In the United States, how many times a year is life support removed from terminally ill patients?

Question

Given the circus around the Schiavo case last year, I'm curious how often the issue arises without fanfare where a relative makes the decision to remove life support from someone in a persistent vegatative state (PVS).

Answer 1

The better question to ask is,"How many times has life support been removed from someone without a living will or medical power of attorney?" The government only had the husband's word as to what his wife wanted, despite the fact there were serious questions as to his motivation for seeing his wife euthanized. Neither legal documents were present in the Schiavo case. If they had been none of the problems we saw would have happened.

Answer 2

Keep in mind most people who pass away in hospitals are taken off of life support. Most patients with a living will have pre thought out this problem and refuse to even go onto life support. Unfortuantely most younger people, like Terry Shiavo do not make out a living will because the thought that they may become terminally injured or ill does not enter their mind. It is always a hard decision but usually when no more brain function is detectible and the machine is the only way the person is kept alive.