The issue is whether the doctor must follow the request of the patient and stop treatment and allow her to die.
Michelle_Michy
20201003134518request_to_die__non_terminal_patients1.pptRequest to Die
Non-Terminal Patients
Dr. Walid Abushahba
Chapter 2
Scenarios
Voluntary Death
- When a person requests to end their life in a painless matter.
- Jean –Paul Sartre “Not to choose is always still a choice”
Christianity views on voluntary death
- “Life is a gift from God and only God can take it back”
- Thomas Aquinas
- It deprives the community of talented people
- It deprives children of their parents
- It is unnatural
- Goes against the instinct of self-preservation
David Hume
- Argued that voluntary death is NOT a sin
- “It’s a kind of blasphemy to imagine that any creative being can (by taking his own life) disturb the order of the world.”
- “Any suicide is insignificant to the workings of the universe and it is blasphemy to think otherwise.”
Immanuel Kant
- He believed that if the motive of suicide is self-interest (escaping pain) then that is not a moral justification.
- “Suicide is immoral because people should always be treated as ends in themselves, never as mere means.”
John Stuart Mill
- As long as others are not harmed, we can do whatever we want with our own lives and bodies.
- Do we agree with this statement?
ELIZABETH BOUVIA
- A WOMAN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY AND PARALYSIS
- NO MOTOR FUNCTION IN ANY OF HER LIMBS OR SKELETAL MUSCLES
- THROUGH ASSISTANCE SHE ACHIEVED HER B.S. IN SOCIAL WORK
- MARRIED FOR 1 YEAR
- ATTEMPTED TO HAVE A CHILD WITH NO SUCCESS
- LOST THE COURT BATTLE TO HELP END HER LIFE
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Elizabeth’s Plan To Die
- IN 1983 SHE CHECKED HERSELF INTO RIVERSIDE GENERAL HOSPITAL IN CALIFORNIA CLAIMING SHE WAS SUICIDAL
- ANNOUNCED HER PLANS TO STARVE HERSELF TO DEATH AND STARTED TO REFUSE SOLID FOODS FROM THE NURSES
- WHEN THE HOSPITAL REFUSED TO RESPECT HER WISHES SHE CONTACTED THE MEDIA AND SOUGHT LEGAL REPRESENTATION
ELIZABETH’S PERSPECTIVE
- “LIFE AS A DISABLED PERSON WAS A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH”
- SHE WAS TIRED OF BEING A BURDEN AND HAVING TO DEPEND ON OTHER PEOPLE TO FUNCTION IN LIFE
- BELIEVED SHE WOULD NEVER FIND A MEANINGFUL JOB
- SHE FELT IT WAS HER RIGHT TO CHOOSE
"If I really could, I would go out there and kill myself. But I can't. I physically can't…I see death as letting go of all burdens. It is being able to be free of my physical disabilities and mental struggle to live." –Elizabeth Bouvia
ELIZABETH’S VICTORY
- After her victory in court, Elizabeth did not kill herself
- When some caring people offered to help her die, she changed her mind
- Getting control over her life gave her a reason to live
- However in 1996 she still needed a morphine drip to control her pain and was having conflicting feelings about being alive
- In 2008 in the Los Angeles Times mentioned that Elizabeth Bouvia was still alive
Larry McAfee case
- Due to a motorcycle accident, he became almost completely paralyzed at the age of 29.
- Snapped his head
- Crushed two top vertebrae
- Left with use of only his eyes, mouth and head
- Could not breathe on his own-needed a ventilator
Larry McAfee case
- 1989 McAfee filed suit in federal court to exercise his right to dies
- He did not want his ventilator disconnected but had designed a puff-sip switch for his IV line
- Blowing and sucking in a specific pattern would enable him to turn on an electric switch that would activate the flow of lethal drugs into him
- Judge Edward Johnson ruled in McAfee’s favor
RATIONALITY & COMPETENCE
- KEN HARRISON WAS A ARTIST THAT MADE SCULPTURES
- INVOLVED IN A CAR ACCIDENT, HE BECAME PARALYZED FROM THE NECK DOWN
- ALL HE IS ABLE TO DO IS TALK
- EVENTUALLY HE BECOMES FRUSTRATED AND DEPRESSED WITH HIS DISABILITY AND DECIDES HE WANTS TO DIE
Why is it harder to commit suicide?
- Some people may want to die painlessly and aesthetically.
- Want to be sure that they accomplish their intentions.
- If disabled, it’s impossible to kill yourself without someone else's help.
Ethical Issues
Suicidal Attempts
- In 1987, Robert McFarlene tried to kill himself & took 30-45 tablets of 10mg Valium.
- The attempt to kill himself didn’t work, due to an insufficient quantity. Instead causing him to be brain-but-not-bodily dead.
- Most people suicidal attempts don’t work.
- Even Physicians don’t know how to assist a suicide.
- In 1985, Physician Robert Rosier didn’t know how much morphine to give his terminally ill wife to help her die.
Suicide methods
- Poisoning: If failed; Lasting effects can include internal organ damage
- Slitting wrist in a warm tub: Must be made deep and in right place
- Drug / Alcohol Overdose: If failed, can lead to severe to permanent organ failure .
- Gun Shot: One of the most often achieved forms of suicide is by gun shot. Generally a head shot is 99 percent effective.
The list goes on….
Social Prejudice
“Today’s meaning of prejudice comes close to this. Without examining a person on his or her own merit, we have already adopted a negative attitude that implies a judgment. A prejudice is a mixture of beliefs and feelings that predisposes people to respond negatively to members of a particular group.”
- A prejudice system destroys the independence of disabled people rather than nurturing it.
What makes a disabled person want to die is the cumulative effect of centuries of prejudice against people who are physically disabled.
