Doctors pressured Irish man to refuse ventilator and face death

I wonder how many others blindly went along with what the doctors suggested and lost their lives because of them. I hope the doctors lost their license to practice medicine. What a courageous family.

If you're not fit to be a mass consumer/producer debt slave, it seems the establishment no longer places any value upon your life. Disturbing.

If he lived in the U.S. and had "Obamacare", he would lose the ventilator !!

My mom has been on a ventilator for 4 years now. Doctors also tried to get us to take her off the ventilator. But she was talking to us and writing to us and we couldn't do it. We had hope that she would get off the ventilator. You always have hope. Yes, it's been hard, but we were able to bring my mom home and she was able to be with her family. We just couldn't give up on her and it's like they were trying to get us to put a good dog down. I think doctors are trying to spare the family years of pain, but it hasn't been as bad as they had warned. The human spirit is amazing. God bless this man and his family.

@Ruth Fitzmaurice - My surprise in this article not making the News, is that such stories of such a magnitude are usually picked up by RTE News, the Late Late Show or Brendan O'Connors 'Saturday night show' - irrespective of who wrote the article. I am not at all concerned if ANY News story reaches the US, since I am living IN Ireland. You say you are his wife, and on face value I'll accept that, and clearly state that I am delighted the HSE provided the treatment he required. The main thrust of my reply to Barbaracvm, was due to her comments that Socialised Medicine is a failure, whereas this is further evidence to the contrary. Perhaps you could post the date of the Article published in the Irish Times

An inspiring story. The lesson of which is "Life is Worth Living". Most of us take our good health and lives for granted. We shouldn't. And people like Simon shouldn't be told they don't qualify for medical care because they aren't wealthy enough.

@rfitzmaurice..Thanks for posting..Glad to see your family got what ye wanted. (((hugs))

Ruth Fitzmaurice here, Simon's wife. I came across this article with posted comments - most wonderful, some not so. I felt I could clear up some of the confusion for you Trealach. The original article was posted in the Irish Times newspaper and was written by Simon himself. So in that respect, the newspaper didn't generate the story. Simon did. He wrote it in his head over the four months that he spent in the ICU. And YES the doctors involved were named and shamed. Just because a news story doesn't reach the States, doesn't make it not true! The Irish Times newspaper were very respectful, careful and balanced in their coverage of the issue, giving quotes from leading neurologists alonside Simon's piece. We as a family had to fight every step of the way to get Simon home and it was certainly no walk in the park, covered by the Health service foregone conclusion. Simon is 36 years old, a talented writer and film maker and a wonderful father. We are blessed to have him home with us again and very thankful that the Health service agreed to help us in the end. xxxxx

To: Bklynmollie So you think this is like Obama's death panels? Just how quick do you think the private insurers in USA would cover a similar situation. Of course the health care you want to repeal is the only way this situation could arise. Until 2014, this guy would have no chance of getting any insurance in the USA, much less getting the ventilator paid for.

That doctor sounds like he may have been a Republican or the governor of Arizona. Yep, too much money, you're gonna have to make a tough choice. Meanwhile the CEO's are making bonuses into the millions and the head of Goldman Sach's isn't in jail. It maybe time for a revolution.

Refusing invasive medical treatment is not always suicide, but the decision should always be made by the individual, not the state, a person's doctor, or a private health insurance company. I have the highest respect for Mr. Fitzmaurice for making his decision to continue to live and sticking to it in face of apparent pressure from a physician. With the vent, he was not near death and had every moral right to continue living as long as the good Lord allows him to. He knows his "quality of life" better than anyone else.

It's strange that this story never made the News here, which makes me wonder if there is ANY truth in it. @Barbaracvm - perhaps IF you had read the article properly, you would not have made such a blatently ridiculous statement. It was BECAUSE of Socialised Medicine that the man is ALIVE! "A mere two days later he and his family were notified that the ventilator he required was covered by the Ireland’s National Health Service, the Health Services Executive (HSE)." It's sad that a Newspaper has to generate stories without any evidence to support it.

Suicide is wrong. The doctors are wrong for encouraging this man to kill himself. This is what we can expect with socialized medicine.

I wish they could have named and shamed the Health Professionals involved. As always, the health board trying to save a few cents at the expense of the people, Note the " extremely wealthy " comment. Best wishes Steven and a long and painfree life.

What's so surprising? What's most important in government run health care is the bottom line. People who ridiculed the concept of "death panels" in arguments against Obama care,(panels made up of beaurocrats deciding matters of life and death) will stop laughing when their own loved ones (or they themselves) are "counseled" to "opt out" of life -- for the "good of the cause."