LIFE WORTH LIVING AFTER ALL?

Surgery Breath Of Fresh Air For Christopher Reeve: Actor Reeve 1 Of 5 Patients To Have New Ventilator Procedure (November 14, 2003, WCVB-TV)

A new procedure using an implantable ventilator is allowing people like actor Christopher Reeve a level of independence they once only dreamed of.

NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported that there are over 10,000 people with spinal cord injuries in the United States and of those, about 5 percent need a ventilator to breathe.

A spinal cord injury suffered in a horseback riding accident eight years ago left the actor reliant a ventilator to breathe.

But Reeve received a new lease on life in the form of an implantable ventilator. The device has been around for decades, but the actor is one of only five people in the nation to have undergone a new twist on the procedure.

Does your living will allow for you to be killed before your new lease comes in?

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 15, 2003 4:24 PM