Right to Die With Dignity In Case Of Terminal Illness Everyone will have one moment in life to ask, how would I like to die? This was the question that many people in America were asking themselves when the case of Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old female appeared in the news around the country. This female from California was diagnosed with aggressive terminal brain cancer. Many doctors tried different treatment trying to save her life, but the prognosis was not promising at all (Maynard, 2014). And she was told by doctors that her death will be under agonizing pain. With such horrible fear of losing control, she made up her mind and decided to die with dignity by medical assistance with her family at her bedside. The choice was not easy …show more content…
The first option was to let her stay with cancer and die with excruciating pain and the second option was to move to some state where patient will terminal illness can have assisted death under medical prescription. She was an educated woman full of life, full of future and many plans and as any adult who have values and beliefs about how end of life should be; she decided to die with dignity without pain. For the wish to come true she had to move to Oregano where the right to die act is legal (Maynard, 2014). Moving wasn’t easy, but through a lot of sacrifice, her family was able to move with her and be at her side as she passed away. Through doctors and nurses, she was able to get a medical prescription that will help her to die while asleep without any pain on any day of her choice. Looking at ethical relativism perspective, she was able to do what was right and reasonable according to her values and beliefs. Public opinion around the world tried to judge her, thinking that she should not have chosen to die. who have the right to dictate someone else‘s life telling them what to do. She was the one living that life with cancer, knew how it felt like and as long as she was in the right state of mind that was her right. Don’t really criticize her case until you walk a mile in her …show more content…
She did chose not to die under excruciating pain from that terrible disease which has taken so many loved ones. She had gone through surgery and many chemotherapy treatments but still her brain tumor kept growing. After all that had been done by medical team, the outcome was terrifying; instead her life continued to deteriorate and would go into so many seizures and loss consciousness. Doctors had to tell her the truth of what was going to happen, and sometime it is not easy for a doctor to be able to tell a patient how many months or days they have left on earth, but regardless they gave her all necessary information regarding her illness treatments and alternatives. All medical professionals have their own values and beliefs, but they used ethical framework and stayed within their scope of practice and honored the wishes of the patient. All her information was kept confidential and she shared what she thought was necessary to share with the public viewers. She died with hope that her voice and freedom of choice would be heard by the public and lawmakers, in order to legalize the right to die act in every state in
Brittany Maynard was a 29 year old woman, she was thriving and loving life then, she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Brittany did a lot of research about her cancer and she finally realized that there wouldn’t be any good outcome. After fighting the cancer for months, she had the option of living in her home with hospice coming in and caring for her. Brittany made the decision to move to Oregon with her family to be protected by the Death with Dignity law. She wanted to be able to die when it felt ‘right’. She wanted to say when enough was enough and she said all her goodbyes. Brittany also didn’t want to have hospice take care of her, because she would just be suffering and in pain for who knows how long, wondering when the time will be that she dies. Her family would have to sit there and watch that day by day. How could a family do that? Brittany chose not to go through radiation and lived her life to the fullest with her family happy and smiling, until that time felt ‘right’ and she couldn’t go on any longer. She actually had the medication for a long time, before she took it, because she didn’t want to die, but dying was going to happen anyway. She wanted to die on her terms. When my suffering becomes too great, I can say to all those I love, "I love you; come be by my side,
This is a fascinating case because it presents the distinction between a patient’s right to refuse treatment and a physician’s assistance with suicide. Legally, Diane possessed the right to refuse treatment, but she would have faced a debilitating, painful death, so the issue of treatment would be a moot point. It would be moot in the sense that Diane seemed to refuse treatment because the odds were low, even if she survived she would spend significant periods of time in the hospital and in pain, and if she didn’t survive she would spend her last days in the hospital. If Diane were to merely refuse treatment and nothing else (as the law prescribes) than she would not have been able to avoid the death which she so dearly wanted to avoid.
