Technology in the medical world has rapidly advanced as years go on.
Physicians are now relying on new machines to conduct surgical
operations that can do their job but in a quick and perfect manner
(Importance of technology in healthcare, 2022). Although these new
advancements are put into place to provide the best treatment/care
possible in the interest of the patient, technology also raises ethical
as well as moral concerns for machines like life support. Life support
technology is an assisted way of keeping the organs within the
human body working artificially until they can proceed to work on
their own, but in many cases, life support is used when the organs
are unable to function on their own and there is no hope for
recovery for the patient. Ethical and moral issues usually arise when
the patient is advised by the doctors to be taken off life support
because there is no hope for recovery.
Pros to being on life support is that it allows the patient to sustain a
longer period and gives the patients family hope for a solution.
“While people who are in support of life support say that it is morally
wrong to let someone die, those against it argue that it is morally
wrong to keep someone alive without their consent, possibly
prolonging their suffering” (Life Support: Information and Ethics,
2022). Another con to having a patient on life support is financial
consequences. It is extremely expensive to be kept on life support
and can cost up to $10,000 a day, but with good insurance, it can be
covered (Life Support: Information and Ethics, 2022). If the doctor
advises the patient to be taken off life support, it is because there is
no recovery and therefore keeping the patient on it, against medical
advice, would result in draining limited resources and take up space
in hospitals and in intensive care units.
A very particular case about keeping a patient on life support after
doctors declared the patient brain dead comes to mind from
Oakland, California. 17-year-old patient, Jahi McMath had gone in
for a tonsillectomy where her surgery took another turn, and in
resulted in her having irreversible brain damage. Her parents did not
agree with the diagnosis of her being brain dead, and in fact believed
she was very much alive because of their religious beliefs and the
movement of Jahi’s toes and fingers. This created medical
controversy because McMath’s parents brought in the debate of
what actually declares a person brain dead. Amongst all this, her
parents also fought to keep their daughter on life support. They
eventually moved their daughter to a hospital in New Jersey because
“according to a New Jersey statute, death can't be declared "in
violation of individual's religious beliefs (Chow K, 2018). Sadly, five
years later, doctors in New Jersey declared Jahi dead due to bleeding
from liver failure.
For five years, Jahi was kept on life support. This case brought in a
new perspective in regard to religion and death. There are numerous
views on what is actually death, such as "a person is dead when all
brain functions cease, but there's also the view that a person is only
dead after their heart stops beating” (Chow K, 2018). Technology
advancements in medicine will continue to transform healthcare as
the years go on, but we must also keep in mind the ethical dilemmas
that may come along.
Importance of technology in Healthcare. Institute of Entrepreneurship
Development. (2022, April 15). Retrieved from
https://ied.eu/blog/importance-of-technology-in-healthcare/
Life Support: Information and Ethics. Life support: Information and
ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.acls.net/information-and-
ethics
Chow, K. (2018, June 29). Jahi McMath, teen at center of medical and
religious debate on Brain Death, has died. NPR. Retrieved from
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/29/624641317/jahi-mcmath-teen-
at-center-of-medical-and-religious-debate-on-brain-death-has-di
