During a game of chase with his sister Nikki, three-year-old Wes caught her for the first time. Without knowing what do to next, he punched her. His mother Joy’s angry and sudden reaction to him hitting his sister was confusing to him. While Wes hid in his room, he heard his father, Westley, trying to calm his mother down. Westley reminded Joy that Wes did not know hitting a woman was wrong or why Joy felt so strongly about it. Years later, Wes would finally understand why his mother reacted in that way. Bill’s recreational drug and alcohol use became an addiction. Even though they had a child together (Wes’s older sister, Nikki), Joy left Bill after a particularly violent encounter ended with her battered, but determined. Joy met Westley,…
P: Timothy will reduce the overall frequency, intensity, and duration of anxiety so that daily functioning is not impaired as evidenced by increased participation in daily social activities.…
Dr. Quill’s role was, at most, one of making this course possible while trying to offer and improve on other alternatives. Dr. Quill’s eight-year acquaintance with Diane is only partly reassuring. Dr. Quill provided Diane with comprehensive medical care with deep concern for her well-being and respect for her choices. The most disturbing cases of assisted suicide are those in which a physician with little familiarity with a patient serves only to provide an instrument of peaceful death. It is hard to doubt Dr. Quill’s fondness for Diane.…
There are many ethical dilemmas/cases throughout history, today I would like to address two issues/dilemmas that I believe have impacted and helped reshape our stances upon medical ethics. The first issue in which I would like to address to Physician Assisted Suicide or sometimes referred to as PAS.…
I believe that the reason physician assisted suicide is such a controversial issue is because people don't make wills that tell hospitals what they want to be done with their body in case certain unfortunate things are to happen to them. This leaves their families arguing amongst each other and the hospitals on what is the right thing to do for the patient. Personally, I don't believe that somebody should be on life support if they can't even feel,think, or eat on their own. All it is, is torchering their body by making it stay in one position at all times. For example, the Terri Schiavo case in Florida, she was on a feeding tube for about 15 years because her family believed that she was still…
FACTS The prosecution, Dr. Timothy E. Quill and three terminally ill patients residing in New York State sued the New York State Attorney General’s office (Defendant) on constitutional grounds after the State prohibited Physician-assisted suicides. The respondents made up of Physicians argued that the statute violated the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment, in which a capable person can deny medical treatment at any point in their health, and that this is "essentially the same thing" as a Physician-assisted suicide. The District Court acted in favor of the Statute arguing that it was not unconstitutional and stating that New York State…
When thinking on the question, how am I feeling at the midpoint of my course I begin to have mixed emotions. The course gives me all the tools necessary to be successful, I am dealing with personal issues that are preventing me from reaching my full potential. I know as a nurse there will be times when I must put emotions aside and make my priorities first. I am using this experience as a learning tool to teach myself how to persevere during times of grief.…
During my high school years, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was horrible news to hear, especially since my mother has been such an influential figure in my life. In addition to this, my father was depressed during this time because of his unemployment and my mother’s cancer diagnosis. My mother was the only source of income for our family, so she went to work throughout her the pain from her chemotherapy. I was distraught from my mother’s illness, but I was expected to take on more household responsibilities so that my mother could rest when she got home from work. I was expected to help shop, clean, and take care of my younger sister by helping her with her homework. These responsibilities in addition to keeping up with my school work made this situation an extremely stressful time for me.…
This is a really good topic. My first job in nursing was in surgical oncology, which was a very mentally and emotionally challenging field. My oncology patients would range from young adult to elderly. Some would confide and tell me how they wish their illness would just take them to end the suffering. I would find myself so torn and wonder how I would feel if I had a sickness pretty much ripping the life out of me. Part of me thinks I would want to give up as my patients expressed and explore option to end the suffering, such as physician assisted suicide, but part of me thinks I would want to fight.…
The topic of Physician Assisted Suicide has become a well-known issue. But the fact is, for terminally ill and for those that cannot recover, Physician assisted suicide is not completely misguided. It gives those who are in a lot of pain a chance to save their loved ones the torment of seeing them so feeble. It also strengthens the possibility of saving those who can still be saved.…
Physician-assisted suicide is currently a hotly debate issue within the United States government. Physician-assisted suicide is defined as when “a physician assists a patient in dying by writing a prescription for a legal dose of a drug that the patient self-administers.” (Behuniak & Svenson, 2003). Physician-assisted suicide is illegal on a federal level, however; the practice has been legalized within 6 states: California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Montana (Author, 2017). The practice of physician-assisted suicide is flawed in several aspects. Firstly, it places people of a lower socioeconomic class and people that suffer from mental illnesses at a greater risk. Secondly, physician-assisted suicide degrades the sanctity of life. Lastly, physician-assisted suicide is exploited by insurance companies as a way to cut costs, because medication for a lethal-dose prescription costs less money than the care of a patient over several months or years. Physician-assisted suicide is a…
Imagine laying in bed, unable to do anything for yourself; your quality of life is slowly diminishing to nothing. Now, imagine having the worst pain imaginable. This is what life is like when having a life threatening disease, like terminal cancer. Terminally ill patients have the most unbearable pain, yet have to die suffering. What if there was an option to end one's life with dignity, to be able to still make a choice while you could? This option is called physician-assisted suicide, and people should have the right to make this type of very difficult decision if ever needed to. It goes against the Hippocratic Oath a physician takes (www.pbs.org); but, this oath is not required for modern medicine schools. As long as a person is of sane…
I felt as though I was paralyzed from the waist down. I would try to move my leg or even shift an ankle but I never got a response. This was the first time thoughts of death ever cross my mind.…
Terminal illnesses cause great pain and suffering. For example here are some words from Andy Whelan, “...we as parents could offer no comfort - Jessica pushing us away as she rode out her searing pain in solitude...her body stiffened and her face contorted in pain.” (Zhang). Mrs. Whelan’s daughter Jessica Whelan was only four years old when she was diagnosed. Jessica had a form of cancer called neuroblastoma and had been fighting cancer for 13 months. In November she was given just a few weeks to live and later died due to cancer. Patients should be allowed to have doctor-assisted suicides because they should have the right to die and end their suffering, but some people are against the legalization because they believe they will make the…
I personally am torn on the issue of whether people should have to ask permission to commit suicide or not, I really see both sides of the argument. One part of me really feels that people should have the right to do what they want with their bodies, without having to ask permission from others. The other half of me thinks that in a lot of cases that suicide is not the answer, and with help and treatment those people could really seriously be healed from these thoughts that suicide is the only way out of their issues and problems. There are lots of programs that offer crisis intervention which our book defines as, “Thus the program offers crisis intervention: they try to help suicidal people see their situations more accurately, make better…