Ethical Issues Terminating Medical Care

Terminating medical care can be a difficult decision for anyone to make. This decision can come from many different people, including the physician, the family, or the patient themselves. The reasoning for this can be a number of factors, including the pain associated with treatment and costs of treatment and medicine. Patients would rather die with dignity and preserve their quality of life with good memories and not deteriorate into someone unrecognizable. It is often a decision that is not taken lightly, and takes an emotional toll on anyone involved. There are many ethical issues surrounding terminating medical care in cancer patients. One of the issues surrounds whether or not there are more treatment options available for the patient
There is always the option to continue medical care if you choose to end treatment at your own will. If treatment is continued, it could be paired with complementary and alternative treatment options to help ease the side effects. For example, if the patient is experiencing fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, and/or stress, they could participate in exercise, massage, relaxation techniques, yoga, acupuncture, aromatherapy, hypnosis, music therapy, tai chi, and meditation to aid in relief and help lessen symptoms (Mayo Clinic, 2017). An alternative treatment to cancer would be using a special diet to treat cancer instead of anticancer drugs that are prescribed by the oncologist (National Cancer Institute,
For example, patients may come out of surgery and have more damage to their body than before. Patients who finish treatment may develop chronic pain that is never fully relieved even with pain medication, and will have scars that increase in number with every surgery that takes place. If treatment is not effective the first time, it is less likely that treatment will be as effective for future treatments. According to Choosing Wisely Canada (2014), “When you treat a tumour for the first time, there is hope that the treatment will destroy the cancer cells and keep them from returning. If your tumour keeps growing, even with treatment, there is a lower chance that more treatment will help.” Financial troubles are a consequence to therapy, because if the patient cannot afford to continue with treatment, paying for medicine, or continuing complementary therapy, then they fall more into debt than