-one nursing. This means that there should be nursing staff present all of the time and if so they should have re-directed Jahi's family not to feed her or suction her. If they were absent then Jahi's family are accurate in stating that they didn't respond to her deterioration. This is the danger in speculation - which of these things occurred? Were the staff present or absent? We cannot know and we can't blame either group of people without clear evidence.<br />- ArtefactAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-42265342736226068782014-01-06T03:27:00.499-08:002014-01-06T03:27:00.499-08:00A friend of mine (who happens to be an ICU Doctor ...A friend of mine (who happens to be an ICU Doctor and has been for 5 years) said something to me tonight. It may seem a little crude but here we go:<br /><br />"Whole brain and brain stem death with no circulation is the equivalent of being decapitated. The body, as long as there is ventilation to the nodes of the heart and perfusion to the visceral organs, will continue to function to a degreee but no recovery of life is possible. Jahi is basically a Frankenstein-esque headless corpse, animated by machines."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-7175132817005272452014-01-06T03:26:46.430-08:002014-01-06T03:26:46.430-08:00We are also the specialty that must cultivate our ...We are also the specialty that must cultivate our communication skills because we deal with families more than patients. Each of my thirty two patients in my current unit, excluding the high-dependency unit, are sedated and on ventilators so I don't get to speak to them or ask them questions. Instead I communicate with their families. I have to help these families understand what is happening to their loved one, help them deal with the shock of seeing them hooked up to multiple machines, help them understand our decision making and the risks and benefits of every intervention that we initiate. It's a lot to take in, especially when things have happened suddenly. It requires me (and all of the wonderful nurses, physiotherapists and technicians that I work with) to practice compassion every day. This situation with Jahi's family is a stark example of our calling to be compassionate whilst still being clear in our clinical decisions and medical therapies. It is an example of why and how we must engage with families to help them understand the incredible complexities of the human body, the extreme challenges of trauma and severe illness, the myriad details that we know, document and address every day in the treatment of our patients. ICU is a specialty that is so many shades of grey.<br /><br />I guess this is what has frustrated me about some of the comments even on this site. This situation is not one of blaming the hospital (for the surgery, for the resuscitation, for the diagnosis of brain death, for their supposed treatment of Jahi and her family after her diagnosis of brain death) or of blaming Jahi's family (for her weight, for not trying CPAP, for giving her something to eat, for suctioning her, for not expressing grief the way we expect them to, for not understanding, for not accepting, for going through legal channels and fighting the system in a way that we have interpreted as selfish). This has been a complex and difficult case and simply can't be characterized in such a black and white way. The only thing that has been definite about the case is that Jahi is most certainly brain dead and therefore her situation is irreversible rendering her legally deceased. I can see that the situation has left people with strong feelings and beliefs that they have spoken up about and I respect that everyone has the right to their opinions. However, I still believe that it is important on sites like this one, that promote fair and accurate reporting of events and situations, it is vital that the site administrators remain unbiased in their discussion of facts. It is not easy to do and I am grateful to see many people who are defending the work of the hospital and it's medical staff. Integrity can only be maintained if we are aware of our own biases and if we acknowledge them and do our best to work with and around them.