Life Support Ethical Dilemmas
There are various stances on whether or not life support should be
used or if life-sustaining treatment should be provided to dying
individuals. On one hand, many may consider it immoral and
unethical to allow a person to die, while others believe that it is
unethical to keep a dying person alive and potentially prolong their
suffering (ACLS, 2020). At the same time, it can be difficult to
determine where the line is when it comes to life support. a For
example, is it ethical to perform CPR on a stranger who collapses in
the middle of a public place, not knowing if they have some sort of
advance directive? Does a pacemaker fall into the category of life
support? Who should be responsible to make the decision to on
whether or not, or when, to “pull the plug” for an individual who does
not have an advance directive? Some may even argue that the
allocation of health care resources on a terminally ill, dying patient
could be considered wasteful (Shi & Singh, 2017).
When it comes down to it, life support should be a personal decision,
and the wishes of the individual should be taken into considered
when deciding on whether or not to use life-sustaining treatment.
Medical professionals should follow the desire of individuals as those
desires are outlined in advance directives and living wills. Advanced
directives can capture an individual’s desires about end-of-life
decisions and living wills can outline what types of treatments a
person would desire if they were dying or permanently unconscious
(MedlinePlus, 2021). a If these types of documents do not exist, then
hopefully the family member or individual responsible for making the
decision on behalf of the individual will take the individual’s concerns
into consideration when deciding whether or not to stop life support.
a
References
ACLS. (2020, December 27). Life Support: Information and Ethics.
Retrieved April 21, 2022 from https://www.acls.net/information-
and-
ethics#:~:text=While%20people%20who%20are%20in,consent%2C
%20possibly%20prolonging%20their%20suffering.