Brittany Maynard was a twenty nine year old woman who married her husband just a year before she passed away. Before she passed, she was diagnosed with a terminal disease, brain cancer. Her doctors gave her six months to live and using treatment might shorten her already short amount of time that she had left to live. Maynard and her family uprooted from their home in San Francisco, California and moved to Portland, Oregon. In Oregon, she planned to get new physicians and after attending appointments, she could be prescribed a lethal pill that would end her life. She wanted to live her last six months happily, and she didn’t want to suffer and have her family watch her suffer. (Death) She wanted to be able to end her life on her own terms, and not when the cancer says that she had to. She received a lot of unkind criticism for her choice. Death with Dignity Act, or the use of assisted suicide is morally justifiable, especially in Brittany Maynard’s
Barbara Huttman’s “A Crime of Compassion” has many warrants yet the thesis is not qualified. This is a story that explains the struggles of being a nurse and having to make split-second decisions, whether they are right or wrong. Barbara was a nurse who was taking care of a cancer patient named Mac. Mac had wasted away to a 60-pound skeleton (95). When he walked into the hospital, he was a macho police officer who believed he could single-handedly protect the whole city (95). His condition worsened every day until it got so bad that he had to be resuscitated two or three times a day. Barbara eventually gave into his wishes to be let go. Do you believe we should have the right to die?
Consequently, she was left in what most assumed to be a vegetative state for years eventually because her husband continued to advocate for her right to die she was unplugged and died soon after. This case served as a warning for most people who didn’t really consider Advanced Directives before. Are family members sure of what lengths should or shouldn’t be taken worst case scenario. Repeatedly this has proven not to be the case. Death or dying is always a taboo subject however, when high profile cases like this arise people are forced to evaluate their own lives? A study regarding knowledge about advance directives conducted in 2004 suggested that there was a direct correlation between attitudes, financial stability and the number of people who had advanced directives. Surprisingly this same study discovered that doctors or healthcare professions assumed it was the patient’s duty to seek out
At suffering from months of debilitating headaches, Brittany Maynard learned she had brain cancer (Maynard). She was 29. Just married. And just trying to have a family. Her life turned into a saga of hospital stays where she underwent several surgeries to stop the growth of the tumor. They were unsuccessful and her doctors gave her a prognosis of six months to live. The doctors gave her the option of having full brain radiation. It wouldn’t necessarily save her life, but it would possibly extend the time. However, the quality of her life would be greatly diminished and she would have to suffer from the side effects including loss of hair and a burnt scalp. Because the rest of her body was young and healthy, she would likely have to physically hang on for awhile as the cancer ate her brain. So instead, she chose death with dignity. She uprooted her life and moved from California to Oregon which is one of three states that legalizes death with dignity.
... was doing what he thought was best for her and what she wanted. We have the right to live why can’t we have the right to died when it’s nothing left of us to live.
Imagine, if you will, that you have just found out you have a terminal medical condition. Doesn’t matter which one, it’s terminal. Over the 6 months you have to live you experience unmeasurable amounts of pain, and when your free of your pain the medication you’re under renders you in an impaired sense of consciousness. Towards the 4th month, you begin to believe all this suffering is pointless, you are to die anyways, why not with a little dignity. You begin to consider Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS). In this essay I will explain the ethical decisions and dilemmas one may face when deciding to accept the idea of Physician-Assisted Suicide. I will also provide factual information pertaining to the subject of PAS and testimony from some that advocate for legalization of PAS. PAS is not to be taken lightly. It is the decision to end one’s life with the aid of a medical physician. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary states that PAS is “Suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or by information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient’s intent.” PAS is considered, by our textbook – Doing Ethics by Lewis Vaughn, an active voluntary form of euthanasia. There are other forms of euthanasia such as non-voluntary, involuntary, and passive. This essay is focusing on PAS, an active voluntary form of euthanasia. PAS is commonly known as “Dying/Death with Dignity.” The most recent publicized case of PAS is the case of Brittany Maynard. She was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in California, where she lived. At the time California didn’t have Legislative right to allow Brittany the right to commit PAS so she was transported to Oregon where PAS is legal....
There are two different objectives to the meaning of Death with dignity. The first idea of death with dignity is support, comfort and care for the dying. Starting with support, the goal is to support the actively dying person physically, mentally and emotionally throughout all decisions. Taking in interests and concerns and being with them through any and all decisions made even if it is not a decision you believe in or agree with. Secondly, providing comfort and reassurance to the person throughout treatment. This can be done by managing medications, repositioning when needed and holding a hand or being a shoulder to cry on when needed. Being open and honest with current circumstances and help with planning their end of life plans based off of what they would like to have. And lastly care, this as well involves managing medications when a person can no longer do so as well as helping the person with activities such as getting dressed, eating, brushing teeth and going to the bathroom when the person can no longer do so on their own.
