Brain Dead Mother On Life Support Analysis
MCMASTER UNIVERSITY
Brain Dead Mother on Life Support
In this scenario, the hospital should take Mary off life support even though she is pregnant. Although the hospital believes that they are doing what’s best for the fetus, it may not necessarily be what is best for the family in this moment of grief. The reasons for this argument are because Mary had previously told John, her husband, that she would not want to be kept alive if anything were to happen. Secondly, even if Mary was kept on life support long enough to perform a caesarean section procedure on the fetus, the fetus may still have a high chance of developing permanent birth defects. It is also very possible that the premature fetus does not survive at all independently from …show more content…
In this situation, the hospital believes they are doing the right thing even though Mary had requested not to live artificially. In the times that Mary was alive before the accident, she made a conscious decision about the life support system and how that is not something she wants for herself. Mary made that decision and I feel that the hospital would be denying her rights and her requests by keeping her alive. The opposition could argue that perhaps Mary made that decision before she was pregnant. However, my counter argument to that would be that Mary did not change her decision or tell John that she would want life support now that she was pregnant. There is a possibility that she made that decision after getting pregnant. Since that was not clearly stated, it would be wrong to deny Mary’s right and request to be taken off support. To deny her request would be to deny a formerly living individual’s right to life. At this point in time, even though Mary can’t speak for herself anymore, her husband John is able to make these decisions for her and the
Brain Dead Mother on Life Support
In this scenario, the hospital should take Mary off life support even though she is pregnant. Although the hospital believes that they are doing what’s best for the fetus, it may not necessarily be what is best for the family in this moment of grief. The reasons for this argument are because Mary had previously told John, her husband, that she would not want to be kept alive if anything were to happen. Secondly, even if Mary was kept on life support long enough to perform a caesarean section procedure on the fetus, the fetus may still have a high chance of developing permanent birth defects. It is also very possible that the premature fetus does not survive at all independently from …show more content…
In this situation, the hospital believes they are doing the right thing even though Mary had requested not to live artificially. In the times that Mary was alive before the accident, she made a conscious decision about the life support system and how that is not something she wants for herself. Mary made that decision and I feel that the hospital would be denying her rights and her requests by keeping her alive. The opposition could argue that perhaps Mary made that decision before she was pregnant. However, my counter argument to that would be that Mary did not change her decision or tell John that she would want life support now that she was pregnant. There is a possibility that she made that decision after getting pregnant. Since that was not clearly stated, it would be wrong to deny Mary’s right and request to be taken off support. To deny her request would be to deny a formerly living individual’s right to life. At this point in time, even though Mary can’t speak for herself anymore, her husband John is able to make these decisions for her and the