There are times when life takes an unforeseen route, and one is faced with an obstacle or situation that was not expected. Many people are diagnosed with terminal diseases, have accidents and are left with severe impairments, and suffer horrendous complications from medical issues. One has the right, according to law, to make medical decisions about their care and treatment options. But should one have the right to end their life? Assisted, or voluntary euthanasia, is the direct administration of a lethal agent to end one’s life at the request of…
Hi Kim, I agree with you that nurses need to discuss advance directives with their patients and provide the information that is needed. The nurse also needs to be prepared to discuss the advance directive with family members if the patient decides to include them in the decision making of an advance directive, when adding family member to the conversation the nurse will need to provide more time to answer the family member’s questions and concerns.…
"The right of a competent, terminally ill person to avoid excruciating pain and embrace a timely and dignified death bears the sanction of history and is implicit in the concept of ordered liberty. The exercise of this right is as central to personal autonomy and bodily integrity as rights safeguarded by this Court's decisions relating to marriage, family relationships, procreation, contraception, child rearing and the refusal or termination of life-saving medical treatment. In particular, this Court's recent decisions concerning the right to refuse medical treatment and the right to abortion instruct that a mentally competent, terminally…
Integrity- Maintaining integrity in psychological activities that require you to be truthful, keep promises and be accurate in science.…
Advance directives are a legal document that allows a person to plan, along with making their own choice of end of life wishes, in the event that; they are no longer able to communicate for themselves. The advance directives consist of a living will, which will help guide power of attorney and health care providers on the choices of medical treatment that, they wish to receive. A medical power of attorney is a trusted person that has been chosen to make decisions about the medical care they wish to receive if they are no longer able to communicate for themselves either temporarily or permanently. More so, this would, also include, any end of life decision, along with, any other medical treatment plan. Therefore, medical power of attorney should…
Advance directives are common medical documents that assist health care providers in providing care to patients. There are four types of advance directives which are: a Living Will, Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA), Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, and Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders (Fremgen, 2009). In this paper, the advance directive called the Living Will will be explained. A Living Will is drafted while a person is still mentally healthy and able to make decisions about their health care. The Living Will expressly details what care that the patient would or would not want in the event of a terminal injury or illness where they would not be able to express their wishes. Each and every person should have an advance Directive or Living Will to take the burden off of their family to make decisions regarding their life. Life threatening illness is an emotional time and can cause great pain if someone is not ready to let go.…
I would tell her that there are written instructions that she can give to describe the kind of health care she wishes to have or not have if she becomes incapacitated. The instructions are called advance directive which provides guidance to family members and health care providers in the event that the patient is unable to communicate her wishes at times a decision must be made. The are two types of advance directives in the health care setting which are living will and power of attorney. A living will is a document that provides instructions as to medical care the patient should receive in the event she is unable to make personal decisions. It shows the family members and health care providers that they will act in compliance with the patient’s…
The major claim of this editorial, is that legalized doctor-assisted suicide is euthanasia. We are asking for the right to decide though the court system, if an individual’s life is valuable or not. Some may claim we are just hiding or heartless nature and corrupt moral standards to justify our actions.…
Rapid and dramatic developments in medicine and technology have given us the power to save more lives than was ever possible in the past. Medicine has put at our disposal the means to cure or to reduce the suffering of people afflicted with diseases that were once fatal or painful. At the same time, however, medical technology has given us the power to sustain the lives (or, some would say, prolong the deaths) of patients whose physical and mental capabilities cannot be restored, whose degenerating conditions cannot be reversed, and whose pain cannot be eliminated. As medicine struggles to pull more and more people away from the edge of death, the plea that tortured, deteriorated lives be mercifully ended grows louder and more frequent. Californians are now being asked to support an initiative, entitled the Humane and Dignified Death Act, that would allow a physician to end the life of a terminally ill patient upon the request of the patient, pursuant to properly executed legal documents. Under present law, suicide is not a crime, but assisting in suicide is. Whether or not we as a society should pass laws sanctioning "assisted suicide" has generated intense moral controversy.…
Why it is unjust and unmoral to approve of medical assistants in the pursuit of death, such as suicide if the patients ask for such help? There are two side to every argument, there are some people that believe that is is morally ethical to receive PAS (Physician-Assisted Suicide). Then, of course there’s the opposing side to the debate in which this paper will cover and that side is :The medical practice is PAS is unjust, unmoral and shouldn’t be legalized for the fact the the will of life out powers a moment of misery.…
Supporters of assisted suicide believe that this act benefit terminally ill patients by relieving their suffering. This is probably one of the reasons why Netherlands court determined that a physician is allowed to prevent severe and irreversible suffering, even if it reduces patient’s life (Bosshard et al, 2002). The act of assisted suicide or active euthanasia is allowed in Netherlands, Switzerland and Oregon under different conditions and legislations. The situation can be seen differently in places, where by moral and legal discourse; assisted suicide is interpreted as the freedom or right of the individual as in Switzerland and some states of US. From the ethical perspective, patient’s choice of suicide represents an expression of self- determination and while exercising self- determination people take responsibility of their lives and for the kind of person they become. They have a right to refuse the life- sustaining treatment if they don’t want to suffer anymore and according to law, physicians must respect their decisions to forgo life- sustaining treatment that are capable of making their end of life decisions. By refusing life- sustaining treatment, terminally ill people know that they are going to die soon and in order to avoid suffering or pain they ask physicians for assistance to end their…
Physician-assisted suicide is one topic that many countries have yet to tackle. Considering the many complex issues and underlying controversies, there is no doubt that the idea of taking one's life with medical collaboration is one of many criterias. There are many benefits for those individuals affected by terminal illnesses and irreversible damages to their health (i.e. AIDS or Parkinson’s Disease), such as removing the pain from their lives and allowing their families to be at peace knowing that they are no longer in harm’s way, but suicide in and of itself is a difficult challenge to defend. The act of taking one’s life is one that has been fought against for years, and…
Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is an issue that started in the 1980’s and continues to remain a current hot topic within the nursing practice. Governor Jerry Brown recently signed an assisted suicide bill into law (Lovett & Pérez-Peña, 2015). PAS will be in effect ninety days after its ruling on the floor. The governor stated that if he were battling a terminal illness accompanied by pain he would be comforted by the option and wouldn’t want to deny that to anyone. As with any issue, there has been opposition claiming that the ill and disabled may be coerced into choosing death over other options. Not only does this law change the way medicine is practiced, but it also affects nursing care.…
With the specified barriers to healthcare and discussion of mental illnesses within clinics and traditional medical settings, the integration of mental health into the overall health care system becomes even more vital (Rios-Ellis, 2004). Care for most illnesses is commonly covered by private and public insurance but most insurance plans only provide a certain amount of coverage for treating mental illness. The separation that exists with respect to financing mental health care when equated to traditional health services must be removed (Avila, 2000). The separation between traditional health care and mental health care can have an outcome of numerous negative effects such as the compromise of continuity of care. Due to the continuance of mental illnesses and the many ways in which they affect physical well-being, it is important that the system move in the direction of equal behavioral health services when comes to the Hispanic population.…
insurance can be made to feel as if they are a burden to the people around them. The…