For example, Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old terminal cancer patient, stated while talking to a reporter about deciding to use euthanasia to end her life peacefully, “I will die upstairs in my bedroom that I share with my husband, with my mom and my husband by my side, and pass peacefully with some music I like playing in the background” (Dobuzinskis). Maynard wished only to be with the ones she loved most on her final day when she was finally going to be liberated from her misery. Without euthanasia, she would have had to continue to undergo many horrific days of excruciating pain, until her body could no longer take the pain, inevitably shutting down. Another example is from the American Civil Liberties Union, who articulates, “The right of a competent, terminally ill person to avoid excruciating pain and embrace a timely and dignified death bears the sanction of history and is implicit in the concept of ordered liberty” (ACLU). This further proves the point that all humans should have the undisputed right to chose their own death when capable to make the decision, which is given to them by simple human rights. Individuals should not be forced to sustain incredible pain without being allowed to end their ongoing agony; it is entirely
But not all people, and the Death with Dignity Act can provide relief for them,” (“Assisted Suicide” 2013). Death with Dignity is not for everyone. It may not even be for most people. But it is for some and they deserve the right to have control. I, personally, do not know what I would do if I were terminally ill. I have no idea, and I’m sure many of us are the same way. There is no way to know how we would feel or what we would want. In the end, I think all we really want is comfort. We want to feel like we have some sort of control. Sandeen said, “I think it’s a peace-of-mind thing. You’re terminally ill and you’re facing the possibility of some pretty tremendous suffering, and just the idea that you have this [prescription] and tomorrow you can take it if it gets really bad provides some comfort,” (“Assisted Suicide” 2013). I believe that the Death with Dignity Act needs to be adopted nationwide. Thank
In 1972 the United States Senate held the first National Hearing on Death with Dignity. The outcome of the hearing “Death with Dignity: An Inquiry into Related Public Issues” was an overwhelming annoyance caused by the use of the term, “medical miracle”. They felt as though it was ironic, the process of dying was only delayed and extended by a medical miracle and takes away from the quality of their life (Dowbiggin, 2003). Because of the present annoyance about using “medical miracles” as an excuse to ignore the idea of Death with Dignity, not much was accomplished at this hearing, besides arguing about a simple phrase. There was no improvement or movement on the actual topic of Death with Dignity.
The first definition of ethical in the dictionary is “pertaining to, or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct.” The first definition Dilemma is defined as “a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives.” Using these two definitions, an ethical dilemma can be defined as when a person has to choose a decision that goes against one’s morals. One alternative may have a negative impact on one’s life or another person’s life. Another alternative may be an excellent choice for one person but may have negative impacts as well. Therefore, an ethical dilemma often puts ones morals and values into question. This paper will review a case study of euthanasia,
Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman, discovers she has brain cancer. She looks back on her full life; traveling the world, teaching orphans overseas, climbing mountains, falling in love, and getting married. So young, but has experienced so much joy. Now, she looks ahead at the future. “Diagnosed with a rapidly growing brain tumor, Maynard says she faces a debilitating, painful and certain death.” (Luscombe 1). Treatment for this aggressive dark matter can extend her life to a median survival of 14.6 months, 30% may live up to two years. After doing her research, she chooses to not spend the next year battling the inevitable outcome of death. She chooses to face “death with dignity.” Susan Trossman refers to Maynard in
In addition, the death with dignity act is performed through euthanasia which is the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering. Since the death with dignity act isn't legalized all within america, it is a struggle among patients who rely on it. For instance, 3 years ago, 29 year old Brittany Maynard diagnosed with terminal brain cancer decided to move from her hometown California to Oregon, to take advantage of Oregon's death with dignity law. In other words, it allowed terminally ill patients, such as Brittany to choose where and when they want to die. After specialists told Brittany that she had 6 months to live, she was in a predicament to either follow a treatment plan which might ease her pain, but seriously diminish the quality of her remaining life, or reject the treatment and enable her family to watch her slowly suffer and die. however, Brittany looked for a third alternative and states that, “I did not want this nightmare scenario for my family,”(www.) On November 1st, Brittany planned to choose to end her miserable life in Oregon around her friends and family which Britanny called the ring of love. Without death with dignity, life can in fact, turn out to be hopeless since the terminally ill patient