Mrs. Judy corbin
302 Washington
Farmer City IL 61842

Dear M-s. Corbin:

I know that you have been through and are going through a very difficult
time and I trust that in nty effort to be of help to you you will not
take what I say aniss.  First of all your situation is not unique.  It
is estimated that about 2% of deaths in hospitals these days are under
the same cirmmstances as Mark's, i.e., where someone has to make a decision
about stopping a life support system.

You must understand that because a respirator is putting air in and out
of a lung and because the heart is beating does not mean that that patient
is alive. There has been much controversy over the years over the defini-
tion 0% "death" but I think most of it is getting straightened out by
using the term brain death to mean death of the brain stem (where all
the reflexes are) and not just death of the cerebral cortex.

As a Christian I do believe it is utterly wrong for you to have a sense
of guilt about the decision that you made about Wk.  You claim to believe
in the sovereignty of god and to have been led in the direction of action
and now you are not sure and assme guilt that does not belong on anyone's
shoulders. This guilt of course is additionally misplaced when you blame
yourself for not getting Hark to the hospital soon enough, but nevertheless
the problem that happened there have nothing to do with the time of
his arrival.

To answer your specific question, it is correct to remove a patient from
a respirator in a situation that you found yourself with Hark and you
Bust have to shake this guilt which does not Uetlmng to a Christian. It
is not the least bit unusual for parents to feel this kind of guilt but
for a Christian I do believe it is improper.  If we trust God's sovere&@$y
in some things, we must trust it in all things. Hark was not disconnected
from his life support systems because of inconvenience or expense; he
was disconnected because he was in an irreversible situation.  It 1s
not even like a Karen Quinlan where without a respirator the brain continues
to function and that young lady continues to breathe.  I shall pray that
the Lord will bring you comfort.  I think as soon as you recognize that
were god to make W capricious judgment then you would find this terrible
wound begin to heal.

Sincerely yours,