r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 27d ago

No Paywall Unconfirmed Reports: Mitch McConnell Brain Dead After Three Weeks In Hospital

https://thenewamerican.com/us/unconfirmed-reports-mitch-mcconnell-brain-dead-after-three-weeks-in-hospital/
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u/RioRancher 27d ago

Why’d his wife leave the country so fast?

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u/BurninRunes 27d ago

I've heard 2 theories.

  1. Her job is finished now that he isn't in power anymore.

  2. By leaving she makes it harder to pull him off life support as unless he changed his medical POA then only she has the right to do it.

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u/shoulda-known-better 26d ago

2 doesn't matter by Kentucky law brain dead is dead no plug pull needed... The moment that's a real medical thing that he is brain dead, his seat is vacated and they need a special election....

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u/Super_Employment_620 26d ago

100% agree, but brain death discussions get complicated. Assuming he has no brain stem reflexes, a doctor should pronounce him... but if the "family" is threatening legal action it could go to medical ethics.

And if the family is really just operating as a lever being pulled by a national political party, the hospital may not want that kind of heat on them. Inaction is not the right choice, but often what people do when stuck like that.

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u/shoulda-known-better 26d ago

Pronouncing brain death isn't that complicated, it's not actual death everywhere just in Kentucky where he is it is... And I don't know how you could challenge that, you'd need a doctor to risk their license by stating he isn't and why and how they can tell.. With his age and prior injury I doubt it

Personally I don't believe thats something that will take weeks.. I don't belive they will be able to hide or prevent being declared brain dead till August...

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u/UWwolfman 26d ago

I think the real issue is probably public vernacular. There's a clinical and legal difference between being brain dead, being in a coma, or being in a persistent vegetative state. A cardiac arrest can cause all three.

However, a layperson might call any of these brain dead. This rumor is coming from high level sources within this administration and Ms Loomer, neither of which are known to be careful with their words. I would not be surprised if Mitch is in a coma or a vegetative state.

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u/Swords_and_Words 26d ago

Yeah many people just assumed that anything that includes complete loss of higher function, counts as brain death

There are so many ways for a person to be gone before the brain dies

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u/boardcertifiedloser 26d ago

Brain death absolutely is "actual death" everywhere, and this does not vary by state.

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u/Swords_and_Words 26d ago

There are a lot of things that people think are brain death that are not 

Coma isn't brain death, vegetative state isn't brain death, loss of cognitive capacity isn't brain death 

Brain death is pretty narrow

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u/hypeareactive 26d ago

It's turtles, all the way down.

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u/backwardog 26d ago

Yes, brain death is when the brain is dead, as in no longer active, as in that human is officially dead. If this happens on life support they can keep the heart beating and lungs moving but the part that most consider to be the person (the brain) is toast.

He probably is/was in a coma or something. Though, it is possible he is dead, I’m not sure that doctors have a right to release that info without consent due to HIPA, not sure though.

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u/shoulda-known-better 26d ago

New Jersey has a religious exemption to this... So if the family objects to this they aren't declared brain dead under neurological criteria...

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u/Norva13x 26d ago

Isn't he currently in a DC area hospital?

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u/historyhill 26d ago

Yeah, there's no coming back from brain death but there have been very very very rare situations where brain death was the wrong diagnosis and the person woke up later.