Argumentative Essay On End Of Life Care

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) September 2014 Report brief- Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences near the End of Life addresses several necessities regarding end-of life (EOL) care. These necessities include; the needs and opportunities for improving EOL care, delivery of patient-centered and family-oriented care, clinician-patient communication and advance care planning, professional education and development, public education and engagement, as well as policies and payment systems to support high-quality EOL care. Taking care of the family and the patients near the end of life requires professional commitment and responsibility from all health care professionals including clinicians, clergy, caregivers, and support staff. The health system managers, payers, and policy makers also have obligation to make sure that EOL care is compassionate, affordable, sustainable, and high quality as possible. The IOM report point out that there has been a broad improvements towards the

Brittany Maynard brought up a good argument when she said, “I would not tell anyone else that he or she should choose death with dignity. My question is: Who has the right to tell me that I don’t deserve this choice?” (Slotnik). Brittany Maynard was a young woman who found out she had a terminal brain cancer and ended up becoming the public face for the right to die act. Many people believe that this act should not be in place, but in taking this act away people lose their right to choose when they want to die. People may argue the fact that doctors have access the drug with assisted suicide is very unsettling; however, the doctors are professionals who are trusted with this drug. This act is important because it gives the terminally ill one last independent decision before they lose themselves. Taking away the act means taking their free will away from them.

Brittany Maynard, a young woman who shocked the world by announce her assisted death. This is the case many years ago and reported by all media that reopened the debate in the United States on assisted death. This issue is very controversial by religious people who oppose and preach that only God has the power to decide on the life and death of the human being, however, in modern and present life, there are states that support people who determine under much evidence to end their life if there are no other alternatives to continue living.

“There is a time in a patient’s life when the pain ceases to be, when the mind slips off into a dreamless state, when the need for food becomes minimal and the awareness of the environment all but disappears into darkness. This is the time when the relatives walk up and down the hospital hallways, tormented by the waiting, not knowing if they should leave to attend the living or stay to be around for the moment of death”(Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross). There are many interpretations to what end of life care is. End of life care is care that needs to occur when a person loses independence. Some people think that end of life care is just dying in a hospital, but there are many important components that make up end of life care.

About 564,800 Americans are expected to die of cancer, which is the second leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and other terminal illnesses. There are laws that exist to protect the public when facing life situations like an abortion or executing a dead penalty. Advance health care directive is another document for the patients to express their health decisions. Americans should also be protected when a patient’s quality of life is poor, painful, and miserable from a chronic disease. They should be able to obtain the right to end their life with dignity. California recently approved the end of life option act that allows a patient to obtain a doctor’s prescribed lethal dose to finalize their life on earth.

California is the fifth state in America to put into effect the “End of Life Act,” a significant bill concerning many in the United States. This act allows either by law or court order a terminally ill patient has the right to request physician assisted suicide. The most debated topics usually center around moral and religious problems, which are directly combatted with issues like the right to “die with dignity.” Even though the law states it is a right to end one’s life, “living with dignity” is better than “dying with dignity.”

The end of life planning is an important action to take that enables an organized preparation for an individual’s death. When most people think of planning for a death they gather documents such as an advance directive, health plans, bills, a living will, and proxies. An advance directive identifies everything in reference to end of life care. A few examples included in the end of life planning is medical decisions, the transfer of ownership of property, and body arrangements. The person who is dying and their survivors will benefit from the end of life planning because it will provide mental comfort knowing that the deceased individual last wishes were documented. End of life

Palliative care is a relatively new approach to medicine and involves identifying and reliving suffering of patients who are either terminally ill, or experiencing a debilitating chronic or life-threatening illness (Arnold, 2004, p. 6). Having a valid will and living will is especially important for those under Palliative Care because it helps make your wishes known so you don’t have to put your family members in a position of deciding your medical fate or with the difficulty of handling your estate if you die (Cheeseman 877). Professionals and doctors can help advise you about end of life options, if the need arises, and Palliative Care specialists will help guide you and your family with procedures to help alleviate pain or suffering along with spiritual guidance and support for families through the bereavement period if the patient dies.

If the doctor has done or has made use of all the possibilities in saving that person’s life, then ultimately the individual can have the responsibility and dignified voice in what they would or would not like in their near future.

Grey’s Anatomy fans may remember an episode in season six in which there was a patient that was grappling with terminal lung cancer, she then decided that she wanted to end her life. Not by jumping off a bridge or shooting herself, but by a lethal injection. She asked her doctor, Teddy if she would sign off, but the rule with physician aided suicide is that you need two signatures. This caused conflict in the hospital between moral values and ethics. Over the past few decades, assisted death has been a debate in the government. Is it murder? Is it ethically ok? In today’s world, the controversy of physician aided death (PAD) is a problem that should be decided on once and for all.

According to Wisconsin Right to Life, Euthanasia is the direct killing of a person, usually by injecting a lethal substance. Society would think there is one step to this procedure, but it could be depending on if someone does it illegally or take the legal route. One way is by going through these steps which are, first a coma is induced by intravenous administration of barbiturates, followed by a muscle relaxant. The patient usually dies as the result of anoxemic caused by the muscle relaxant. When death is delayed, intravenous potassium chloride is also given to hasten cardiac arrest.

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Thomas Jefferson was essentially stating that each individual show be able to decide what they do with their lives and these decisions shouldn’t shouldn’t be defined arbitrarily by other humans. If such a statement can be included within the United States Declaration of Independence, then would it not seem like there is some truth to it? Also known as assisted suicide, euthanasia is “the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma” (“Euthanasia”), a practice generally illegal in most countries. Talking about death is never easy, but when it comes down to the facts, it shouldn't be a topic to avoid. The divisive public controversy regarding the moral, legal, and ethical issues surrounding euthanasia tends to report on the subject based on the opinion of the masses instead of looking into each individual case. The ability to decide when an individual wants to cease their existence should be made by the individual and the individual alone. Once rights for a person's life is being limited, then they are unable to truly live their own life.

The World Medical Association (WMA) defines euthanasia as “the act of deliberately ending the life of a patient, even at the patient’s own request or at the request of close relatives.” Euthanasia refers to physician-assisted suicide, mercy killing and withdrawal of unwanted medical treatment (Taqi 266). It is debatably one of the most controversial issues in the fields of theology and medicine. Euthanasia stems from the Greek word for “a good death”.

Euthanasia. “The painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. This practice is illegal in most countries.” The actual word euthanasia originates from the greeks, being formed out of the words “eu”; meaning “good” or “well”, and “thanatos”; meaning “death” ("Euthanasia."). Chances are, you know of euthanasia. Euthanasia is definitely not an unknown subject in our lives. When it’s used in the United States, it’s commonly used practice on animals, specifically if they have some sort of disease or problem, if they do something violent such as bite a person, or if they are just very old and are having issues functioning. Euthanasia, while legal is countries such as Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium, is completely illegal in all of the United States.

    America’s founding fathers declared that every person had certain inalienable rights they are born with and cannot be separated from. They listed citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today's government must decide if a right to life equates to a right to death.