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Kevin Frayer / AP, file
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in June 2005, just over six months before he suffered a massive stroke.
Ariel Sharon, the former prime minister of Israel, has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a massive stroke on January 4, 2006. For the past seven years, a respirator and a feeding tube have kept him alive at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, Israel. He has never shown any reliable signs of awareness or consciousness – until last week.
The stroke left the man once dubbed by Israelis as “the Lion of God” bedbound and technologically dependent on machines for his existence.
In the past, some of his family felt that he was able to slightly move a finger and show some signs of responsiveness but his doctors believed that the strokes so damaged his brain that both recovery and any serious mental activity were impossible.
But last week, a team of doctors and neuroscientists from Israel's Soroka University Medical Center subjected the 84-year-old Sharon to a series of sophisticated brain scans. They were surprised at what they saw.
They showed him pictures of random houses, which he would not be expected to know. Then they flashed a picture of his own house before his eyes. When the images of his own home were shown, areas of his brain "lit up" with activity. Similarly his brain ”fired up” in response to hearing the voices of family members but did not when nonsensical gibberish sounds were presented to him.
Sharon is not the first person to surprise doctors who doubted that anything could be going on in a brain located in a body that was otherwise unresponsive for years. Other patients with massive brain injuries have shown some brain activity included one case in which a 23-year-old woman, when asked to imagine different scenarios including playing tennis, showed strikingly similar patterns of brain activity to those found in scans of healthy volunteers.
So what are we to make of this? Can doctors say with certainty that he won’t recover? Is Sharon really “in there” unable to move but alert and awake? Should we ever remove life-support from someone who has been severely brain injured by a stroke or traumatic injury or asphyxiation? These questions are hardly trivial since families and health care teams face them every day all over the world.
Can Sharon come back? Many Israelis and his family fervently hope so but older patients, especially 84-year-olds who have been through two strokes and remained unresponsive for seven years, do not come back.
Is he “in there”? Let’s hope not. Being trapped in your own body year after year unable to move anything or communicate in any way would be horrific.
What about the brain activity? The data that the doctors and scientists see is very hard to interpret. Something is going on in Sharon’s brain when he sees or hears familiar things. But is he really aware of what he sees or are well-worn neural pathways firing up when familiar stimuli are present without anyone home to appreciate them? No one really knows for certain, but it seems fair to say that a very damaged brain is not ”thinking” or aware or self-conscious in a manner similar to healthy human brains.
So what is the case for keeping Sharon alive? He is not dead—he has brain activity. Still, he may be suffering if he has any awareness of being trapped inside his own body. Prolonging his life may be causing incredible misery to him and others like him.
The best we can do is to let families try to decide what to do as long -- as they understand the facts and the uncertainties. And as long as they are willing to help pay the bill. Keeping Sharon or others like him alive in a very damaged, extremely limited state with no hope of recovery is not something that the government should pay for without some support from those who want life to go on.
The choice to keep Ariel Sharon alive is one that deserves respect but is also one that demands involvement—emotionally and fiscally. The choice to let him go also deserves respect. In this case, uncertain medical science can only give way to well-intentioned ethics.
Arthur Caplan is the head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center.
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If this man ever wakes up. I hope the first thing he does it shoot them all, for putting him through all this. Being half alive is not life, being on a machine so the family can brag they're trying to save him is ridiculous. I'm 60 and if I get this bad, my family has already been told to let me die. If some doctor takes it upon himself to save me without my permission, he better not let me get close enough to choke the life out of him when I get up. Stop being fools...when someone dies let them go, tis a s natural as being born and you don't have the right to force someone through the pain and anguish that goes with being near death for years.
The trolling Jew-hating historical revisionists are out in force on this story. Sharon never butchered anyone at the Sabra and Shatilla Palestinian refugee Camps. The Palestinians were killed by the Christian Phalange Lebanese during the Civil War although Sharon was later attacked for not stopping the murders since Israeli troops were in the region.
