Adelphir

Hi, I'm a nurse who has worked with many comatose patients throughout my career.

What are your thoughts on putting a prolonged unresponsive family member on hospice? I had many families who's family members are on numerous invasive life-sustaining efforts constantly arguing "they're still in there" despite imaging and diagnostics showing no brain activity. Often times this is not the case, but you have lived the exception.

Do you think they are sending their loved ones to die?

I wasn't necessarily stating comatose patients are a monolith. To say OP's situation is unique is more than an understatement.

Yes OP most likely had an abnormal EEG, with periodic and rhythmic discharges or epileptiform discharges. These would also be common in patients who are in vegetative states (VS). Patients in VS are sad because the family legitimately can argue that there is brain activity, and they're right, it's just not meaningful brain activity. There is a chance of recovery, leaving medical professionals in a state of limbo unable to answer the question "when?" There is a chance of recovery, but it's definitely statistically left-modal, where the longer time passes the less likely it is to occur. It's unfortunate to see an 20 y/o who is 2 years status VS from a traumatic brain injury, with his family stating that he'll be walking and talking again one of these days (virtually impossible). To briefly paint a picture of what this patient would look like, almost every limb is curled into the body permanently because the muscle fibers have shortened (contractures). There is one tube coming out of the neck in order to breath (tracheostomy) and one tube coming out of the stomach in order to feed them (g-tube). Those tubes will be there permanently until the patient could learn how to swallow again (yes, learn) and learn how to breath again (yes, learn).

I'm fairly confident OP understand why this question is so tricky, the quality of life is less than ideal.

EDIT: TL;DR - being in a coma sucks, sometimes people never recover, ethical and moral dilemmas versus quality of life is a discussion.

Native American rituals can be kinda hardcore. Look up Oh Kee Pa if you have time. Some of that kinda stuff... are frowned upon in modern society so that kinda stuff is under wraps.

IMO: One week there is still a lot of hope. Three months is when you should start asking the tough questions.

EDIT: I would start answering those tough questions between 6 months up to a year depending on how long you can financially hold on.

Nephro nurse here. When was your last creatinine clearance taken? Exhaustion after 10 minutes of walking is a significant finding.