End of Life Decisions - Essay Sample

Introduction

The end of life decisions are those resolutions which are made by families, patients' and health care providers when determining the strategies which can be used to make treatment of a life-threatening health condition. In most cases, it's usually quite hard to make choices, but ethical considerations always make it possible to come up with the final answer which in most cases is regarded as best. Use of bioethics gives guidance when individuals are making decisions which are confronting especially concerning the form of medical care which individuals receive before death takes place (Etienne, 2015). Thus, in such cases, I support that end of life decisions are fully the patient's desire, and they should not be objected whatsoever.

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Notably, it is not easy to make decisions concerning letting go of an individual physical life. There is a tendency of possibilities, speculations and hope about the right thing which could be done to people when they are at their end of life care. Decision making about what will take place at the end of life is usually not easy. At times, patients desire to be involved in making decisions about what would take place at their end of life. When patients are included, it becomes easy for them to help in improving their life quality as well as relieving the form of suffering which the patient could experience especially if they have illnesses which threaten their life. At times patients get to express or write down the type of care they would desire at their end of life even before their illness become chronic (Etienne, 2015). This makes it easier to offer the desired form of life care because it is by the patient informed consent.

In particular, part of the decision making in end of life involves withdrawing or withholding therapies which sustain the presence of an individual. The form of medicines which are withheld or withdrawn includes fluids administration and nutritional feeding. When such treatments are withheld or withdrawn, they automatically led to the death of the individual (Norheim et al., 2014). However, ethically it not right to let a person die while the life of that person could have been sustained through the form of therapies that were withdrawn. As presented, such kind of acts entails bringing about the death of a person indirectly.

Arguably, in such withdrawal cases, the patient willingly requests the physician to withdraw the form of treatment that has been sustaining them, and this results in the death of the individual after sometimes. However, when such cases are disclosed the whole blame is transferred to the physician because it is seen that it was he who assisted the patient in dying (Norheim et al., 2014). As per my reasoning, I do not take it unethical for the physician to help the patient met their desires. Hence, what the physician does is to improve the patient realise their ambitions of coming to an end of the prolonged period of suffering.

On the other hand, when a physician withholds treatment as per the patient request, the act is termed as the physician letting the patient die. But in this case, I do not think that it is the physician who kills the patient since it is the disease affecting the patient that results in their death. The physician assists the patient not to prolong their death by continuing to administer the sustaining therapies and thus nature is allowed to take its course (Van den Block et al., 2106). Therefore, I believe that it is not right to continue supporting or prolonging the life of an individual if only it is clear that in the end death will eventually take place, and there is no way such an individual can continue living healthy again.

In the same manner, another form of an end of life decision making involves offering comfort care while all medical therapies are stopped. In this case, it is seen as if the physician is letting the patient die by not administering medications which could help in restoring the health of the affected individuals (Van den Block et al., 2106). As the patient or family members see it, it is the disease affecting the patient which will be responsible for the death and not the physician or the patient. Therefore, I do support the idea of offering comfort because even if the patient continues to receive medications in the end death will still occur. Thus, there is no need to continue administering drugs, and the health of the patient will not be restored. In such situations, it is necessary to allow the disease to take its course as fast as possible since even if medications may lower the rate at which the disease progresses, in the end, the consequences of the disease will be evident.

Conclusion

Overall, at some point, the end of life decision involves directly bringing to end the presence of a person by use of lethal substances that would automatically result in the death of the ailing person. Although, the doctor may administer lethal injections as per the patient or his family request; the act is illegal and morally unethical (Van den Block et al., 2106). But, I do not support the fact that a patient who is at a critical situation continue suffering and enduring severe pain whereas the physician would help such a patient by administering substances which would end the life soonest possible. In conclusion, decisions which are made at the end of life are highly debated. Thus, the decisions need to be morally and legally supported for them to be implemented successfully implemented.

References

Etienne, (2015). Achieving universal health coverage is a moral imperative. The Lancet, 385(9975), 1271-1273.

Norheim, O. F., Ottersen, T., Chitah, B., Cookson, R., Daniels, N., Eyal, N., & Kapiriri, L. (2014). Making fair choices on the path to universal health coverage.

Van den Block, L., Smets, T., van Dop, N., Adang, E., Andreasen, P., Moore, D. C., & Kijowska, V. (2016). Comparing palliative care in care homes across Europe (PACE): protocol of a cross-sectional study of deceased residents in 6 EU countries. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 17(6), 566-e1.