Ariel Sharon is an incredibly brave man who directly led his men through several wars on the ground -- 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982. He helped liberate Jerusalem in 1967. In the Yom Kippur War when the Arabs did a sneak attack against Israel, he led a brilliant counter attack across the Suez Canal, invading Africa, and surrounded the Egyptian Third Army effectively ending the war. Later, as Prime Minister, he withdrew all Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip and removed all Israeli troops. He wanted to show that he did not want to rule the Palestinians. When he faced opposition from his right-wing, he left his Likud-Herut Party and established a new centrist political party to have room to negotiate for peace.
He believed in peace through strength. He was a man who did not fear taking chances for peace if he felt it could help his people. That is leadership...a great man. As many Christians and Jews, I wish him well and pray for him.
Well articulated, some of which I did not know. Thank you.
You are an moron! Period! Check your facts.
Mathew: you just wish you had some facts. Absolutely the Lebanese Christians are the ones who attacked the camps--in retaliation for attacks against Christian. Still Lebanon becomes like all the other previously Christian countries in the ME with more and more conversions by the sword: Muslim.
Hopefully he isn't conscious and aware. I can't imagine his suffering if he's "in there."
If anybody tried to keep me alive in such a condition, I'd consider them one of the most horrific monsters in existence. Holding me in a non-state between living and death, with no capacity to experience either, and no way to exercise my own free will.
Anybody who would condone such a thing has no concept of mercy or human dignity. There is nothing sacred or ethical about forcing somebody to endure a living hell while their body disintegrates around them.
I hope the Lion of God recovers. Too bad the same techniques weren't done on Terri Schiavo before she was legally murdered by her husband and the judicial system.
There is more to life than just having a pulse. I believe Terri Schiavo was released from suffering, not "murdered" as you state.
WHAT SHAMEFUL ETHICS ARE EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE! Comatose patients are known to come back from the brink, however few, and however unpredictably. None of us can speak for their experience of coma -- only they can do so. Money spent now to preserve their lives may enable learning, learning which in future time will save lives and enable the proactive return to consciousness of comatose patients via medical intervention.
ALSO, THE TITLE OF THE ARTICLE BELIES THE CONTENT OF THE ARTICLE! The title of the article pertains to the implied question, "Does the recent reported brain activity of Ariel Sharon imply that he may recover from his present comatose state after seven years in such a state?" A few sentences did address this question, and that is well and good. However, the article's author then went on to editorialize, giving us his opinion about the "ethics" of keeping comatose patients alive. He should have written a separate opinion article in which to express his personal -- even professional -- opinion regarding the "ethics" issue.
IMHO -- I hope and pray that Ariel Sharon will return to us, to life, and to health, and that such a return will inspire hope for all comatose patients and their families.
And, IMHO -- I wonder, if the opinion expressed so strongly by the article's author is also the formal opinion of the university he represents. I surely do hope it is not.
My impression is that he is in a persistent vegetative state, not a coma.
whats the difference?
Anyway, coma is a media word--it really has no medical meaning. Doctors never use it, except to commmunicate to patients. Youll never find it in a medical record
Is Sharon really in there?
I sincerely hope so; seven years of being trapped in one's own body is not nearly enough punishment for all of the truely evil things The Butcher of Beiruit did.
Read #29 and you may learn something. I did. Additionally, Jordan was destroyed by Arafat and his palestinian thugs, so they kicked him out. Lebanon was destroyed by Arafat and his palestinian thugs but did not have strong enough army to kick him out, so Israel did the dirty job for them. Then Tunisia kicked him out so he went to the West Bank, under Israeli rule, where he was actually safer for the rest of his life. How ironic.
Our son, 25 years old, was beaten into a coma by a bad person. When I watched him battling against the array of tubes those few days that he was not here, I wondered what was in his mind. Later when he came back, the last thing he remembered was parking his car, about 5 minutes before he was attacked. He woke up 8 days later , I know very short compared to some of the stories here, but I thought through the many possibilities. I remember that after the 48 hours, we were assured that he would live and my thought was, thanks God, and that we would take him home as soon as we could and take care of him there. I know we will face these things with our parents and probably each other - but you really don't expect it to be your kid. Its been 60 days and he has recovered quite a bit, he speaks close to normal, he has a little memory problem, a little bit of speech problems, biggest issue is fatigue. But try to think through these things before you say something here that you might have to take back some day.
