ipl-logo

The Pros And Cons Of Withdrawal Of Treatment

1530 Words7 Pages

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 …show more content…

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

Show More
Related
295 Words | 2 Pages

A young girl Karen Ann Quinlan on April 15, 1975, slipped into a coma and her case began a major debate about “the right to die”. The defendant’s, in this case, are the doctors and hospital officials and the plaintiffs are the parents Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Julia Quinlan. One night Karen Quinlan hung out with friends and during the night she drank and took tranquilizers that made her pass out. Karen was taken to a hospital in New Jersey that night and shortly after she went into a coma which lasted 10 years. She was placed on a ventilator and a feeding tube to help her stay alive.

Read More
527 Words | 3 Pages

(MacKay 120). MacKay describes dialysis as being , "shackled to a machine for the rest of their lives" (120) and her use of these words lets the reader visualize someone actually being shackled to a machine with death coming soon, unless they get a new kidney. It leaves the reader feeling that it is unfair and lets the reader feel the emotion and pain of having to endure dialysis for the rest of their lives. Matas agrees with MacKay because his research states that there is considerable evidence that shows that transplantation “significantly prolongs patient survival, as compared with dialysis” (2007).The reader is also able to feel the emotions of anger and sadness MacKay feels for the patients that suffer with kidney failure and the treatments they endure.

Read More
1059 Words | 5 Pages

Wanglie Would have desired, there was no reason to doubt her family on that point, but whether the continuation of ventilator support and gastrostomy feeding were among the reasonable medical alternatives that should have been available to Mrs. Wanglie or her surrogate decision maker, whoever that might be. The question, really, was whether the provision of this kind of treatment in this kind of case was outside the limits of medicine and, thus, beyond her power of choice. Mrs. Wanglie’s healthcare providers should have argued that medical practice simply did not include providing ventilator and gastrostomy feeding under circumstances of this case, and that not surrogate decision maker should be able to choose this option”

Read More
192 Words | 1 Pages

Even in a persistent vegetative state a person still has fundamental rights under the state and federal constitution to refuse or direct the withdrawal of death prolonging procedures. The hospital fear of removing the feeding tube is justified under most state laws. Only in a few states it has been legalized for physician-assisted suicide. That is they allow doctors to assists patients to end their lives if the patient are to ill to do it by themself. In other states, doctors who assist their dying patient end their life of excoriating pain and suffering could be charged with murder.

Read More
2084 Words | 9 Pages

The Ethical and Legal Issues of Mrs. McGoldrick’s Case: An Analysis Using the Four-Box Method The case of Mrs. McGoldrick is one related to key ethical issues of dignity in dying, patient refusal of potentially life-sustaining care, and navigating conflicting interests among family members, clinicians, and patients. An analysis of Mrs. McGoldrick’s case, using the four-box method (Medical Indications, Patient Preferences, Quality of Life, and Contextual Features) adapted from Jonsen, Siegler, and Winslade’s guidebook on clinical ethics, is below (1). Medical Indications

Read More
1481 Words | 6 Pages

Yet in modern times, with the advent of medical progress, the process of death has changed, and by allowing the dying to linger longer on various forms of life support, technological advancement has given Western culture a form of denial, an uninformed assurance that death can now be transcended for an indefinite period. This is a dangerous turn, when we accept that breathing is the same as living. Instead, those close to death should be allowed maximum

Read More
1262 Words | 6 Pages

“Physicians consistently underestimate the quality of life of patients who have disabilities. Such underestimation leads physicians to make statements to disabled individuals and their families that may have a traumatic influence on treatment decisions to withhold or withdraw care” (Foley 316). “This lack of training in the care of the dying is further evidenced in practice. Physicians’ lack of knowledge about the control of the symptoms are obvious barriers to the provision of good care at the end of life” (Foley 303). “If the hospice mantra, ‘you matter because you are you and you matter to the last moment of your life and we will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully but to live until you die” (Foley 289).

Read More
399 Words | 2 Pages

It brought to my awareness both the limitation and the capacity of medicine. Although there was no medical intervention that could cure the diseases of those terminal patients, their quality of life was improved  by an outstanding team of doctors, nurses and volunteers. This awareness helped reconcile myself to the fact that certain things, such as death and terminal illness, can not be avoided or changed. By viewing death as a natural part of life, I will be able to offer my dying patients the best care possible while also understanding my limitation as a physician and a human being.

Read More
261 Words | 2 Pages

“Decision-making for end-of-life care has earned paramount importance as it has capability to prolong human life with the support of medical technologies or can let the natural death process continue by foregoing the treatment option. Hence, end-of-life care is facing various ethical dilemmas” (Karnik & Kanekar, 2016). Due to advances in medical technology, the decisions regarding death and dying are changing.

Read More
1461 Words | 6 Pages

Death is a natural process that will be experienced by everyone at some point, desirably at the end of a long, well lived life. The reality is that no one knows when that time will come or how it will happen. Unfortunately, for the terminally ill, death is in the near future and it is a sobering reality. Therefore, when that time comes, people need to know that they will have options, and the assurance that death does not have to be an agonizing end. They can choose to endure the annihilating pain that comes with the disease and allow it to take its natural course or choose to put an end to it, surrounded by those who love them.

Read More
584 Words | 3 Pages

The illness itself, the competency of the already dying individual, the length of time remaining, and the amount of pain are all just examples of these

Read More
134 Words | 1 Pages

Furthermore, some patients who are fully-conscious may say that they want to go to the ends of the earth to find treatment. They may be very clear that they do not want to die and will do anything to survive. The depressing part of this situation comes when the patient receives news that they are at the end of their treatment and that no other options that could benefit them exist. Basically, that patient must make the decision if they want to die peacefully without treatment or be hooked onto life-support for the remainder of what little time is left in their life. The sad truth is, sometimes patients can fight to the bitter end, but still end up losing.

Read More
1122 Words | 5 Pages

Patients without renal function can continue living by dialysis for years. Although significant progresses has been created in medical care of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), patients' suffering caused by lower quality of life compared with the general population continues (1, 2). Dialysis Patients (DP) are encountered with multiple physical, psychological, and social stressors (3). Therefore, ESRD and its treatment, i.e., dialysis, generally cause serious disorders in lifestyle and severely affect daily life of patients (4). Patients should have some strategies to control their chronic disease (5).

Read More
1206 Words | 5 Pages

Then, in their final days people realize they had not talked about the death process much even though they knew the disease was progressing, and the end was coming. They never expected life to go so fast and death to occur so quickly. Not having a conversation about end of life is the mistake multiple people make, and one in which I do not want to make at the end of my life. My ideal death would be having all the necessary paperwork filled out for my wishes, having already had the tough conversation of not taking any measures to

Read More
2027 Words | 9 Pages

When you hear the word death or you hear that someone has died today in the news or on the television I know a lot of people think “Man, I feel sorry for the family that they have to go through that.” or they thank god that it was not them or their family members.” Sadly though people try to push away death and push away the fact that everyone dies at one point in time. This is even truer when they witness their own family member in the hospital with a critical condition that the doctors cannot fix even with modern medicines on the doctor’s side. Another such time would be when a person’s family member is diagnosed with an incurable sickness that is fatal.

Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of Withdrawal Of Treatment

Related Topics

Open Document