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Dying With Dignity Coping with death is an extremely difficult and individual problem, both for a sick dying person and for people around. This situation is very special, and it is always in close relation with many individual variables: psychological, emotional, social, ethical or moral, etc. For example, in some cases doctors consider it to be morally better not to inform the patient about his or her extremely bad conditions and high probability of lethal end. So, the last days of such person will not be darkened with permanent waiting for death to come.
Doctors may talk about such conditions only to the relatives or close people, who are really ready to accept such news, who are strong and will not suffer critically. Frequently the period of fading away and dying is connected with huge pain and agony. And there are numerous situations, when terminally ill people ask their relatives or doctors to stop their suffering by taking off their life support. This is called euthanasia, or assisted suicide, and for many years it remains one of the most controversial and arguable moral problem in medical practice. So, should doctors remove the feeding tubes of the individuals, who insisted on that, or should not? In come countries, like the Netherlands or Australia, euthanasia is legalized.
American legislation envisages public prosecution and punishment for those, who assist in committing suicide. But American Dr. Jack Kevorkian (used to be called Doctor Death), who started practicing euthanasia and assisted in death of about 45 people, argues for changing the laws and legalizing assisted suicide. [ 7 ] Kevorkian, together wit his colleague, Dr. Timothy Quinn, has been carrying out assisted suicides on the request of their terminally ill patients with the help of a special device, designed by Kevorkian.
It can inject poisoned solution into the body of a patient, but only when the patient himself pressed the button. Dr. Kevorkian has been wanted and was arrested several times, and recently, after a scandalous public trial, he is in prison for second degree murder. From all possible points of view, opinions on assisted suicides are radically different. There is a number of reasons and motives, which may be favoring to euthanasia, especially in those cases, when the patient himself, by own will requires it to be done.
First of all, all Gods people have personal right to live, and also they have right to die. Nobody must be forced to continue living against the will, and no matter how mush sick the person is, he or she is still in power to control own existence and death. Second, many lethal sicknesses (for example, different types of cancer or leukemia) are extremely painful and usually cause terrible suffering. Frequently, terminally ill people are paralyzed, disabled, and they experience incredible pain during the period of dying, which may take very long. In such case, the desire of people to die in dignity must be satisfied, because, with Hippocrates oath, doctors take obligations to make everything possible to ease the pain of their patients, not to prolong it. [ 7 ] But then, good doctors must to do their best and to aim all the efforts to save the patients life, to keep alive his hope, spirit and faith. Medical innovations and new palliative medicines are very effective and powerful, so they may help doctors to ease suffering and eliminate the pain for long time.
Besides, the reactions of every person are very individual and unique, and many times unbelievable huge will to survive could do miraculous things and make terminally ill person resurrect like Phoenix. Also, there are cases of not correct diagnosis or mistaken prognosis of probable development of the disease, so euthanasia becomes too very impulsive and hateful decision. It is also important, that assisted suicide is in strict conflict with spiritual and religious norms, as well as with our human nature: little impulses and reactions to go on living are always remain in every cell of body. [ 7 ] Numerous opponents of euthanasia argue for its prohibition and public reprehension. They say that euthanasia means taking life from another person; so when a doctor turns off feeding tube, he commits a homicide, not an assisted suicide. Many blame euthanasia to be real murder, as well as abortion is, so such acts must be followed by legal persecution and must be punished. From their point of view, euthanasia can be taken as an encounter with a person, who stands at the edge of a tall building and intends to make a step ahead, so by removing life support, doctors push such person from the skyscraper to the abyss, instead of saving and helping to survive.
There is no univocal answer on the question, which side is right and which side is wrong in this long-term public discussion. The ideas of both opponents and proponents of euthanasia have own grounds, virtues and common sense. But as practice demonstrates, considerable number of terminally ill people around the world goes on requesting for stopping their artificial feeding and ending their suffering this way: in 2003 there were more than 1600 officially registered cases of euthanasia requested in the Netherlands. In the situations, when all the participants of the act of assisted suicide are conscious and have clear mind, they understand all the responsibility to their relatives, friends, and whole the society about their decision. But there are situations, when people have damaged brains or lack of sentience, so they are unable to decide for themselves whether to stop living or continue it. Lately, a story of American women Terri Schiavo, who spent 15 years in persistent vegetative condition and died a week ago after being disconnected from her feeding tube, attracted attention of people around the globe and caused numerous waves in arguing about how humanistic euthanasia is.
