pkbites, you seem to be making the assumption that sacrificing the finger for the ring was an irrational decision. I disagree–I think a rational person can value an object more then part of their body.
Then we’ll have to agree to disagree. I don’t believe a repairable/replaceable object is more valuable than a body part, not even a damaged (yet saveable) body part.
That wedding ring wasn’t replaceable, though. It’s not like he can go into a jewellers and say “Hello, I would like the wedding ring that my wife put on my finger 6 years ago, please.”
What finger?
The finger that he’d have if he’d sacrificied the ring and was in a position to ask the jeweller that question?
Then I would assume you are probably a dumbfuck. But I also have more issue with the doctor than with the the soldier, for whom this might have been only the first dumbfuck decision, though that would presuppose he’s not as humanly dumbfuckish as the rest of us. There is a difference between making bad decisions when you are in shock and making a bad decision based on the moronic request of a person who is in shock. The correct move, based on the information we have, would be to tell the soldier that you would do what you could then, as soon as the anesthesia took hold, cut off the ring.
Hey, Doper MDs–is that malpractice?
I was making a joke, sans smilie face.
Really though, the ring is replaceable. It’s replaced with another ring.
That’s what “replaceable” means.
The finger on the other hand. Gone forever. I would think that if his wife loved him she would rather he keep his body parts and get another ring.
I’m stunned that so many find it logical to give up a body part for a material object. Sounds strange and shallow to me, not romantic.
Huh. I was just getting ready to post the opposite. I usually have no idea what Lib is talking about, but his posts regarding this situation have made more sense to me than most others. In the post you quoted, I think Lib is saying that “leftists” have lost emotion, and now just spout out rhetoric, much like the claims they often make against the right. I personally find it annoying that this story of sacrifice (whether you agree with the sacrifice or not) now has political overtones. Can’t we just discuss the action, and not the administration that put the soldier there?
There’s only one tight-ass moralist in THIS thread, amigo. And you’ve just projected so much onto me that I may have to string up some velvet ropes and open up a concession stand.
Bitter, judgemental bloviation is in such short supply this holiday season. Perhaps it would be best if you saved yours for one more needy.
I’m not talking about morality, you hopeless dolt. I’m talking about passion. The left has become a cold and serene wasteland, and FDR its Ozymandias. It is populated by baboons who sit and scratch their asses all day, sling feces at passers-by, and pick grubs off each others heads. You have ceded to the right the precious principles of liberty and the sanctity of consent that you once immortalized in the Declaration of Independence. If Thoreau were alive today, he’d whip your collective asses.
Those of you criticizing the doctor have your fingers in your ears. What part of “TRY to save MOST” do you not understand? This was not a voluntary mutilation. The guy didn’t walk into the doctor and casually ask for his finger to be cut off, like he’s getting his ear pierced. His hand was mutilated, and the doctor MAY have been able to save SOME of a badly mutilated finger… and maybe not. You don’t know the odds, even. Please stop reducing this to a case of voluntary slaughter and realize the poor kid’s hadn was already a mess, that the doctors actions included FULL INFORMATION about what the chances were for recovery and the extent of the recovery. You have no such information, and your comparisons to other voluntary surgeries are pointless and facile.
This line of reasoning came up in the other thread as well. What I don’t understand is how so many people can armchair-quarterback like this.
You’ve got a 19 year old kid with a mangled hand & legs. The doctor is actively cutting things off his body right now. This boy doesn’t have time to think it through, call the missus, etc (even if he were able to think clearly). He makes a split second decision about how much of his body gets cut off.
Agree, disagree, whatever. Does it matter what his wife would have decided if she’d had the opportunity? Why is it so hard to understand the predicament he was faced with?
How arrogant of you to sit comfortably in front of your computer without anyone cutting off pieces of your body and deem him to be a “stupid fuck”, “shallow”, whatever. I, for one, am appalled.
Well, hey, I just retook the ASVAB.
APQT: 99th Percentile
GT: 144
sneering tone of voice Not bad–for a second try!
d&r
If you go back a few posts you’ll see that I stated that perhaps my rant of the soldier was inappropriate, and that it was the doctor who should be pitted.
The soldier may not have been thinking clearly. I didn’t consider that in the OP.
The people I think whom are shallow are those on these boards who are indicating how important a physical object can be. As compared to a body part?
Absurd!
Liar.
Yeah, but you’re too fucking stupid to consider for five fucking seconds what I’ve pointed out several times. I won’t bother doing so again. I’ll just write you off as a shit-for-brains.
Prove it.
Why do you assert that? Do you have any knowledge of the situation at the time, the amount of finger already lost, the likelihood of being able to successfully salvage any remaining joints? The risks versus benefits? The ability of the surgeon to do microvascular work given the constraints he was under in the field? Do you believe the doctor did not give proper informed consent? Or should have ignored the patient’s explicit wishes even if said wishes did not constitute grave bodily harm?
In short, why the hell are you pitting anybody?
Because the major point of the story was the finger was removed to save a piece of jewlery. that, to me, is absurd.