<br />-ArtefactAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-55905621988910080432014-01-06T03:25:30.779-08:002014-01-06T03:25:30.779-08:00Sorry for the long breaks between my posts and tha...Sorry for the long breaks between my posts and that I haven't had a chance to reply to some questions - some heavy shifts and family commitments take precedence sometimes (most of the other medical people here know that it's hard to maintain a work life balance in the health system). I'm very glad that my comments have allowed some people to understand the process of brain death and ICU care a little better and I wish that I could talk through it with some of you because exchanging comments seems to be tricky and may not always convey concepts well. I feel a sense of relief that Jahi has been moved from CHO and that for now at least the media firestorm might settle down somewhat. Some of the deeply racist, uneducated and unfeeling comments I have read on other articles have been very disheartening. This tragic situation has revealed a lot about the public's understanding of brain death, the intricacies of medical resuscitation, the process of grief, how we look for someone to blame (the hospital versus Jahi's family) and also key legal issues with regards to medical services, hospital policy and the power of the courts to override legal precedents.<br /><br />Those of us who work regularly in ICU know that our specialty more than others is on the frontier of ethical issues because we often have to evaluate situations that pertain to life and death. We deal with some of the sickest people in the hospital, we deal with complicated equipment, we deal with lives that are constantly hanging in the balance where we measure changes minute to minute and have to put it all together to interpret the bigger picture and make the right decisions for patients in the context of the limited resources of a health system already under strain. We have the highest mortality rate in our specialty, we deal with death daily (if we are a moderate sized unit that accepts trauma patients). We also consume the most money out of all the specialties in the hospital because, as you can imagine, our equipment and medicines do not come cheap.<br />- ArtefactAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-68849631801613150072014-01-05T23:58:41.714-08:002014-01-05T23:58:41.714-08:00The unscrupulous attorney Dolan stated at his '...The unscrupulous attorney Dolan stated at his 'press conference' on tonite's news... that while the family is sure Jahi will recover, it has been made 'more difficult' because "she has been treated as a dead person medically" for these weeks... i.e. when she doesn't 'wake up' it will be Children's fault. It is exactly clear they are planning a huge lawsuit & building in language to preempt interpretation of the eventual outcome.<br /><br />I cannot understand the elation, jubilation of the uncle & crowd outside the hospital... they must believe fantasy; that only thing keeping her non-responsive has been the care at CHO. Like movies or scary scenes of raising the dead with potions, or old Frankenstein flicks... such an air of horror movie non-reality... while uncle talks about $350 million settlements. Jahi is gone, tonite I am feeling for the good folks at Children's right now... they'll need counseling. They fight to save lives & keep families together... this is macabre, dark & totally discouraging.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-89200621029875222672014-01-05T23:02:04.780-08:002014-01-05T23:02:04.780-08:00@Jacqueline W. excellent point & seems like co...@Jacqueline W. excellent point & seems like common sense to me. <br />It is disgraceful, yet not surprising, how MSM has distorted the facts in this case. Anything to play on sympathy & create drama to keep a story generating interest. <br />If I see "life support" one more time, I will scream! Worse, used in conjunction with "death certificate," & "coroner" details. Really?!<br />The latest attorney statement accuses the hospital of denying her food for 26 days! Essentially depriving the brain of needed nutrients to heal. < either this is the most medically ignorant attorney on the planet, or he is lying knowingly through his teeth! Despicable! -anon 1/4 @ 11:20pm & 1/5 (CT)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-61571556035386757942014-01-05T22:57:15.980-08:002014-01-05T22:57:15.980-08:00I know a friend passed away, death cerf issued, an...I know a friend passed away, death cerf issued, and after autopsy, it was revised with cause of death later. I am curious about the diff in laws in NY compared to CA about caring for a dead person. What kind of hoops there. Facility not lic other than owners HairStylist and real estate lic and cemetery owner lic. Are they going to use those? sarc. When heart stops, who has jurisdiction? lots of questionsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-55043377109876075832014-01-05T22:10:52.516-08:002014-01-05T22:10:52.516-08:00Rectification on Friso...
