03-23-2005, 07:33 PM
OAS Wrote:We put to much thought into what constitutes life. To me it is simple. Breathing, heartbeat, functioning brain that keeps the body doing what it needs to do. All of this on it's own. If you need an umbilical cord or a machine to make any of this work 100%, you are not alive. Pull the power to the machine and if you keep breathing your brain tells your body to function and your heart beats, you are alive. Cut the umbilical cord and the same thing. If you require food and water to sustain life as long as your brain allows your body to physically consume the food fine. A baby knows to naturally suck a nipple placed into it's mouth after it is born. We don't train the baby to learn how to suck the nipple, it comes naturally. Placing a tube down our throat to feed us is not natural. If the brain does not know how to consume the food, your dead.So what you are saying is that no one should ever be assisted with feeding themselves?
That would mean a lot of the living now would have been dead long ago.
What about a premature baby or a stroke patient that has their mind but not their body. Should we just sit there and watch them die without lifting a finger?
I don't think so.