dignity in death

Working in the ICU since a month now, and because where I work is a tertiary care center and we have a lot of referrals from other centers throughout the country and even outside. So we see a lot of patients in a terminally ill condition whose every bodily function is at the mercy of some machine, drug or intervention. They have a tube sticking into every orifice, every accessible vein punctured, and everything but their soul, laid bare for everyone to see, scrutinize, analyze, assess, monitor. We rack our brains and try to think of where the mystery lies, refusing to give up, or god forbid, should death and disease have their way. We refuse to accept defeat from these worthy adversaries. We refuse to believe that the medical advancements of our age are inadequate. And so on and so forth, we go on until sometimes there is no semblance of a human being, a dignified one, left. So I ask myself, have we robbed that patient of his chance of a dignified death? Would I, in my final hours, want to be laid bare like that? Would I want death to be a struggle till the end? Would I rather not pass on from life to death in a much more peaceful manner? Can we not draw a line where we should stop fighting? Its not about giving up. Its about accepting a natural force, which, try as we might, is STILL beyond our control.