In Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the Metropolitan Hospital, there are two new, difficult cases that have raised a few bioethical issues. The first case is that of Roosevelt Dawson; the patient has a disease that makes him unable to use his arms and legs, and is unable to breathe on his own. Although he is not dying, his current paralyzed state alters his life completely. In the second case, the patient is a ten-month-old unnamed baby girl. She was born without arms or legs, and is unable to be nourished orally due to anomalies of the mouth. Their cases are similar because neither patient has the ability to use their arms or legs, and both are unable to breathe or take nourishment orally on their own; Dawson’s competence being affected by his disease, whereas the baby’s competence is due to her young age and underdevelopment. Another similarity is that in both cases, the topic of assisted suicide comes up. Dawson chose to take his life with the help of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, even though his disease was not terminal and the mother of the baby chose to stop nourishment, ultimately killing the baby, even though there …show more content…
In Dawson’s case, he is able to comprehend and consider the options he has, and choose how he wished to move on with his life. He was able voice his own opinion and request to be released from the hospital’s care and also refuse aid of home health care workers. In the baby’s case, however, the baby did not have a voice and the decision was ultimately left to her mother and the hospital. The baby could not communicate that she wanted the surgery to fight for her life and was instead left without care. Another difference is that baby’s anomalies of the mouth and throat could have been easily corrected surgically whereas Dawson’s disease required him to need a respirator to breathe. There are both similarities and differences in both cases but they both present bioethical issues within the details of
Thomson provides the example of being hooked up for nine months to provide dialysis to an ailing violinist to expose how a fetus’s right to life does not supersede a mother’s right to make medical decisions about her body (48-49). I find that this thought experiment especially helpful in understanding how even though a fetus does have a right to life, because the continuation of their life hinges on the consent of their mother to use her body, it falls to the mother to choose whether or not to allow the fetus to develop to term.
Diane: A Case of Physician Assisted Suicide. Diane was a patient of Dr. Timothy Quill, who was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Diane overcame alcoholism and had vaginal cancer in her youth. She had been under his care for a period of 8 years, during which an intimate doctor-patient bond had been established.
There are many ethical paradigms through which humans find guidance and justification for their own actions. In the case of contractarianism, citizens of a state are entitled to human rights, considered to be unalienable, and legal rights, which are both protected by the state. As Spinello says, “The problem with most rights-based theories is that they do not provide adequate criteria for resolving practical disputes when rights are in conflict” (14). One case that supports Spinello is the case of Marlise Munoz, a brain-dead pregnant thirty-three year old, who was wrongly kept on life support for nearly two months at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Misinterpretation of the Texas Advance Directives Act by John Peter Smith Hospital led to the violation of the contractarian paradigm. Although the hospital was following the directive in order to maintain legal immunity for its hospital staff, the rights of the family were violated along with the medical fundamental principle to “first, do no harm.”
This case was taken into the British court system where, after a long trial, a judge upheld the doctor’s decision not to resuscitate. The reasoning was that the judge felt he could not order the doctors to perform actions that would cause increased suffering for the child. After considering the doctrines of the sanctity of life and the...
It was a 92 degree fahrenheit morning at 9:45 on August 14th, when Doug Greene placed a call to 911. He informed the police that he was concerned because Anna had been seen wearing a sweater the previous day despite the unusual heat and wasn’t answering her calls or her door. Both the police and the EMT arrived at the crime scene at 9:56 am where they found Anna Garcia lying on the floor. They entered the crime scene and declared Anna dead. The crime scene was then secured at 10:20 am for investigation. The crime scene was confined to a 10’ by 20’ entry hallway. At the crime scene, investigators marked areas where vomit, blood stains, blood spatter, footprints, a strand of hair, scattered pills, a syringe, and dirty cup were lying on the floor. They also discovered fingerprints that could be taken to a lab for analyzation. Anna was found lying face-down against the floor surrounded by blood and vomit near her mouth. The table in the crime scene
There are many legal and ethical issues when discussing the topic of physician-assisted suicide (PAS). The legal issues are those regarding numerous court cases over the past few decades, the debate over how the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution comes into play, and the legalization vs. illegalization of this practice. The 14th Amendment states, “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (U.S. Const. amend. XIV, §1). PAS in the past has been upheld as illegal due to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment of the constitution, but in recent years this same 14th amendment is also part of the reasoning for legalizing PAS, “nor shall any State deprive any person of…liberty” (U.S. Const. amend. XIV, §1). The ethical issues surrounding this topic include a patient’s autonomy and dignity and if PAS should be legalized everywhere. This paper is an analysis of the PAS debate and explores these different issues using a specific case that went to the supreme courts called Washington et al. v. Glucksberg et al.