On February 25, 1990, 26 year-old Teresa Maria Schiavo, who lived in St. Petersburg, Florida, with her parents and husband, Michael Schiavo, suffered a cardiac arrest caused by deficiency of potassium in blood. She lost her consciousness and went into a coma. Paramedical service arrived and placed her into Florida Suncoast Hospital, where it was revealed that Terri received serious brain damage due to series of respiratory failures and, as a result, considerable lack of the oxygen coming to the brain. To keep her alive, doctors connected Terry to feeding and ventilating tubes, and gave a tracheotomy. [ 5 ] In two and a half month Terry opened her eyes and emerged from coma, but, unfortunately, she did not show any glimpse of consciousness or awareness, she was not reacting on surrounding and could not recognize anyone. After medical examination doctors diagnosed her condition as persistent vegetative, caused by cortical malfunction, and gave only phantasm of hopes to her parents and husband about the chances of recovering.
Nevertheless, starting from May 1990 Schiavo family tries very hard to save Terry and to bring her mind back. She received some courses of rehabilitation and different treatments in several hospitals of the USA, including the attempt to place thalamic simulator implant in her brain, but nothing could help. [ 5 ] In June of 1990 Terry's husband was appointed by the court to act as her legal guardian, as there were no objections from Terry's parents. In 1993 Michael Schiavo won a medical malpractice suit against the physician who used to treat Terry before her cardiac arrest. The court granted USD 750, 000 to Terry for her treatment and USD 300, 000 to Michael for moral damage. Within coming five years Michael used to take care about his wife very good.
He finished a course of nurses in a college and became professional therapist. He was always very precise about placing Terry in the best hospitals and treating her the best ways. But in May 1998, after numerous failed attempts of treatment and medical care, Michael Schiavo filed a petition to the court to remove Terry's feeding tube. [ 5 ] This announcement met considerable opposition of the public and especially Terry's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, who used to argue with medical doctors and pathologists of their daughter about the severe diagnosis and hopelessness of her situation. They tried to prove that Terry was not in PVS, that she has been slightly improving, demonstrating reactions on people around and even trying to speak. Her father recorded several tapes (a few were publicized) showing Terry uttering some sounds and doing different movements, but the majority of medical specialists claimed it to be unconscious human instincts as a reaction on visible changes of the surrounding. [ 5 ] Michaels intentions to remove Terry's feeding tube initiated a huge controversy between him and the Schindler's. Michael said that he implemented Terry's own will because she herself had never wanted to continue living with life supporting devices.
Bob and Mary Schindler were strictly against disconnecting their daughter form the tube, saying that, being a devoted Catholic, she would not wish this to be done. Terry never wrote a living will, so her husband, being her legal guardian, had an exclusive right to make decisions for her. [ 5 ] Michael Schiavo fought all the efforts of Terry's parents to gain legal control over her life, so, in spring of the year 2001, according to his petition, Judge Greer on the behalf of the court orders to remove Terry's feeding tube. This order was fulfilled in April 26, 2001. [ 1 ] The Schindler's immediately file an appeal against Michael Schiavo's petition, saying that there are new evidences of Terry's health progress, so in two days after removal of the tube Judge Quesada temporarily terminates the previous court decision and orders to restore Terry's artificial feeding. For year after that Schiavo and the Schindlers tried to come to any agreement through mediators, but the solution was not found. A second trial was started in October 2002.
During the hearings, accompanied with fierce public debates, the conflict between Terry's parents and husband has been growing deeper and deeper. Doctors, hired by Michael, evidenced that Terry was in vegetative condition and there was no way to bring her back to normal life. Doctors, engaged by the Schindlers, did not dispute her hard conditions, but they supposed that new therapies could possibly improve her health. Finally, independent doctors hired by the court to testify found her recovery to be almost impossible. [ 1 ] On October 15, 2003, doctors removed Terry's feeding tube again, but this time the reaction on situation came from the highest circles. Florida Governor, supported by American President George Bush and numerous other authorities, immediately ratified an emergency act, called Terry's Law, demanding to restore her tube again.
