Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Choosing death over paralized for life

Paralyzed deer hunter chooses to end life support

news-national-20131105-US-Injured-Hunter's-Choice
 
JENI O'MALLEY, In this undated photo provided by Jenny Shultz is her brother, Tim Bowers, ...
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) —                                                                                                 Tim Bowers got to decide for himself whether he wanted to live or die.

When the avid outdoorsman was badly hurt Saturday in a hunting accident, doctors said he would be paralyzed and could be on a ventilator for life. His family had a unique request: Could he be brought out of sedation to hear his prognosis and decide what he wanted to do?

Doctors said yes, and Bowers chose to take no extra measures to stay alive. He died Sunday, hours after his breathing tube was removed.

"We just asked him, 'Do you want this?' And he shook his head emphatically no," his sister, Jenny Shultz, said of her brother, who was often found hunting, camping or helping his father on his northeastern Indiana farm.

The 32-year-old was deer hunting when he fell 16 feet from a tree and suffered a severe spinal injury that paralyzed him from the shoulders down. Doctors thought he might never breathe on his own again                                .

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