Braddok III Clarence H. MD MPH .” Physician aid-in-dying: Ethical topics in medicine” n.d University of Washington school of medicinestate death with dignity act” N.p n.d University of Washington department of bioethics and humanities 2009 web 24 March 2012
Imagine, if you will, that you have just found out you have a terminal medical condition. Doesn’t matter which one, it’s terminal. Over the 6 months you have to live you experience unmeasurable amounts of pain, and when your free of your pain the medication you’re under renders you in an impaired sense of consciousness. Towards the 4th month, you begin to believe all this suffering is pointless, you are to die anyways, why not with a little dignity. You begin to consider Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS). In this essay I will explain the ethical decisions and dilemmas one may face when deciding to accept the idea of Physician-Assisted Suicide. I will also provide factual information pertaining to the subject of PAS and testimony from some that advocate for legalization of PAS. PAS is not to be taken lightly. It is the decision to end one’s life with the aid of a medical physician. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary states that PAS is “Suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or by information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient’s intent.” PAS is considered, by our textbook – Doing Ethics by Lewis Vaughn, an active voluntary form of euthanasia. There are other forms of euthanasia such as non-voluntary, involuntary, and passive. This essay is focusing on PAS, an active voluntary form of euthanasia. PAS is commonly known as “Dying/Death with Dignity.” The most recent publicized case of PAS is the case of Brittany Maynard. She was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in California, where she lived. At the time California didn’t have Legislative right to allow Brittany the right to commit PAS so she was transported to Oregon where PAS is legal....
In her paper entitled "Euthanasia," Phillipa Foot notes that euthanasia should be thought of as "inducing or otherwise opting for death for the sake of the one who is to die" (MI, 8). In Moral Matters, Jan Narveson argues, successfully I think, that given moral grounds for suicide, voluntary euthanasia is morally acceptable (at least, in principle). Daniel Callahan, on the other hand, in his "When Self-Determination Runs Amok," counters that the traditional pro-(active) euthanasia arguments concerning self-determination, the distinction between killing and allowing to die, and the skepticism about harmful consequences for society, are flawed. I do not think Callahan's reasoning establishes that euthanasia is indeed morally wrong and legally impossible, and I will attempt to show that.
The autonomy of a competent patient is an issue not often debated in medical ethics. Refusal of unwanted treatment is a basic right, likened to the common law of battery, available to all people capable of a competent choice. These fundamental rules of medical ethics entered a completely new forum as medical technology developed highly effective life-sustaining care during the 20th century. Several watershed cases elucidated these emerging issues in the 1960’s and 70’s, none more effectively than that of Karen Ann Quinlan. Fundamentally, this case established that a once-competent patient without the possibility of recovery could have their autonomy exercised by a surrogate in regard to the refusal of life-sustaining treatment. This decision had a profound effect on medical ethics, including treatment of incompetent patients in end-of-life situations, creation of advance directives, physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and active euthanasia.
Do people have the right to die? Is there, in fact, a right to die? Assisted suicide is a controversial topic in the public eye today. Individuals choose their side of the controversy based on a number of variables ranging from their religious views and moral standings to political factors. Several aspects of this issue have been examined in books, TV shows, movies, magazine articles, and other means of bringing the subject to the attention of the public. However, perhaps the best way to look at this issue in the hopes of understanding the motives behind those involved is from the perspective of those concerned: the terminally ill and the disabled.
2. Brock will argue that case 1 and possibly 4 depending on the mental state of the wife at the time is acceptable as it respects autonomy. Brock argues that if assistant suicide and/or euthanasia is done with full consent and autonomy, there is no issue. The life the patient lives might have no value for them putting the burden on others and unhappiness with themselves. Case 1 would be the best example as it has a patient who is suffering with her life and would rather die to be better. The choice was autonomous and she got to say her good byes and left happily making the best choice for herself by herself. Case 4 is a bit tricky as we do not know for a fact that her wishes to die were true with the mental condition she has. If the statement
This ethical dilemma includes a 17-year-old female, Joni, that was left quadriplegic after she dove into a very swallow body of water in Chesapeake Bay. Following the accident, Joni fell into extreme depression. Her depression got so bad, she got to the point of wanting to end her own life. She believes that she is not going to be able to accomplish anything, and just be a burden for her family for the rest of her life if she doesn’t have her life legally terminated.
My topic for the bioethics essay is assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is suicide committed with the aid of another person, sometimes even a physician. Assisted suicide is usually performed when a physician gives a patient the knowledge and skills to commit suicide. In most cases the physicians would provide lethal doses of drugs, and supplying the needed amount of those lethal drugs. The history of assisted suicide dates back all the way back to before the birth of Jesus Christ when people had a disagreement on whether people or doctors should be able to aid in the death of another human being. One of the most famous examples of assisted suicide is Jack “Doctor Death” Kevorkian with his own homemade assisted suicide machine.
When people think about the words ‘assisted suicide. We sisterly think of the negative connotation that surrounds the word ‘suicide’, distracting them from the positive impact that it has on people with terminal illness. Hence, causing it to be a controversial matter of not only suicide but death itself. Therefore, making the topic a mind field of ethics and personal beliefs. Suicide and Assisted Suicide are the polar opposites and should not be treated the same. Assisted suicide is not about right and wrong it's about life and death.