Preparing for Death
A lack of preparation for our deaths is a serious problem whether it is because we don’t know the exact time or just don’t want to face death. In a article in time magazine by John Cloud he writes “We will spend more time getting ready for two weeks away from work than we will for our last two weeks on earth” (Cloud,2000,p.60). We should prepare for our deaths to show our wishes concerning treatment and life support as well as other aspects. We should make choices while we are still well, so that we are treated properly before we die. Frank Ostaceski said “we have more preparation for how to operate our VCRs than we do for how we die”(Cloud,2000,p.60).
In today’s society we all try to prolong life as long as possible. Technology is finding new ways that we can stay healthier and lead productive lives longer. Governor Lamm said “we should be careful in terms of our technological miracles that we don’t impose life on people who, in fact, are suffering beyond our ability to help”(Collins,1991,p.540). That is the real issue at hand; are we in fact over stepping our boundaries by keeping people alive who are maybe beyond our help. “Machines can extend the length but not always the quality of life” (Cloud,2000,p.62). As doctors, they need to think about the well being of the patient and if any methods could really help the situation.
It is hard to let someone that is close to us die, but we need to look beyond the fact that you will miss them. You need to think about what is best for the patient and if they are terminal; prolonging their life is not the best thing. It is important to prepare for our own death and make our wishes known. A living will is one way of doing that. A living will is a document explains to your doctor what types of treatment you want if you become terminally ill. A living will only works when you are terminal, it does not come into effect if you are in an accident and need emergency treatment. Some people may feel that a living will is not for them, when in fact everyone should have a living will. Most people assume that a living will means that they are refusing treatment, which is not true. A living will just explains your wishes.
Once I explained exactly what a living will is because some were unaware they were very comfortable with the idea of filling out a living will. The responses that I got all varied to different degrees. My brother stated that he did not yet have a living will but that they are very important to have and everyone should get one. He said that his wishes would be to pretty much “pull the plug in every circumstance”. He absolutely did not want to be put on life support, be artificially supplied with food, or get life sustaining drugs, machines, or other medical procedures. My mother had wishes the same as I would have which is to consider the circumstances and give me a month to evaluate if I have the possibility of making a full recovery. If there is no hope of having a full recovery then I want all life sustaining measures to be stopped because I don’t in any way want to be a burden on
The Dying of the Light is an article by Dr. Craig Bowron that captures the controversy surrounding the role of medication in prolonging life. The author describes that many medical advancements have become a burden to particularly elderly patients who in most instances are ready to embrace the reality of death. Dr. Bowron believes that dying in these modern times has become a tiring and unnatural process. “Everyone wants to grow old and die in his or her sleep, but the truth is most of us will die in pieces,” Bowron notes (Bowron). The article does not advocate for euthanasia or the management of health care costs due to terminal or chronic illness. Bowron faults humanity for not embracing life and death with dignity as it was in the past. He blames the emergence of modern medical advances and democracy as the sole reason why everyone is pursuing immortality or prolonging of life rather than embracing the natural course of things. The article is very articulate and comes out rather persuasive to its target audience that happens to be health-conscious. Craig Bowron uses effective rhetorical strategies such as logos, ethos, and pathos to pass on his message. The article’s credibility is impeccable due to the author’s authority in health matters as he is a hospital-based internist. A better placed individual to dissect this issue by analyzing his experiences in the healthcare profession. The article incorporates a passionate delivery that appeals to the readers’ hopes, opinions, and imagination.
Increasingly, people know from their own experience some painful dilemmas involving elderly or handicapped individuals who are in pain. While the achievements of modern medicine have been used to prolong and enhance life for many, they have also helped create an often dreaded context for dying. Costly technology may keep persons alive, but frequently these persons are cut off from meaningful relationships with others and exist with little or no hope for recovery. Many fearfully imagine a situation at the end of their lives where they or their trusted ones will have no say in decisions about their treatment.
The decision to end a life is a difficult one no matter the situation presented. It stirs a great deal of emotions when thinking about a loved one choosing to die in situations where they are terminally ill. Death is a scary thought for most people, but we need to remember that it is just a fact of life, no matter how morbid it sounds. There is some dignity in ending a life for a patient is who terminally ill and suffering, although it may be a tough decision, it can sometimes be the right one.
While physicians are supposed to prolong life, both sides can agree that they are also there to ease suffering. Physicians “are not limited to healing,” as people from Geneva University Medical School noted (Martin, Mauron, and Hust 55).Utilizing PAS would allow physicians to ease the person’s suffering. Despite prolonging life, again opponents argue that there are other alternatives to PAS, for example, continuous deep sedation, a form of palliative care. It is a substitute, but stated in an essay, “PAS may be morally more acceptable than CDS” (Martin, Mauron, and Hust56). Regarding that, both sides can agree PAS is the last resort for many. Evidently others feel that due to the costs, “The incentive to save money by denying treatment poses a significant danger” (Golden 829). Money would influence a patient’s judgment, but if they qualify, it would help them more than jeopardize their situation. PAS would help the patients not leave their family in credit card debt. PAS would be the appropriate choice for the
The end of life is inevitable. For most it is for seen and understood what ones final wishes are. Living wills provide those issues in question with answers. What if an individual does not have a living will? Who would be in charge in making final decisions for someone who cannot physically make those decisions? The story of Terri Schiavo brings about many questions that represents moral, ethical, and legal issues.
