Could the Pope's life have really been prolonged significantly?

[Nikia]

From what I've read, the answer is "no", not with any heroic measures.
This case is not parallel with the Shiavo case for that reason.
Believe it or not, medical technology cannot save the lives of even those willing to pay infinite amounts of money and go through any procedure.
When hospital care will do nothing to extend ones life and perhaps actually cause death, it makes sense to choose to die at home.

[noamnety]

1. We'll never know

Because he made a decision, enforced by those around him, not to go to a hospital where all options would be readily available.

A question about your use of the word "significantly" - what is significant in a person's life? An hour? a day? a few months? is 15 years, if you are brain dead, of significance?

[Nikia]

2. How about less than a week?

He did have doctors with him the whole time so do think that they could have medically evaluated him and provided some options. From what I understand, he did have a feeding tube.
Personally, if I could get doctors to come to my house for treatment, I wouldn't go to the hospital unless I did need surgery or some equipment intense diagnostic test.

[noamnety]

4. even a day would have been of the utmost significance

It's the difference between saying life should be prolonged as long as possible, with whatever means possible, and under whatever circumstances possible, or saying that sometimes there is a point when you weigh the value and quality of a person's life when they are seriously ill, and the costs of prolonging it (whether they be financial or otherwise) and decide that withholding extraordinary care is the most compassionate decision.

Coming from the pope, it would not have been insignificant.

[Wapsie B]

3. I'm sure his life could've been prolonged

but the quality of his life would've not been there. I mean who would want the Pope to be a veg?

[ClintonTyree]

5. You're kidding, right?

The entire "culture of life" community, that's who. They'd have tubes, electronics and an iron lung to prevent him from dying if they could. It wouldn't matter if he was a veg, he'd be ALIVE!

[Cuban_Liberal]

6. Must be a Protestant thing, then.

I know of no fellow Roman Catholic who would have wanted his life extended at all costs.

:shrug:

[tx_dem41]

10. Its a moot point, since he died of septic shock...

a malady that could not have been beaten through any artifical life support techniques.

[Nikia]

7. Really, not everyone becomes vegetative

Sometimes their organs die and can no longer function no matter what you do. In the Pope's case, he was conscious until shortly before he died and was not becoming vegetative.
When sick elderly people are admitted to the hospital, sometimes surgery is necessary to save their life. Unfortunately, they are too weak to survive surgery. Sometimes the doctor will refuse to do surgery. Sometimes the family and/or the patient will insist on the surgery anyway. 99 out of 100 times, the patient dies during surgery or shortly there after, while still unconscious from the surgery. They might have lived longer without surgery even though no surgery made them terminal.
My grandfather had such surgery when his heart was failing and died 5 hours into surgery, which the surgeon predicted was likely taking into account a number of factors each of which alone resulted in single digit survival rate. In his case, he was would have been dead in less than that amount of time anyway, but perhaps if his life expectancy would have been days instead of minutes or hours, it would have been better not to try the surgery and for him to go home.
This may have been the case with the Pope.

[scarletlib]

8. No, He was 84 years old with progressive Parkinson's disease.

When he got the flu that was his death knell. Flu is a major killer of the elderly and the very young. His aged body, already under stress from the Parkinson's just could not overcome the side effects and secondary infections caused by the flu which further weakened his system.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. He had Parkinson's Disease.

I doubt seriously if That culd have happened. His whole system was shutting down.
Duckie