[HPforGrownups] Re: HELP!! Dumbledore & Fawkes healing power QUESTION

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 168136

leah:
>I think the hand is beyond even Fawkes' healing powers.  I think it 
>is dead.  It is described as 'blackened and shrivelled', which 
>sounds to me like something which has been consumed in flames.  
>There is some speculation that Snape was able to stopper death, to 
>prevent this necrosis from spreading to the rest of DD's body.

Bart:
That's an essential part of the version of the DDM!Snape that many of us believe; that Dumbledore was on the verge of death at the end of HPB, and that Snape was under orders to kill him if it helped in the long run against Voldemort. The, "Severus, please..." request was signifying that the time had come. Given this, the canon supports the idea that Prof. Snape was the one responsible for Dumbledore's being currently alive, albeit temprarily. We don't know what continuing measures there were, but consider the following real world example: A hospital patient is dying, and kept alive and conscious through CPR. It is known that, once the CPR is stopped, death will come rather quickly. But the patient wants an opportunity to say goodbye to his or her loved ones, so the doctors keep the patient alive until this is done, and then withdraw support. If the death is going to be painful, they may even provide a lethal injection of painkillers. 

In this scenario, Snape's killing of Dumbledore was for the purpose of making his death meaningful.

Bart