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End of life decision making essay
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Coping with a terminal illness or having someone in your family that has a terminal illness is a very difficult thing to address. These things usually come up unexpectedly and we are never prepared for something like this. When you first hear of your terminal illness you might feel isolated and even numb to the world. People are usually not comfortable with talking about their own problems but when you are experiencing something like this the best thing you can do is talk about it. There are pros and cons that come with assisted suicide and no one can ever really tell what they would do until they are in the situation. If someone in my family had a terminal illness I personally feel that I would assist my family member in whatever decision they chose. I think that if you have a terminal illness you should have the decision to do whatever you would like. If you are experiencing a lot of pain and you believe you are ready to die I think you should have that right.
When you are diagnosed with a terminal illness there are many stages that you go through until you accept what is happenin...
The Kubler-Ross stages were introduced in her book “On death and dying (1969).” As stated above, the five stages are as such: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Though the stages might seem self-explanatory, I am going to go through and quickly define what each stage consists of. Denial looks like someone saying, “No, not me, it cannot be true”. (34 Kubler-Ross) This usually occurs in the beginning of the stages. When someone is faced with a difficult situation, like a terminal illness, they tend to deny or not believe in what is actually being said to them. The person looks everywhere to try to prove their denial. Denial is fairly temporary and the person will eventually move on. The next stage is anger. A person in this stage could say something like: “Why me?” or “why couldn't it have been him?” Now anger has many manifestations, so it will vary depending on the person. Generally speaking, if a person is projecting an irrational irritability towards people, it is safe to assume that they are in the anger stage.
Jerry Fensterman, in his essay "I See Why Others Choose to Die", talks about how he can understand why terminal ill people after so long in pain with no hope to cure choose to end their life sooner than expected. Fensterman, who was a dignose with cancer, says "I know now how a feeling, loving, rational person could choose death over life, could choose to relieve his suffering as well as that of his loved ones a few months earlier that would happen naturally." I agreed with the writers point of view, and I can also understand why someone would make this type of decisions. It is not only physically devastating for the whole family to go through this type of situations, but it could also be economically damaging, and not to mention the stress that is slowly draining everyone around.
Sadly, life is a terminal illness, and dying is a natural part of life. Deits pulls no punches as he introduces the topic of grief with the reminder that life’s not fair. This is a concept that most of us come to understand early in life, but when we’re confronted by great loss directly, this lesson is easily forgotten. Deits compassionately acknowledges that grief hurts and that to deny the pain is to postpone the inevitable. He continues that loss and grief can be big or small and that the period of mourning afterward can be an unknowable factor early on. This early assessment of grief reminded me of Prochaska and DiClemente’s stages of change, and how the process of change generally follows a specific path.
Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a life-altering event. During this time, life is not only difficult for the patient, but also for their loved ones. Families must learn to cope together and to work out the best options for the patient and the rest of the family. Although it may not be fair at times, things may need to be centered on or around the patient no matter what the circumstance. (Abbott, 2003) Sacrifices may have to be made during difficult times. Many factors are involved when dealing with chronic illnesses. Coping with chronic illnesses alter many different emotions for the patients and the loved ones. Many changes occur that are very different and difficult to get used to. (Abbott, 2003) It is not easy for someone to sympathize with you when they haven’t been in the situation themselves. No matter how many books they read or people they talk to, they cannot come close to understanding.
The decision to end a life is a difficult one no matter the situation presented. It stirs a great deal of emotions when thinking about a loved one choosing to die in situations where they are terminally ill. Death is a scary thought for most people, but we need to remember that it is just a fact of life, no matter how morbid it sounds. There is some dignity in ending a life for a patient is who terminally ill and suffering, although it may be a tough decision, it can sometimes be the right one.
When faced with a terminal illness a person has to go through a process of thinking. What will happen to me? How long will I suffer? What kind of financial burden am I going to leave with my family when I am gone? What are my options? For many years the only legal options were to try a treatment plan, palliative care, hospice, and eventually death. For residents of Washington State, Oregon, and Vermont there is another option. They have the option to end their own life with a prescription from their physicians.
Thanks in part to the scientific and technological advances of todays’ society, enhanced medicinal treatment options are helping people battle illnesses and diseases and live longer than ever before. Despite these advances, however, many people with life threatening illnesses have needs and concerns that are unidentified and therefore unmet at the end of life, notes Arnold, Artin, Griffith, Person and Graham (2006, p. 62). They further noted that when these needs and concerns remain unmet, due in part to the failure of providers to correctly evaluate these needs, as well as the patients’ reluctance to discuss them (p. 63, as originally noted by Heaven & Maguire, 1997), a patient’s quality of life may be adversely affected. According to Bosma et al. (2010, p. 84), “Many generalist social work skills regarding counseling, family systems, community resources, and psychosocial assessments are relevant to working with patients and families with terminal illness”, thereby placing social workers in the distinctive position of being able to support and assist clients with end of life decisions and care planning needs. In fact, they further noted that at some point, “most social work practitioners will encounter adults, children, and families who are facing progressive life limiting illness, dying, death, or bereavement” (p. 79).
