The Pros And Cons Of Withdrawal Of Treatment

Withdrawal of treatment is discontinuing of life sustaining treatments, such as ventilators, feeding tubes, dialysis, CPR, or medications. We often see this in Intensive Care Units across the country. In 1998, a survey of 131 ICUs from 38 states revealed that 70% ICU deaths occurred after withdrawal of treatment, including CPR. (ABC Intensive Care: Withdrawal of Treatment, 1999). Neonatal deaths due to withdrawal of treatment increased in the last thirty years from 14% to 66% (Shooter and Watson, 2000). 65,000 dialysis patients die each year in the United States due to withdrawal of dialysis (Moss, 2001). Withdrawal of treatment is becoming more prevalent in the country. Many patients are kept alive by advanced technology, which may not be in the best interest of the patient to prolong their life when they have no hope for recovery. People may choose to withdrawal treatment when they choose not to live by medicine or a necessary treatment that is keeping them alive. Withdrawal of treatment is ethically challenging to the hospital, staff, and family. This happens when death is inevitable despite the treatment given. In healthcare as we experience end-of-life care, we

In this case legal arguments went on for three years. This was the first “right to die” case heard in court. In 1987, four years after her accident, the parent’s asked the doctors to remove the feeding tube and were refused. The parent’s then went to court and were denied. They needed proof that this is what Nancy would have wanted. In order to prove this, they found co-workers that had testified that Nancy told them she would not want to live like this. The court finally accepted this as evidence and Nancy’s feeding tube was removed and she died on December 14, 1990. This case brought the use of living wills to be more common in the United