Tough Ethical Beginning Of Life
What are the implications and effect of tough ethical beginning-of-life and end-of-life decisions? How do these decisions affect the individual, the family, society, and health care providers?
End-of-life (EOL) and beginning of life (BOL) decision-making and care are important aspects of the delivery of health care. Medical technology has advanced tremendously and now can dramatically impact when life ends or begins. There is really no right or wrong answer in regards to beginning and end of life decisions. Sadly, society has determined what is right and wrong in life decisions. Families are judged by the decisions made and may be seen as selfish or cruel, depending on the outcome.
Though there are benefits to EOL and BOL treatment situations,
sometimes the burdens outweigh the benefits. The question continues to be to what extent should a neonate receive medical intervention and under which set of circumstances? This conflict is a difficult ethical issue involving principles and cultural aspects. "The nature of the disease, the risks involved in treatment or non-treatment, the degree to which therapy will extend life, the discomfort associated with therapy, the anticipated quality of life, the wishes of surrogates, and national cultural mores are the important considerations in determination of the neonate 's best interest in order to arrive at ethically defensible decisions" (PubMed, para 1, 1998). The effects of such situations on the families of the patients, the physicians, and society in all can be very overwhelming. The decisions that must be made can cause conflict between patients, families, and health care professionals. Due to cultural diversity, these decisions are not uniform. If the patient desires a shared decision making style with family, clinicians can encourage patients to discuss this desire with their family or can facilitate this discussion during appointments in which the patient involves family. If a family member fears being blamed for providing inadequate care by other family members, this can be discussed to see if the patient would like to discuss his wishes with other family members as a way of avoiding this conflict (Nolan, et. al, 2008, p. 279).
References:
Nolan, M. T., Kub, J., Hughes, M. T., Terry, P. B., Astrow, A. B., Carbo, C. A., & Sulmasy, D. P. (2008). Family health care decision making and self-efficacy with patients with ALS at the end of life. Palliative & Supportive Care, 6(3), 273-80. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1478951508000412
PubMed. (1998). Quality of life decisions at the beginning of life: ethical considerations. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
End-of-life (EOL) and beginning of life (BOL) decision-making and care are important aspects of the delivery of health care. Medical technology has advanced tremendously and now can dramatically impact when life ends or begins. There is really no right or wrong answer in regards to beginning and end of life decisions. Sadly, society has determined what is right and wrong in life decisions. Families are judged by the decisions made and may be seen as selfish or cruel, depending on the outcome.
Though there are benefits to EOL and BOL treatment situations,
sometimes the burdens outweigh the benefits. The question continues to be to what extent should a neonate receive medical intervention and under which set of circumstances? This conflict is a difficult ethical issue involving principles and cultural aspects. "The nature of the disease, the risks involved in treatment or non-treatment, the degree to which therapy will extend life, the discomfort associated with therapy, the anticipated quality of life, the wishes of surrogates, and national cultural mores are the important considerations in determination of the neonate 's best interest in order to arrive at ethically defensible decisions" (PubMed, para 1, 1998). The effects of such situations on the families of the patients, the physicians, and society in all can be very overwhelming. The decisions that must be made can cause conflict between patients, families, and health care professionals. Due to cultural diversity, these decisions are not uniform. If the patient desires a shared decision making style with family, clinicians can encourage patients to discuss this desire with their family or can facilitate this discussion during appointments in which the patient involves family. If a family member fears being blamed for providing inadequate care by other family members, this can be discussed to see if the patient would like to discuss his wishes with other family members as a way of avoiding this conflict (Nolan, et. al, 2008, p. 279).
References:
Nolan, M. T., Kub, J., Hughes, M. T., Terry, P. B., Astrow, A. B., Carbo, C. A., & Sulmasy, D. P. (2008). Family health care decision making and self-efficacy with patients with ALS at the end of life. Palliative & Supportive Care, 6(3), 273-80. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1478951508000412
PubMed. (1998). Quality of life decisions at the beginning of life: ethical considerations. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov