9.30.2007

For the medical peeps out there


Anything medical totally grosses me out and makes me feel woozy. I was watching an old episode of Grey's Anatomy last night. It was the episode where some guy came in and needed to have a standstill surgerical operation.

"Standstill operation is a surgical procedure that involves cooling the body of the patient and stopping blood circulation. It is used to repair brain aneurysms and aortic arch defects.

The procedure requires keeping the patient in a state of hibernation at 15 degrees Celsius with no breathing, heartbeat, or brain activity for up to one hour. Blood is drained from the body to eliminate blood pressure. The patient is considered clinically dead during the operation." -- Wikipedia


So..."technically" did the doctor "kill" the patient? Is that murder, even though he was brought back to life? What do you think?

3 comments:

PETE Di LALLO said...

This is a somewhat similar question to the one I asked in my latest blog about the dead bird(and thanks for your comment on it)

if I had to die before getting better I'd pass on this procedure...and I wonder how many 'hold harmless' forms you have to sign before...

Anonymous said...

i always have to turn my head away when i watch grey's.

oh, wait, i was talking about the TRAIN WRECK that is the storyline between george and izzy.

the surgeries are gross, too.

Anonymous said...

I know I'm nurse but when the resident gives me report about the eye surgeries I sing Spice Girls in my head. yucky. I've only got caught once not paying attention....