Turning off Life Support for a Loved One or Signing a Do Not Resuscitate Form - Duration: 2:36. Wiki User August 03, 2009 3:21AM. The family, guardian and others make the decision to end life support based on medical advice. Amongst other things, it depnends on what caused the cardiac arrest, how quickly the cause is found and treated and, most importantly, how well the patient responds to the treatment. That’s the whole point of life support. Do you want to be on life support just to see how long you can live or are you wondering about it in case you become ill and need it. Types of Life Support. More invasive life support, such as heart/lung bypass, is only maintained for a few hours or days, but patients with artificial hearts have survived for as long as 512 days. The decision of when to withdraw life support or whether to begin it at all is a sticky one, muddled with confusing terms and strong emotions. It is difficult to say how long someone can hang on after life support, can be hours or days. Kinds of Life-Support Decisions Ventilators . If nobody ever got past the point of needing life support, the procedures probably would not be done at all. The spirit of a person is awesome and what it can do. The spirit of a person is awesome and what it can do. People hang on because of unfinished business, they need to see someone first. Life support replaces or supports a failing bodily function. When should life support be discontinued, honoring a patient’s right to refuse medical intervention? Typically when a person thinks of life support, he may envision the most complex levels of care, such as mechanical ventilation and kidney dialysis. Kinds of Life-Support Decisions Ventilators . Ventilators can save lives by helping people who cannot breathe on their own. The time that a person spends on life support depends on their underlying condition--people do get well. Most people on life support are on long enough to recover from a serious life threatening problem. I know of somebody who had a heart attack two and a half weeks ago. Long-term artificial nutrition and hydration may be given to people with serious intestinal disorders that weaken their ability to digest food, and helping them to enjoy a quality of life that is important to them. The Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates 765 views 2:36 If the termination date arrives and it still seems wise to use the life-support system, you can re-authorize life-supports for another period of time. How long are coma patients allowed to be on life support machines before they switch them off? A person in need of life support may have suffered a serious traumatic injury, such as a car accident, a debilitating stroke or heart attack, or any number of vital organ failures. That’s the million-dollar question. Answer. When most people talk about a person being on life support, they're usually talking about a ventilator, which is a machine that helps someone breathe. You may have to consider whether to use a breathing tube or ventilator. In most cases, a person who requires life support is unconscious. At times, the body never regains the ability to function without life support. Question Posted by: Stephanie | 2005/08/15 H ow long on Life Support after a Heart Attack on Average ?. Having said all that it is possible to keep the body of a (brain) dead person alive with no hope of recovery.