Yes , sadly with a lot of things in our world, fiscal concerns can come into play. HOWEVER, as a sensible , reasonable man of faith, if I am in this state, please let me go to surely what is a better place for me to be, and whoever I leave behind please make the world a better place to live in and enrich your own lives, not just with money , but, with all the things we would have shared together, pass them on with my love.
He should have had an advance directive.
The Jewish State of Israel....the very names indicates some religious imperative. Then why doesn't the Government of that nation and his family turn off the machines and allow God to be the ultimate Arbiter. Keeping Sharon alive only through the intervention of machines is so a-theistic. Israel, 'God is with us', if you will only open yourselves to Him.
Amazing he has lived this long on a respirator. Usually infection and pneumonia kill people within a few months. I completely forgot about him. I remember when he had his stroke. Than after awhile I just figured he'd passed and I missed the announcement.
My Mother back in the late 80's had a massive heart attack. She had been on a respiratory for about a month. The Doctors said she'd never walk out of the Hospital. We decided to give her a chance. The Doctors basically began turning down how much the respirator assisted her breathing. Damn if she didn't leave that Hospital upright and breathing on her own. Too bad she was so damn stubborn and refused to quit smoking. She passed two years later.
Just goes to show you, some folks just aren't ready to walk towards the light. Maybe they should give Ariel the same chance they gave my Mother. Wean him off the respirator. If he can breath on his own, more power to him. If not, just let him go.
So you are basically saying that only families who are not poor should have the right to keep their loved ones alive? Oh man, you lost me there. I think that is quite insane.
The only thing more insane is families that decide to keep people alive who are clearly never coming back. But the idea that it should be somehow based on who can afford to pay is absolutely repulsive.
The idea that only people who have the money should be allowed to keep family members alive is absolutely repulsive.
I personally think its not humane to keep people alive who clearly aren't coming back. But your insinuation that this choice should be made for people based solely on finances is flat-out ridiculous. A more utterly morally bankrupt bunch of nonsense I truly cannot imagine.
The doctors said..."Is he “in there”? Let’s hope not. Being trapped in your own body year after year unable to move anything or communicate in any way would be horrific."
If this isn't a case for just letting a person die, I don't know what is. My family has been told that if I ever get into a state even resembling something like this, they better put me down.... AND THEY DAMN WELL BETTER!!!
Thanks for the reminder. I need to get that living Will notarized TODAY!
I know what the Sharon family is going through.about 30 years ago my mom went through the same thing. Fortunately, for her and my father, she died in just a few days. I am sure that if Sharon were able to, he would tell the hospital "to pull the plug." Nobody should be forced to live like this; if you can call it living.
This "monster", Sharon deserves what he's getting. This butcher is responsible for so many lives. Now, his own hangs in the balance between something not even close to life. Sharon, Ossama, Hitler and Bush will all meet their makers and will pay accordingly. As far as this science, don't even waste time on this character. He's not worth the air he used to breath.
Well said! Add few more dictators to this list as well. Nittanyahu, Saddam, Asad will see the same end.
Our Top Story tonight: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still valiantly continuing his battle to stay dead.
If I am ever in a state that could be described by a qualified doctor as permanently vegetative, by all means pull the plug on any machines or devices sustaining my body and leave the rest up to God. Any other decision is just crazy.
I hope that at least they have him facing an active television or have news stories slowly scroll in his field of view. It has to be better than hours and hours staring at the same spot in the room.
What if he comes back and is able to play the violin?
This is wrath of God on this butcher who killed thousands innocent women and children. I can only imagine what his soul is going through in the state.
What mankind cannot figure out, many people can't tolerate...someone makes up a story to explain the inexplicable...thus god is created by man...hearts can go out to people...souls are created by man...god created the heavens and the earth in a couple of days...man can neither determine when human life begins nor when it ends...and this lack of knowledge terrifies most people...
PULL THE PLUG! cruel people keeping him alive in a dead state of existence!
May Ariel be in peace soon, let him go to the promise land!!!
Mr. Sharon what goes around comes around with all the misery you put children trough, i knew you will be agonizing for years.