Michael Schiavo filed a new suit against the Governor, saying that his decision was undemocratic and unconstitutional, and in May 2004, after long hearings, Judge Baird announced Terry's Law to be conflicting with constitutional rights. [ 1 ] The whole world began speaking about Terry Schiavo, supporting her husband or her parents. This case touches, first of all, religious and spiritual values of our society; that is why Vatican officials and numerous Christian authorities claimed to continue tube-feeding. In his speech, Pope John Paul II expressed hope that Terry's parents would be strong to fight for her Christian right to remain under Gods bless. But some Christian officials openly supported Michael Schiavo, saying that Terry's soul suffered enough to be freed from the body and make its trip to heavens. [ 2 ] Many activists used to organize meetings and marches against murdering Terry, and some very ardent supporters used the methods of violence, threatening Michael and his siblings with death. Many politicians and celebrities also expressed their opinions on Terry's case, and if the Republicans, together with George Bush, took the Schindler's part and supported Terry's Law, the majority of the Democrats favored to the decision of killing Terry and stopping the suffering of her family. [ 5 ] Proponents of removing the tube tried to prove that it is not conflicting with the principles of moral and ethics, because spiritually Terry died in 1990, and her life got transformed into the existence, bringing a lot of troubles for her relatives.
Anyway, in summer 2004, Bob and Mary Schindler, inspired by huge support of many different people, file several motions to the courts in order to save Terry's life. But in real, they only prolonged her existence for some more months, because all the claims of the Schindler's were rejected. In the end of February, 2005, Judge of Florida Supreme Court Mr. Greer declines all the previous appeals, requesting new medical examinations, and fixes a date for the third and the last removal of Terry's feeding tube. [ 3 ] Although the fight in the courts has been going on, Terry's medical therapists had to remove her life supporting tube in the fixed date, on March 18, 2005, according to the last ruling of the court.
The Schindler's in despair appealed to the Federal Court of the USA, asking not to kill their daughter and give her more chances to receive treatment, but the Court refused again. [ 1 ] The Florida Senate and the Congress also continued discussing the point at the sessions, but this time both governmental bodies did not dare to interfere with the court decisions anymore. Therefore, in the morning of March, 31, 2005, Theresa Maria Schiavo died peacefully in the hospice in Pinellas Park, where she spent many years without consciousness. She was 41. The case of Terry Schiavo is nobody's fault, it was an accident, which had happened in 1990 and had such long-term consequences and detonated controversies. Of course, it is not a duty of court to decide, if Terry really wanted to die in such circumstances or she did not. It was a private affair of the family, which had to be solved without public attention.
But the issues raised by Terry's case, are very important and indicative for the whole society. If any of us is truly concerned and wants to remove the responsibility for his life from the shoulders of relatives, judges and courts, the solution can be in writing a living will, which would specify the only un disputable solution. Millions of people die every day for different reasons, and overwhelming majority of them absolutely does not want to die. However, there are some circumstances, some special situations, when a person may be in need of death as ending of suffering. Moral and ethical principles may not allow people to concretize the rules and responsibilities of all related participants of such cases, but we must not forget that any of us has a right to die in dignity.
Besides, till definite degree, any of us must be ready to experience the things, which fate determined for the Schindler's and the Schiavo's. Bibliography: Coniglaro, M. (2005, March 23). The Terry Schiavo Information Page. Abstract Appeal.
April 5, 2005, from < web > Culture of Life. (2005, April 3). Wikipedia. The Free Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from < web > Human, A. A. (2005, February 24).
Terri Schiavo: Case Highlights. Tampa Bay Online Media General Inc. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from < web > Right to Die. (2005, April 4). Wikipedia. The Free Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from < web > Terry Schiavo. (2005, April 4).
Wikipedia. The Free Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from < web > Terry Schiavo Special Reports. (n. d. ). Tampa Bay Online. Media General Inc.
Retrieved April 5, 2005, from < web > Webster, B. (2000, November 1). Assisted Suicide / Voluntary Euthanasia. International Debate Education Association, Database. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from < web >
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Research essay sample on Terminally Ill Assisted Suicide
