Berkin Elvan - Clinicians Deny Stopping Life Support

During Turkey's Gezi Park protests of last summer, 15-year-old Berkin Elvan was hit on the head by a gas canister as he went to buy bread.  He has spent the past nine months in a coma.  



This past week, Elvan died, triggering protests across the country. Demonstrations, which began in İstanbul when news of the teenager's death broke, quickly evolved into anti-government protests across the country.



Some political factions have even claimed that the government instructed treating clinicians to take Elvan off life support, in order to create unrest ahead of local elections scheduled for March 30.



Responding to those claims, the Turkish Neurosurgical Society issued a press release, titled “Turkish doctors never turn off life support."  The release came with a message expressing condolences for Berkin and affirmed that the association was uneasy about the profession being used for political ends.