Friso was not on a ven...Rectification on Friso... <br /><br />Friso was not on a ventilator and after spending 15 months in a London hospital (there is no long term care facility for PVS-coma patients over 25 yrs of age in The Netherlands) and his wife and children live in London, he was discretely transferred to his mother's palace in The Hague in June or July to "pass the summer. By that time he showed signs of minimal consciousness but died from "complications as a result of the brain damage," as it was worded by the royal family's press office.<br />They did not pull the plug, which was evident by the fact that the king (his brother) and queen were away on holiday in Greece the day he passed away.<br /><br />You are right though that it all went in a dignified manner<br />and must have been horrid for the family and the then queen BeatrixCoconutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-68883259722258187462014-01-05T22:06:53.212-08:002014-01-05T22:06:53.212-08:00Perhaps when Jahi was released from the hospital t...Perhaps when Jahi was released from the hospital to the coroner (then in turn to the Mother), the coroner could complete cause of death in some way other than autopsy? <br /><br />The death certificate seems important for two reasons: 1 insurance most likely does not cover people who have completed death certificates, and 2) any lawsuits for non-dead people have much higher settlements than for dead people (which in the state of CA has a cap of 250k).<br /><br />I am really curious about if this death certificate was completed and the health dept. accepted it, if anyone has any info?<br /><br />Thanks.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-40995179807686367792014-01-05T22:00:26.091-08:002014-01-05T22:00:26.091-08:00The Alameda County Coroner issued a death certific...The Alameda County Coroner issued a death certificate, but the death certificate has to be accepted by the health department (is this a state institution, or federal?) to be considered final. However, the health department will not accept the death certificate because it's incomplete. Death certificates need a cause of death, as determined in an autopsy! <br /><br />I'm no lawyer, but what all this seems to mean is that Jahi fits the legal definition of death, and there is a paper trail documenting her death, but she is not as of yet considered dead by the state of CA? <br /><br />It's like a legal representation of theological limbo.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-22297187606016731662014-01-05T21:33:06.514-08:002014-01-05T21:33:06.514-08:00
NewsBreaker@NewsBreaker
NEW DETAILS: Jahi McM...<br />NewsBreaker@NewsBreaker <br />NEW DETAILS: Jahi McMath, 13, left a Calif. hospital while attached to a ventilator but without a feeding tube http://bit.ly/19YKRll - @AP<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-45059841673070547112014-01-05T21:27:43.613-08:002014-01-05T21:27:43.613-08:00I expect it won't be long before the media fin...I expect it won't be long before the media finds out where Jahi's body was taken. Just have to sit back and be patient. <br /><br />It will be interesting to see what develops from here.Sprockethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03837416113512618694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-87300179144583222452014-01-05T21:25:09.813-08:002014-01-05T21:25:09.813-08:00Even though she or her body has been moved, are we...Even though she or her body has been moved, are we still welcome to fire off some questions?<br /><br />If yes, I saw on the uncle's twitter account that he was "screaming" for a CA licensed pediatrician, prob to insert the tubes. Now that she has first been handed over to the coroner's office, meaning confirmed and certified as being dead I presume, is it allowed for a doctor to perform an operation or such a procedure on a dead body?Coconutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6757696342634699253.post-65004476171480374812014-01-05T21:14:31.785-08:002014-01-05T21:14:31.785-08:00One case I don't hear people talking about, th...One case I don't hear people talking about, that informs the Jahi case, is that of Dutch Prince Friso. Friso was not brain dead, rather severely brain damaged (somewhere between a coma and a persistent vegetative state), so he was legally alive as opposed to Jahi who is legally dead. But from a 'belief' standpoint -- the families were very similar, hoping against hope for the person to 'come back'.<br /><br />Of course, being European aristocracy gave him unlimited funds to hire expertise, facilities, technology, etc. After about a year of what was undoubtedly the best-of-the-best medical treatment, the Royal family decided to 'pull the plug' and he passed away.<br /><br />Granted, Jahi has some powerful interests behind her. Perhaps even in the financial realm of the Dutch Royal family? Probably not. <br /><br />However, Jahi's situation is much more dire medically (being legally dead), and probably significantly disadvantaged financially as well. <br /><br />My point is this: take a note from those Royals who know how to do one thing well, if nothing else. Be dignified. <br /><br />Die with dignity. What memories do you leave behind? What stories do people tell of you after you're gone?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com