I read the article "Brainwaves" that was on the Star Tribune Website but was published in the New York Times on February 4th 2010. I thought this was a very interesting article. It talked about the ethical dilemma of "pulling the plug" on someone who is in a vegetative state. It says that now physicians are rethinking the diagnosis of someone who is supposedly in a vegetative state because there have been more and more stories of people who's brain activity has come back and were able to respond to things again. Even though these cases are rare it is causing a lot of problems for physicians because families don't want to let their family members go because of their hope that they might come back to them. I feel that this is a very sticky issue. I think Doctor's should have a very precise method of determining whether someone is brain dead and if they will stay brain dead. I also had a problem with a comment that someone left on the article concerning the cost of keeping someone who is in a vegetative state in the hospital. This person said that "these are some expensive vegetables (that you can't eat). I thought this was a very disturbing comment. This is a human life we are talking about. I feel that money should not matter when we are talking about someone's loved one. I feel the family should have the choice of whether or not to keep them alive and cost should not be an that big of an issue.
Dear Benedict Carey,
I thought that the article "Brainwaves" that you wrote in the New York Times on February 4th 2010 was a very interesting article and has brought up a very controversial issue in today's society. Although I feel that doctor's should work on a better diagnostic technique for determining someone to be in a complete vegetative state, I feel the new diagnostic technique that is currently being worked on that was mentioned in your article is confusing and will cause potential problems for families and give them false hope that their family member may come out of this vegetative state. I feel physicians should work on a very precise way to diagnose someone who is in a vegetative state that will determine whether they will ever be able to come out of it or not. Even though I feel the decision to pull the plug should be up to the family they should be given a clear understanding of whether their loved one is clinically brain dead or if there is a potential for them to come out of their state. Thank you for writing about this issue. There is a lot more that should be done concerning these patients.
Sincerely,
Ashley Hintz
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Bravo! I almost did this article, but couldn't settle on a way to approach it.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really great job getting your ideas in there in a brief but expressive way. I do see a few quickly-fixed grammar errors though, and I'll do my best to point them out so you can fix them-
First, you should italicize The New York Times. ("The" is part of the title of the paper so capitalize and italicize that too.)
Next, when you refer to "doctors" make sure you don't put the apostrophe, as in "doctor's".
Say the full second sentence out loud. Then, try omitting "that is currently being worked on" and see how it sounds to you afterward.
Here's a copy/paste of some more editorial suggestions (I can't do the italics in a comment though):
Dear Benedict Carey,
I thought that the article "Brainwaves" which you wrote for The New York Times on February 4th was a very interesting article and has brought up a very controversial issue in today's society. Although I agree that doctors should work on a better diagnostic technique for determining if someone is in a complete vegetative state, I feel the new diagnostic technique that was mentioned in your article is confusing and will cause potential problems for families and give them false hope that their family member may come out of this vegetative state. I think physicians should work on a very precise way to diagnose someone who is in a vegetative state that will determine whether or not they will ever be able to come out of it. Even though I feel the decision to pull the plug should be up to the family, I believe they should first be given a clear understanding of whether their loved one is clinically brain dead or if there is a potential for them to come out of their state. Thank you for writing about this issue. There is a lot more that should be done concerning these patients.
Sincerely,
Ashley Hintz
...So, I'm sorry this comment is so technical and nit-picky, but your message doesn't need any help so I thought I'd hone in on the sentence form.