Tom Harpur, in his 1990 article in the Toronto Star - "Human dignity must figure in decisions to prolong life" - presents numerous arguments in support of his thesis that the use of advanced medical technology to prolong life is often immoral and unethical, and does not take into consideration the wishes of the patient or their human dignity. However, it must be noted that the opening one-third of the article is devoted to a particular "human interest" story which the author uses to illustrate his broader argument, as well as to arouse pity among readers to support his view that human life should not always be prolonged by medical technology. This opening section suggests that a critical analysis of Harpur 's arguments may find widespread use of logical fallacies in support of the article 's thesis. In this essay I will argue that, given how greatly
A divergent set of issues and opinions involving medical care for the very seriously ill patient have dogged the bioethics community for decades. While sophisticated medical technology has allowed people to live longer, it has also caused protracted death, most often to the severe detriment of individuals and their families. Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, believes too many Americans are “dying badly.” In discussing this issue, he stated, “Families cannot imagine there could be anything worse than their loved one dying, but in fact, there are things worse.” “It’s having someone you love…suffering, dying connected to machines” (CBS News, 2014). In the not distant past, the knowledge, skills, and technology were simply not available to cure, much less prolong the deaths of gravely ill people. In addition to the ethical and moral dilemmas this presents, the costs of intensive treatment often do not realize appreciable benefits. However, cost alone should not determine when care becomes “futile” as this veers medicine into an even more dangerous ethical quagmire. While preserving life with the best possible care is always good medicine, the suffering and protracted deaths caused from the continued use of futile measures benefits no one. For this reason, the determination of futility should be a joint decision between the physician, the patient, and his or her surrogate.
A living will is an affirmation that you want to pass away a natural death. You do not want extraordinary medical treatment or synthetic nutrition or hydration utilized to keep you alive if there is no reasonable hope of healing. A living will offers your doctor consent to withdraw or withhold life assistance systems under certain conditions.
The right-to-die is defined as expressing or advocating for the right to refuse extraordinary measures intended to prolong someone’s life when they are terminally ill or comatose. Generally people who use right-to-die laws do not do it because of the pain or financial reasons, but because they are worried about becoming a burden, or losing their autonomy. If a person exercises their right-to-die they already have their wills or property sorted out, but if that is not the case there are many places to help people sort out their wishes as well as property. “Medical professionals often encourage people to make a living will or advanced directives which is a document that lets individuals state their wishes for end of life care, in the case they become unable to communicate their decisions.”(Mayo Clinic, 2015). Living wills are more prominent now than they were before; with all the medical advances now people can live for years, even though they might not have wanted to, because the doctor was unaware of the patient 's wishes. In the past, when life threatening symptoms from accidents or
It is understood that all roles on planet Earth are only temporary. Whether it is in Eastern or Western culture, we do not prepare for death while still alive because it something we do not want to discuss and we know we cannot give a quick fix to it or change it. Death is approaching us as we grow older. (Excluding heart attacks or accidental death where death occurs instantaneously.) It is always there in our mind, in our shadows, regardless of our beliefs about what happens after death. Even in the present millennium, we still discuss death less willingly and perhaps we still have a kind of fearful feeling when we meet our final count-down.
Many people around the world today suffer from many forms of disease, and handicaps. From cancer and tumors; to total paralysis and AIDS. Medicine and technology as so far advanced, that many many patients that contract ailments that were once considered a death penalty, now face new hope. While such things as AIDS, and paralysis are not curable, people can be assured a longer, and possibly happier life than they would have a few decades ago; but...
The care of patients at the end of their live should be as humane and respectful to help them cope with the accompanying prognosis of the end of their lives. The reality of this situation is that all too often, the care a patient receives at the end of their life is quite different and generally not performed well. The healthcare system of the United States does not perform well within the scope of providing the patient with by all means a distress and pain free palliative or hospice care plan. To often patients do not have a specific plan implemented on how they wish to have their end of life care carried out for them. End of life decisions are frequently left to the decision of family member's or physicians who may not know what the patient needs are beforehand or is not acting in the patient's best wishes. This places the unenviable task of choosing care for the patient instead of the patient having a carefully written out plan on how to carry out their final days. A strategy that can improve the rate of care that patients receive and improve the healthcare system in general would be to have the patient create a end of life care plan with their primary care physician one to two years prior to when the physician feels that the patient is near the end of their life. This would put the decision making power on the patient and it would improve the quality of care the patient receives when they are at the end of their life. By developing a specific care plan, the patient would be in control of their wishes on how they would like their care to be handled when the time of death nears. We can identify strengths and weakness with this strategy and implement changes to the strategy to improve the overall system of care with...
While I do not have a terminal illness, I have a chronic illness and with all illnesses come complications. Many of these complications are solved through quick emergency room visits or an adjustment to my medications, but I am aware that it could be much worse. It is very important that I write up a living will so that if there was a major complication with my illness and I was unable to make medical decisions for myself in the moment, my wishes would still be known and carried through. I am very adamant that I do not stay on life support machines if there was not a chance that I survive without them. I also am very adamant that my family should not have to make the decision whether or not I stay on life support. I’ve seen too many people I know go through having to make that decision for their loved ones to wish that on mine. So instead, I will take that burden off of them and decide now while I still am able to express my
...letting go and to fight back. Whether against aging or illness, the idea of fighting disease at all costs literally costs the United States billions of dollars along with stressors to family members. Witnessing it first hand through Pappap, our family changed as a whole and we just finished paying the hospital bills – two years later. Although the idea may scare some people, the push or obligation of living wills has the opportunity to significantly affect the paradigm of our death denial culture. With this document established, each person in society for at least several minutes will acknowledge the fact that one day they will die. The timing will never be guaranteed, but death will. Advanced directives can possibly save financial burden and family stress in today’s culture of life. It will eliminate anxiety from proxies and prepare each person for their own death.