End Of Life: Dr. Bearing

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End of Life Paper Since the beginning of medicine, physicians have taken an oath to uphold specific ethical standards regarding patient care. However, over time, this oath has become less of a promise and more of a formality. The thirst for knowledge and individual recognition for research has led to patients ultimately becoming an afterthought in the eyes of people entrusted to care for them most. The movie WIT illustrates this unpleasant reality in an unashamed way, time and time again. The patient, Dr. Bearing, is treated more as a medical experiment rather than a person currently going through one of the worst scenarios possible in life. Rather than giving her hope and optimism, the doctors give her orders and demands to ‘take the full dose’ no matter what. Rather than actually involving her in the decisions regarding her individual life, they treat her as though her fate has already been decided and now all that remains is a chance to gain valuable knowledge—at the expense of her having any kind of comfort in her last moments …show more content…

Wit, there are two ethical issues that arise during this production. The first ethical issue is related to the strong use of chemo drug therapy on a patient in order to promote research. It does not seem fair to use strenuous amounts of drug therapy on a patient to promote scientific research if it will harm the patient more than it will benefit the patient or if it is not the patient’s will. The second ethical issue is that Dr. Wit specified that she would like to be a “no code” and her right as a patient was violated when the physician and care team used life-altering measures to save her. It is unethical to violate the patient’s wish, even if a person does not agree with what the patient wants. Although members of the healthcare team are taught to save lives and to do no harm, disrespecting a patient’s will is essentially inflicting harm on the

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