Personal Narrative: The Receiver Of A Life-Support Machine

This problem first began to surface in the 1980s when the court had to face Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health. In this case the court had to decide by “clear and convincing evidence” that the comatose patient’s (Nancy Beth Cruzan) desire to terminate her life before the courts would allow her family’s wish of disconnecting her feeding tube be carried out. Unfortunately eight of nine judges said no to the proposition and concluded that the right

After reading your post and many of the colleague in the class, most agree that is not professional to disregard the conversation that the family was having. Although the patient wishes were not to remain on life support and had a document to prove it he also fail to have a proxy to carry one his whishes. The Health Care Proxy is a simple document, legally valid in many states, which allows a person to name someone (an "agent") to make health care decisions their behalf if they are unable to make or communicate those decisions. (Society, 2015).

Autonomy can override beneficence when life-support is withdrawn (Prozgar, 2010). In addition, when a physician takes the position of withdrawing life-supporting equipment, the principle of non-maleficence is severed. Since helping patients die violates the physician’s virtue of duty to save lives,” distributed justice is served by releasing a room in the intensive care unit for a patient who has a higher chance of resolving their medical problems (Pozgar, G. 2010). There are so many inflict fuzzy gray areas and ideas about conflicting DNR policies that political disputes had to go to the courts to sort out the issues legally.

Reaching across the center console of my car, I imagined the commute that I had into school. My 1992 Jeep Cherokee courageously braved the snowstorm of the year, with only one functional windshield wiper and a forlorn four wheel drive system. As I turned onto the Merritt Parkway, a Honda Civic swerved past me and proceeded to weave in and out of the afternoon traffic. Fast-forward sixty seconds and that Honda was now engulfed by the powder white trees which bound the highway. Instinctively, I pulled up behind the crash site, dialing 911 as I ran over to the mangled wreck. I peered into the car, my pupils the size of marbles, and the driver seemed uninjured; regardless, I proceeded to reassure the driver that Emergency Medical Technician’s/Paramedic’s

A patient is lying on a hospital bed hooked up to several machines regulating his bodily functions. The doctor has informed the family that the patient is brain dead. His spouse makes the decision to pull the plug but his mother argues against it. It is the mothers opinion that her son is still alive, and deserves to be treated like a person, even though his brain is no longer functioning. The spouse holds the opinion that any trace of her loved one has left with the death of his brain and only his body remains. Suddenly, both remember the patients wishes to not be sustained on life support, and they collectively decide to pull the plug. This example illustrates the central debate

New issues and ethical questions have arisen as a result in technological advances in the field of medicine. One of these issues is quality of life for the individual. Is it better to keep a person hooked up to a life machine, if the person has no quality of life? That is there is no interaction with other humans and the person is only being kept alive because the machines are handling vital bodily functions. These advances add to moral dilemma of physician-assisted suicide and to the intense debate if the practice of physician-assisted death is ethical. Furthermore, there are direct and indirect physician-assisted suicide practices. Direct physician-assisted suicide practices include: administering a legal dose of drugs to end a life, withdrawing or withholding life sustaining treatments, and palliative sedation. Indirect physician-assisted suicides are a little bit different in that the physician may give

Maintaining life support systems against the patient’s wish is considered unethical both by the medical profession and the laws. Supposing a patient values the right to defer or withhold care, the same patient must have the right and privilege to end his life in order to prevent intolerable pain. The argument, which holds that family members could misuse the physician-assisted suicide rights in order to inherit wealth, are misplaced (Diekstra, 2008). This is attributed to the fact that even in the absence of physician-assisted suicide, members of a family could remove life support systems that can undoubtedly lead to the premature death of the

Imagine having to witness a family member or even a friend on life support be kept alive while knowing that there is no chance for a cure. A patient might feel like it is their time to go, but family members might have a hard time accepting the situation and will disagree. That is why patients in those extreme situations should have the option to end their life peacefully or continuing living in the conditions they are in.

