Indeed Medical Technological
advancement has increased the life span of human being. It has not only helped to overcome death but
also has been effective in prolonging patient’s life. Thus, have raises several
serious ethical issues concerning the quality of these patients and pushes
forward the need to reevaluate the definitions of life and death.
Karen Ann Quinlan is the first
“right-to-die” case. I have also read other “right-to-die” cases such of that
Nancy Cruzan and the most recent, Terri Schiavo case. However, I will focus on
this article, the Quinlan’s case. From what I have read in this article, Quinlan
was a landmark ruling in the 1970s because it first permitted
legally-authorized surrogate to refuse life-sustaining treatment on behalf of
an incompetent patient even if patient would die as a result. Quilan’s case indeed
established a major transformation in medical practice by asserting that
physicians were permitted to withdrawn life-sustaining treatment from a
persistent vegetative state patient once it was refused by a legally authorized
surrogate. Quinlan clarified that if the patient died as a result of stopping
life-sustaining treatment, there could be no enforceable charge of homicide
because the patient would have died of her pre-existing disease. For me, as a student in medical field, I
would also agree to the doctor who refused to remove the life-sustaining
treatment because in a medical perspective I am a “pro-life advocate” and that doctor
oath to save life. However, if I am the family of Karen Ann, I would also, in extraordinary
circumstances like this, want to remove the life-sustaining treatment and let
her die, peacefully.
There are really different
perspective raises on this issue that lives on, even today, especially there
are new advances development in medical technology that brought people greater possibility
to overcome and cure major illnesses and death. However, at the end of all of
the medical, legal, and ethical argument, it is most important to remember that
no matter how certain any of us may be of our analysis, decisions near the end
of life should never be easy. We must remind ourselves that true wisdom comes
with the acknowledgment of uncertainty and admitting that we cannot know all
there is to know. As individuals and as a society, we must do a better job to
show the greatest respect for our patients, loved ones, and all humanity by
treating each person as our moral equal, embracing the relationship of
mutuality and reciprocity and avoiding the relationship of separateness and detachment.
Reaction Paper for IMT. You may refer to this artcle. Click here. This gave me shit. Huhai. It's MIDTERM TIME! :) GOD BLESS US ALL MT-2A! To GOD be all the GLORY!
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