Euthanasia Essay
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The Idea of euthanasia, or mercy killing, is a concept that is extremly difficult for many to understand. one thing that must be considerd is the particular problems faced by infants whose lives may be prolonged through modern methods of treatment, but for whom there is no prospect of recovery without extrem disability. While recognizing that cultural and national differences exist in the approach to matters relating to critical end of life decisions, the current controversiesa in the United States still must be considered. In all euthanasia cases, there are many important decisions that must be made. First of all, the patient should be considerd. The extent of suffering must be determined, and in most cases the patient is the most reliable source. "The patient should have the right to decide when he or she is ready to die"(kevorkian 149). patients must decide if they are willing to live in pain, or if they would rather end their suffering. Kevorkian says that "when deciding to die, the patient is able to say goodbye to all of his loved ones instead of dying unexpectadly" (149). The families of the patient also have a lot responsibility in makeing decisions for their loved one. Kevorkian thinks that if a person is terminally ill, the family should have the right to decide when it is the proper time to cut of life support (Kevorkian). Decisions about the use of life-sustaining treatment cannot be decided by physicians alone. The physician however, plays a vital role in decision makeing. He will be held responsible for the outcome of the patient. These decisions are always very hard on the people who are forced to make them. Infants obviously lack the ability to request the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment. Their present and future wishes simply cannot be known, If decisiond to allow the deaths of such helpless patients are to be ethically justified, three important questions must be answered. First, in what situations are such decisions appropriate? Second, who sould be held resposible for the decision? And third, by what process should they be made so that the interests of the infant are fully protected? "When dilemmas about resuscitation and life-prolonging treatment for infants first came to wide professional and public attention in the early 1970's, the main focus of concern was on infants born with major congenital abnormalties, particularly of the central nervous system" (Weir 661). Since then, advances in prenatal diagnosis and intensive care have led to an increase in the importance of problems to infants whose future quality of life have been severley compromised by the complications of extremly prmature birth. "Other infants fo whom withdrawal of life-prolonging treatment might be considered ethically justified include those whose brains have been damaged by infection or hemmorage" (Kopelman 679). As the treatments of today become increasingly sophisticated, it may no longer be appropriate to talk simply of brain damage. "It may now be necessary to differentiate between various types of diseases in the neanatal stage" (Weir 7). For all of these infants, the basis for any decision to withhold or withdrawlife-prolonging treatment si compassionate concern about their future should they survivr with devasstating brain abnormality or damage. In rare cases, tragic delimmas arise when the brain remains intact, but irreparable damage has occurred to other organs. To those who are familiar with neonatal intensive care, it is not surprising that concern about qualtiy of life is perhaps the most important element in these decisions. The abnormal development or prolonged intensive care that parents fear most is brain damage, and what it can mean for their child. as a criteria for decisions to proceed with life-sustaining treatment, quality of life has been severly criticized (Weir 661). "Such judgements have been lacled as discriminatory against the handicapped and equivalent to the social judgments have that involve invidious discrimination on the ground of such morally irrelevantcriteria as race and color" (weir 661). It can be argued that quality of life predictions are necessary and inevitable if doctors and parents are to seek, on behalf of the infant, the least detrimental of several burdensome treatment options when it becomes apparent that none will be of real benefit. Also, if we help families cope with the tragedy of having children with severe abormalities or brain damage, the quality of life judgements must precede any decision to withdraw treatment (Duff 890). To leave these judgments out is to first ignore the practical realities of caring for children with abnormalities. It would also undervalue the importance of compassion in patient care. An alternative is to restrict the doctors and nurses to acting purley as technicians and require them to use life-sustaining treatment indisciminatley without regard to the consequences for the child or family (Coulter 840). It is also important to point out what quality of life does not mean. To pediatricians, it does not mean a judgment about the infant's inherent value or social worth to the community. Nor does it imply that these medical decisions primarily rest upon consideration of the likely financial costs of long term care to the family, hospital or state. To a pediatician, taking account of quality of life means being concerned on behalf of an infant patient about his or her capacity for future health, development and well-being, about the potential ability to reciprocate in human relationships, and about the human costs to the child and family that will accrue with survival (Wier 662). Although economic cost is not a quality of life issue, whether a treatment or its cosequences can be afforded is an important but separate ethical judgment (Duff 893). It would be unrealistic to think that the staff of an intensive care unit could simply ignore the problem of human and financial resourcees and ever increasing demands. "Doctors, nurses, and others, should be prepared to contribute to discussions on financial and other costs as any decisions they make could have adverse consequences for others" (Duff 892). The prolonged care of totally dependent children is very expensive and inevitably uses public as well as private resources. If life is prolonged in infants who will be unable to engage in meaingfull relationships with others, this must cut into the resources available for the care and support of a much greater number of severly disabled children who can form and sustain such a relationship. In most euthanasia cases, most decisions to withold or withdraw treatment are made through individual case by case analysis of the medical facts and sensitive, informed discussions between the responsible doctor and the...
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