The ethical principles for nurses to practice with beneficence and no maleficence. This legal battle between Terri Schiavo’s husband and her family was an ethical debate between continuing artificial life or remove her feeding tube by the request of her husband. Using the theories of utilitarianism and deontology can be applied or considered in making the most ethically correct resolution. The cases are very complex and raise many moral and ethical issues. The cases have brought awareness to society of “the importance of discussing end-of-life issues with family members and underscores how an advance directive, a living will and/or durable power of attorney for health care, are a healthcare proxy clarifies and provides evidence of the wishes of an individual regarding end-of-life decisions. Terri Schiavo should impress upon laypersons and professionals alike the uncertainty of the context in which issues of continuation and termination are argued ethically. Nobody knows what Mrs. Schiavo would have wanted. She left no advance directive and in its absence her husband says one thing and her parents

The principles of justice, nonmaleficence, and beneficence must be considered in this situation as the patient herself has neither voice nor living will expressing her desires. An ethical theory that applies to this situation is rule utilitarianism. This theory is a hybrid of deontological and utilitarian approaches (Purtilo & Doherty, 2012). Terri’s husband feels that he is legally honoring her wishes by allowing Terri to die as the natural consequence of her unfortunate medical condition. Using the utilitarian theory removing her feeding tube justifies the end goal of death. For her family, they feel a duty to Terri and having her feeding tube removed betrays their sense of duty and right. Conflict resolution, in this case, must consider promoting the person’s good or prevention of further harm to the patient. Ethical theories and principles can guide the best

I have an amazing opportunity through my sister's employer, to volunteer to assist hospice patients on a regular basis. I volunteer to assist hospice patients and their families by offering compassionate companionship and assisting with errands. Hospice patent's needs are not always monetary but more often emotional support and companionship. Last year, for one of my projects, I volunteered to make Thanksgiving meal boxes and to deliver them to the home of the hospice patients. I, along with other volunteers, filled the boxes with traditional Thanksgiving meal ingredients including desserts that were donated by area businesses. It took us approximately four hours to fill almost one hundred boxes. After filling all of the boxes, I volunteered

Bellevue hospital in new york city has spoke out about this increasing problem. In charge of intensive care at Bellevue is Dr. Ken Berger. Currently he is treating a 72 year old patient who has problems such as Hepatic Failure, Renal Failure, Cardiac Failure, He has no blood pressure and he is septic. This patient of his has shown no indication of getting better and seems to be increasingly getting worse. This man being treated has no chance of survival. Berger's patient is suffering and cannot function normally. In 1990 the supreme court passed a law aimed at stopping prolonging life treatments. However New york lawmakers Have twisted the decision to make it actually more difficult to stop prolonging life treatments. This law requires consent

I believed this is God's calling to me to join The Careline Team.The final confirmation was last Sunday when Gary Hone the Careline manager spoke and explained what the Careline is all about. It was been more than two years I have attending in One Community Church every Sunday. I'm looking for a work serving God aside from attending the church.I have heard The Careline Team before and their invitation to join.I said to myself this is what I want to do but I don't have a counselling background.I keep on thinking about this until finally Gary Hone give me an understanding about The Careline Team. It was just tonight after Gary Hone come to my place and interviewed me about my interest to join the team. I believe this is the right work for me

Thirty seconds. Thirty seconds is all it took for my aunt to die. My Aunt Theresa had been a smoker for decades, so it was no surprise when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She had gone through treatment and was getting better, but she had a trachea to help her breathe. One unfortunate day her trachea got blocked with mucus. There was no oxygen getting to her brain so she was brain-dead within a matter of thirty seconds. She was placed on life support and my family had to make a decision. Should we pull the plug or should we keep her on life support? After three days, my family decided to take her off of life support. It took a couple of days for her to finally pass.

With major advancement in medical treatments, it is now possible to keep a patient alive, which would not have been possible in former times. This has made end of life issue one of the most controversial issues in healthcare. Medical improvements have set the stage for ethical and legal controversies about not only the patient’s rights but also the family’s rights and the medical profession’s proper role. It is critical that any decision made in such situation is ethical and legal to preserve the rights of the patient and also protect the healthcare institution involved. It is very important when making decisions to discontinue treatments to make sure all other alternatives have been explored.