Terminal Condition

Secondly, the patient should be capable of making and communicating health care decisions for him or herself. Thirdly, the patient must be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months.  Interested patients must also provide the request for termination in writing to the physician. In addition, physicians are expected to inform patients to alternative means of care including hospice care and other medications. Only after precautions evaluation, the laws then permit patients to make the ultimate life ending decision.

1.1 - Outline legal requirements and agreed ways of working designed to protect the rights of individuals in end of life care.

The process of deciding when a terminally ill patient should die lies within the patient, family members, and the

The importance of end of life issues and decisions are now being discussed at the time of admission to most acute care and long term acute care facilities. More attention is being placed on these specific decisions to ensure that the patient's

There has been an increase in the interest of euthanasia and assisted suicide for the terminally ill in recent years (Williams 1997). The most obvious reason for someone wanting to end their life is to end the suffering they are going through once the illness goes beyond being bearable.

To live or die that is the real question? This is a question many terminally ill patients and their loved ones are facing in the county on a daily basis. Dealing with the pain of a sever cancer or watching a loved one battle discomfort can be unbearable. There are a growing number of people who choose to end their lives using physician assisted suicide.

Forcing terminally ill patients to suffer straight up to their last days is unacceptable and provisions can be made in order to allow competent patients to have a choice at the end of their lives.

Serious diseases such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and metastatic cancer have directed societal attention to end-of-life decision making because many patients who are suffering as they die would like their death to be hastened. In "Oregonians' Reasons for Requesting Physician Aid in Dying" ( Archives of Internal Medicine , vol. 169, no. 5, March 9, 2009), Linda Ganzini, Elizabeth R. Goy, and Steven K. Dobscha discuss the reasons that terminally ill Oregonians gave for wanting a physician to aid them in dying. In Oregon dying patients may make such requests under the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. Of the 56 patients who were surveyed, the average age was 65.8 years and nearly half had completed college. Slightly more were female

Terminal illnesses are terrible diseases that will ultimately end in death. What many people do not understand is that many terminal illnesses can cause an inability to function. Which is challenging for patients that have lived independently. The frustration of them not being able to function at the level they are used to would consume them. Although there are many reasons to ask for a life-ending medication, in 2014, Oregon reported that the inability to partake in events, the loss of independence, and the loss of dignity were among the top reasons why patients requested the medication (Goodale, Grossman, and Grundy 16). In addition to the patient's feelings, it can be as tough for the family of the patient. As humans, one of the most difficult things to do is to watch someone we love struggle. Physician assisted suicide would end the

There are occasions when medicine is not your friend and the effects of the treatment will only prolong the suffering of the patient. Healthcare professionals must be objective and ask will the end result be changed. We must know when it is appropriate to discuss end of life options and when it is not. According to Adams (2015), most desire to die at home, but less than half are allowed to do so (p. 13). Our responsibility is to allow the client to make an educated decision about all the available service and treatments.

This film explains the legal role of advance directives in end of life issues. An advance directive is “a written document directing how medical decisions are to be made in the future when the patient lacks decisional capacity and is unable to decide and choose” (Hanlon, End of Life Issues, Slide 28, Bullet 1). All three of the cases demonstrate the importance in filling out some form of directive. When there is nothing to go off of, it makes decisions extremely tough for families and medical providers. Having legal documentation of patient wishes helps understand what treatments they would or would not consent to. In cases like

Decisions are made every day. Essential decisions, reckless decisions, and “spur of the moment” decisions. All over the world people are making life changing decisions right now. Granted, a large number of people would not decide to end their own life if they knew they had a future of accomplishments and intriguing events ahead of them. On the other hand, what if that person knew they had no hope, they knew in a matter of months they would no longer have a pulse, and every futuristic aspiration was no longer in sight. Terminally ill patients have no chance of survival due to their conditions or diseases that are untreatable. That person has a limited time left on this earth and is empty of optimism. Having a life ending illness does not make

Our society finds it difficult to talk about dying and euphemisms are the norm. It is typical for both doctors and patients to be hesitant to initiate a discussion on dying. Focus instead is often more often placed on interventions and actions for managing symptoms. This avoidance can leave patients and their families unprepared for the inevitable death. (Schapira, 2010) It also often results in requests for therapies which may be excessive, costly and even painful in the hopes for a cure. One study demonstrates that when patients are aware that they are terminally ill, the majority are able to reach a state of peacefulness and also exhibit lower levels of distress. (Ray, Block, Friedlander, Zhang, Maciejewski & Prigerson, 2006) It is also important that family members are willing to discuss end-of-life options with their loved ones. According to elderly patients, they are most often the ones who initiate these conversations with their

With the many debates on what is and is not ethical with the end of life care, humans are faced with more ethical issues. All humans have an idea of what they believe to be moral or ethical. Looking at ethical concepts helps us as a society determined what treatment may be ethical or moral for a person during a chronic or terminal stage in their life. One ethical concept that plays a large role in death and dying is autonomy. The freedom for a patient to have control over their own health care decisions. If a patient has the ability to make informed

Most adults diagnosed with cancer undergo years of treatment in attempts to cure that cancer. However, sometimes these treatments may not work, or the cancer is found too late in a patient to be stopped, and a patient’s cancer can be determined terminal, which means that the cancer can not be cured and will lead to death. If cancer is determined terminal, end-of-life care can be administered patients to control lasting pains, including shortness of breath, nausea, and constipation. However, this treatment does not cure the cancer, and will not prevent death in a terminally ill cancer patient. In some cases, patients decide that receiving end-of-life treatment is not worth it if the treatment does not prevent death. Terminally ill cancer patients may also continue to experience unbearable suffering, despite end-of-life treatments, as it is not always effective. These factors may push some terminally ill cancer patients to request to be actively euthanized. Active euthanasia is the merciful ending of a patient’s life through a single act, such as an injection. Terminally ill cancer patients should have the right to determine if they are actively euthanized. However, only patients who consider their suffering unbearable should have the right to be euthanized.