When it comes to a bad diagnosis it is often difficult for doctors to tell their patients this devastating news. The doctor will likely hold back from telling the patient the whole truth about their health because they believe the patient will become depressed. However, Schwartz argues that telling the patient the whole truth about their illness will cause depression and anxiety, but rather telling the patient the whole truth will empower and motivate the patient to make the most of their days. Many doctors will often also prescribe or offer treatment that will likely not help their health, but the doctors do so to make patients feel as though their may be a solution to the problem as they are unaware to the limited number of days they may have left. In comparison, people who are aware there is no cure to their diagnosis and many choose to live their last days not in the hospital or pain free from medications without a treatment holding them back. They can choose to live their last days with their family and will have more time and awareness to handle a will. Schwartz argues the importance of telling patients the truth about their diagnosis and communicating the person’s likely amount of time left as it will affect how the patient chooses to live their limited
I would not want my family to be forced to watch me suffer and be in excruciating pain twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I would want to save my family from that and save them the burden of giving up their lives to take care of me and pay for all the medication that will never save my life. I rather give them many happy memories to live on with of me and the things we’ve done together. I would never want their last image of me to be in a bed dying in pain that can't be helped. I have seen way to many people suffer from an illness, that has no cure. I’m sure if they had a choice, they’d want the option of assisted suicide. I’d want to die happy and on my own terms and I feel that many people want that and should have the option for
The right to die gives patients a sense of power. These patients have lost almost all control of their physical health, the only thing they have left, is to enjoy their last weeks or months of living. With the chance of being to get assisted physician suicide it gives the patient a chance to go out and explore, laugh, and have fun with their loved ones. In a YouTube video Brittany Maynard did she expresses how she feels about her terminal illness taking over her body. “My body has changed so quickly, you
Anyone can be diagnosed with a terminal illness. It doesn’t matter how healthy you are, who you are, or what you do. Some terminal illnesses you can prevent by avoiding unhealthy habits, eating healthily, exercising regularly and keeping up with vaccinations. However some terminally ill people cannot be helped, their diseases cannot be cured and the only thing possible to help them, besides providing pain relieving medication, is to make them as comfortable as possible while enduring their condition. Many times the pharmaceuticals do not provide the desired pain escape, and cause patients to seek immediate relief in methods such as euthanasia. Euthanasia is the practice of deliberately ending a life in order to alleviate pain and suffering, but is deemed controversial because many various religions believe that their creators are the only ones that should decide when their life’s journey should reach its end. Euthanasia is performed by medical doctors or physicians and is the administration of a fatal dose of a suitable drug to the patient on his or her express request. Although the majority of American states oppose euthanasia, the practice would result in more good as opposed to harm. The patient who is receiving the euthanizing medication would be able to proactively choose their pursuit of happiness, alleviate themselves from all of the built up pain and suffering, relieve the burden they may feel they are upon their family, and die with dignity, which is the most ethical option for vegetative state and terminally ill patients. Euthanasia should remain an alternative to living a slow and painful life for those who are terminally ill, in a vegetative state or would like to end their life with dignity. In addition, t...
Death alone is a scary thought to most individuals. People who live their life in fear of death don’t really get the most out of life. Someone who is terminally ill would be in a similar situation. There are two ways to live life after being diagnosed terminally ill. One way would be to get the most out of what remains of the person’s life. This would be considered the positive outcome. In the story “Letter from a Sick Person” the narrator recently has been informed he is terminal. Instead of panicking or being upset he embraces it. He accepts that his death is unavoidable and it gives him a brand new meaning in his life. He states, “In journeys, the greatest grief is hidden”. This life explains while he is not exactly happy he has discovered a way to cope with his illness. He feels as if it was his time stating, “I tell you I wanted death to come like a captain and carry me off”. Even in his death he knew that it wasn’t him who would be forced to overcome his death but the people left
The stages of death are known to be a process of mourning that is experienced by individuals from all phases of life. This mourning ensues from an individual’s own death or the death of a loved one. Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross dedicated much of her career to studying this dying process and in turn created the five stages of death. The five stages are; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. These stages may not occur in sequence and sometimes may intersect with one another (Axelrod, 2006). The reality of death many times causes a feeling of denial; this is known as the first stage. In this stage, people have many emotions and have a tendency to hide from reality. This reaction is momentary, but should not be rushed. The patient or loved one needs time to adjust to the awaiting death. This adjustment helps bring them through to the next stage; anger. Anger is a common feeling and many times routes from a feeling of not being ready. This emotion may be directed toward God, strangers, friends, family or even healthcare professionals (Purcell, 2006). In some cases, it can be targeted...
First, there are those who agree with assisted suicide, arguing that a person should have the choice to end one’s own life, to end one’s prolonged pain and suffering. According to Soo Borson, terminally ill diseases like dementia and Alzheimer 's kill, but very slowly and rob a person of their mind long before their body is physically ready to die. Once that happens to the patient, the path is filled with great anguish for the one’s around the patient as well. Personally, I have lived with two grandparents suffering from dementia, and one who suffered with both lung cancer and dementia. It is a sad sight to see how their minds faded and how the disease caused both grandparents to change into people I couldn’t even recognize anymore. According to Andre and Velasquez, medicine and technology have allowed people to live longer lives, but have also allowed people
During the first stage, denial, the individual develops feelings of futility and defeat. Life makes no sense. An individual goes into a state of shock and wonders