Should People Have Autonomy over Their End of Life Decisions
Critical and Creative Thinking | | | | Submitted by: Tanya O’ NeillStudent Number: 20017571Date: 25th October 2012 | |
Introduction
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of people’s autonomy when it comes to the end of their lives. Why somebody would want to end their life prematurely is a question that puzzles people. So therefore is hard to comprehend why people should have autonomy over such a thing. There has been an increase in the interest of euthanasia and assisted suicide for the terminally ill in recent years (Williams 1997). The most obvious reason for someone wanting to end their life is to end the suffering they are going through once the illness goes beyond being bearable. Palliative care is an important part of treating a seriously ill patient. It provides a patient with care, support and any medical treatment they need including pain relief. But is this enough? A person that is extremely sick, for example, a terminally ill cancer patient, or a person that is paralysed from the neck down, or any person that is unable to do things for themselves – such as washing, eating etc., will need to depend on others to help them. This would involve somebody dressing them, washing them, feeding them – or having being fed via I.V., they would need help going to the toilet and may need to be lifted in and out of a bed. These peoples quality of life would be very low. They may be depending on family members for these things or medical professionals that are strangers to them. Either way, this can be an embarrassing and upsetting for a person. They may feel like they have lost all sense of dignity and some might feel like they are just waiting to die. People in these situations may often decide that the best option for them is to end their physical and emotional pain. If a doctor cannot improve an individual’s quality of life and they make that decision to end their suffering, the patient should have right to have their wishes met.
Introduction
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of people’s autonomy when it comes to the end of their lives. Why somebody would want to end their life prematurely is a question that puzzles people. So therefore is hard to comprehend why people should have autonomy over such a thing. There has been an increase in the interest of euthanasia and assisted suicide for the terminally ill in recent years (Williams 1997). The most obvious reason for someone wanting to end their life is to end the suffering they are going through once the illness goes beyond being bearable. Palliative care is an important part of treating a seriously ill patient. It provides a patient with care, support and any medical treatment they need including pain relief. But is this enough? A person that is extremely sick, for example, a terminally ill cancer patient, or a person that is paralysed from the neck down, or any person that is unable to do things for themselves – such as washing, eating etc., will need to depend on others to help them. This would involve somebody dressing them, washing them, feeding them – or having being fed via I.V., they would need help going to the toilet and may need to be lifted in and out of a bed. These peoples quality of life would be very low. They may be depending on family members for these things or medical professionals that are strangers to them. Either way, this can be an embarrassing and upsetting for a person. They may feel like they have lost all sense of dignity and some might feel like they are just waiting to die. People in these situations may often decide that the best option for them is to end their physical and emotional pain. If a doctor cannot improve an individual’s quality of life and they make that decision to end their suffering, the patient should have right to have their wishes met.
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