Comparing Thoughts about Karen Quinlan Case
End of life decisions and controversy first came to a head with Karen Quinlan. Her parents wanted their daughter to be able to pass away instead of suffer in limbo. I discussed the case with a coworker Aaron and we discussed our thoughts and what we would have done if faced in a similar situation. There are many ethical theories that can be used to discuss this topic in detail.
Karen Ann Quinlan was a 21 year old who fell into a coma after taking drugs and alcohol at a party while in college. After a short time she was declared to be in a persistent vegetative state without possibility of recovery from her doctors. Soon after her parents decided they wanted to have her taken off the respirator so she could die with dignity. The hospital refused and the family went to court to have her father Joe Quinlan given parental guardianship which would authorize him to make decisions regarding her medical care. After losing their initial case the New Jersey Supreme court ruled in the families favor in June 1976. Shortly thereafter she was removed from respirator. Her family decided to keep the feeding tube in because they are catholic and it would have gone against their religious beliefs to remove it. Karen was moved to the Morris View nursing home in June 1976. She lived for the next 9 years in a vegetative state but breathing on her own. She died June 11, 1985 of pneumonia (History of Karen Ann Quinlan and the Memorial Foundation, n.d.).
I spoke with Aaron who is a 27 year old friend and coworker on his thoughts on this case. He felt that the family was within their rights to want to have the ventilator removed from their daughter. Aaron is married and a father of 2 and he said ...
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...Quinlan and the Memorial Foundation, n.d.).
The case of Karen Quinlan started the movement for end of life rights for patients and their families (History of Karen Ann Quinlan and the Memorial Foundation, n.d.).They Quinlans wanted to be able to choose how their child was going to die. Aaron and I agreed on how we would want to handle an end of life situations with our family. There are many ethical theories that I could have used to help me determine what I would do. I choose to focus on emotivism and utilitarianism.
References
History of Karen Ann Quinlan and the Memorial Foundation. (n.d.). Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice. Retrieved February 19, 2014, from http://www.karenannquinlanhospice.org/history/
Webster, J. (Director) (2014, January 30). Ethics. Foundation of Ethics. Lecture conducted from Jefferson College of Health Sciences, Roanoke.
Terri Schiavo is a forty year old women who had a severe heart attack 15 years ago which resulted in brain damage. She had no living will so there is no legal document of what she would have wanted if she became brain damage and couldn’t function on her own but her husband, Michael Schiavo, says that after 15 years of being on a feeding tube she would have wanted to die. The question is should he have the right to remove the feeding tube? Anybody who knows me will know that my answer is no! The reason for that is because I am a Christian and I do not believe in terminating someone’s life. It’s my belief that as long as a persons heart is beating he or she stills has life in them.
Gedge, E., & Waluchow, W. (2012). Readings in health care ethics (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press.
In an effort to provide the standard of care for such a patient the treating physicians placed Ms. Quinlan on mechanical ventilation preserving her basic life function. Ms. Quinlan’s condition persisted in a vegetative state for an extended period of time creating the ethical dilemma of quality of life, the right to choose, the right to privacy, and the end of life decision. The Quilan family believed they had their daughter’s best interests and her own personal wishes with regard to end of life treatment. The case became complicated with regard to Karen’s long-term care from the perspective of the attending physicians, the medical community, the legal community local/state/federal case law and the catholic hospital tenants. The attending physicians believed their obligation was to preserve life but feared legal action both criminal and malpractice if they instituted end of life procedures. There was prior case law to provide guidance for legal resolution of this case. The catholic hospital in New Jersey, St. Clare’s, and Vatican stated this was going down a slippery slope to legalization of euthanasia. The case continued for 11 years and 2 months with gaining national attention. The resolution was obtained following Karen’s father being granted guardianship and ultimately made decisions on Karen’s behalf regarding future medical
Denise Dudzinski, PhD, MTS, Helene Starks, PhD, MPH, Nicole White, MD, MA (2009) ETHICS IN MEDICINE. Retrieved from: http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pad.html
The discussion about what palliative care really is was brought up and how there are so many different perspectives people can have with the idea of palliative or hospice care. The same idea pertained to physician assisted suicide and what really makes that right and wrong. The book then begins to talk about multiple stores that were similar to Kim and Amy’s. Cases that were similar were mentioned, such as the three nurses who worked for Veterans Affairs Medial Canter and how they all had high mortality rates during the times that they worked along with more cardiac related deaths that
...endent judgments about their own fate. In keeping with this trend there is now a growing drive to review the current laws on euthanasia and assisted suicide.” (McCormack, 1998) Nurses are faced with various ethical dilemmas every day. If theses ethical decisions are not treated in a professional manner there can be harsh consequences for both the patient and the nurse.
Barry, Vincent, Olen, Jeffrey, & Van Camp, Julie C. Applying Ethics: A Text with Readings, Tenth Edition. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011.
Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex J. London, and John D. Arras. "The Principles Approach." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. 36-37. Print.
Ethics refers to the values and customs of a community at a particular point in time. At present, the term ethics is guided by the moral principles that guide our everyday actions. These moral principles guide the researcher into deciding what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The foundation of medical ethics is governed by two philosophical frameworks: deontology, and utilitarianism. However, ultimately, the ethics committees need to balance the risks, and benefits for the participants and the community associated with the particular research proposal.
Tarzian, A. J., & Force, A. C. C. U. T. (2013). Health care ethics consultation: An update on core competencies and emerging standards from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities’ Core Competencies Update Task Force. The American Journal of Bioethics, 13(2),
Garrett, T. M., Baillie, H. W., & Garrett, R. M. (2010). Health care ethics: Principles and problems (5thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Center for Bioethics: University of Minnesota. End of Life Care: An Ethical Overview. 2005. PDF.
The subject of death and dying can cause many controversies for health care providers. Not only can it cause legal issues for them, but it also brings about many ethical issues as well. Nearly every health care professional has experienced a situation dealing with death or dying. This tends to be a tough topic for many people, so health care professionals should take caution when handling these matters. Healthcare professionals not only deal with patient issues but also those of the family. Some of the controversies of death and dying many include; stages of death and dying, quality of life issues, use of medications and advanced directives.
McGee, Glenn and Arthur L. Caplan. "Medical Ethics." Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997: Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
They did not follow through with what the parents ask because a Florida law states you can’t remove organs until the donor is dead. Although it would be sad to kill Baby Theresa to give her organs away, I would agree with her parents and physicians because she does not have long to live and will never be conscious so why not take the good organs and give them to another baby that could live. Ethicist disagreed with the parents and the physician because they said “it’s wrong to use people as means to other people’s ends”, they are saying by taking her organs you would be using her to help other people 's children. When you’re using somebody it means to violate their autonomy, Baby Theresa has no autonomy so there’s no way to violate it. People can’t always decide for themselves, when she could not decide for herself you need to think “what would be in her best interest?” either way Baby Theresa would die so there’s really not a best interest for her. Ethicists also said “it 's wrong to kill one person to save another”, if you killed Baby Theresa to