rae, moral choices: euthanasia 1

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Physician Assisted

Suicide andEuthanasia

Rae, chapter 8

Wednesday 21 September 2011



Webster’s dictionary definition for Euthanasia is“Act or method of causing

death painlessly, so as to endsuff ering: advocated by some

as a way to death with victims of incurable diseases.”




A few case studies

http://www.rsrevision.com/Alevel/ethics/euthanasia/Euthanasia_Case_Studies.pdf

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/health/2001/euthanasia/default.st m http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/Uploads/Documents/Euthanasia -Worksheet1.pdf


http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/Uploads/Documents/Euthanasia-Worksheet1.pdf

http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/Uploads/Documents/Euthanasia-Worksheet1.pdf

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/health/2001/euthanasia/default.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/health/2001/euthanasia/default.stm





What questions might you ask?

Why did this person want todie?

Were other alternativesavailable?

How might their family and

friends feel?

What would you have done?




Jack Kevorkian earned the name

'Dr Death' by photographing the

eyes of dying patients. Later in hiscareer ( starting in 1987 ) he began to

advertise his services as a physician

off ering 'death counselling'. Whenterminally ill patients learned that

he was helping people to die, more

and more people came to him.Despite several failed court cases,

Kevorkian helped over 130 people

to die.




Kevorkian believed that helping

people was not enough, and

actually killed Thomas Youk,filmed himself doing so and

showed the film on 60 Minutes.

He left the studio in handcuff s,

and, defending himself

unsuccessfully in court, was

sentenced to 10-25 years in prison.

In 2006 Kevorkian becameterminally ill with Hepatitis C and

asked to be pardoned. He was

released in 2007.




Dax Cowart was very badly burnt after a gas

explosion engulfed his car. He said “I was burned so

severely and in so much pain that I did not want to live

even in the early moments following the explosion.”

Dax repeatedly asked his doctors, family and friends tohelp him end his suff ering, which lasted through 10

years of agonising treatment. Dax is blind and cannot

use his hands, but is otherwise healthy and currently

works as an attorney. He still believes it was wrong to

deny his request for euthanasia.




In 1992, it was decided by the UK High Court that

Doctors treating Hillsborough victim Tony Bland

could disconnect feeding tubes keeping him alive. Thepresident of the Family Division, Sir Stephen Brown,

said there was no "reasonable possibility" that after

three years Mr Bland would emerge from a coma

known as a "persistent vegetative state" or PVS. Mr

Bland's parents, Allan and Barbara, supported the

doctors' court action and said they were "relieved" at

the ruling. Tony Bland, 22, suff ered severe braindamage when he and hundreds of other football

supporters were crushed in an overcrowded stand at

Hillsborough stadium in April 1989.Wednesday 21 September 2011



Ninety -five fans died in the disaster. In the High Court

Mr Bland's doctors at Airedale General Hospital, near

Keighley in Yorkshire and other experts in the field

said he could survive for up to five years but he would

never recover.

If food were withdrawn he would die within days. SirStephen ruled, for the first time in an English court,

that artificial feeding through a tube is medical

treatment and that to discontinue treatment would bein accordance with good medical practice.

Tony died of dehydration 9 days after his feeding tube

was removed.




In 1992 Annie Lindsell ( 42 ) was diagnosed with

motor neurone disease and was worried her last days

would be racked by pain. Her greatest fear was theprospect of suff ocating or choking to death when

breathing and swallowing became difficult.

With only weeks to live, she asked the High Court torule that if this happened, her doctor could intervene

and administer diamorphine, without fear of

prosecution, even if it might shorten her life. Note: motor neurone disease is a condition which destroys the

nerves that enable people to control their movements whil e

leaving their inte $ ect and senses genera $ y una ff ected.




Annie Lindsell withdrew the case in October 1997after she established that doctors could legally

administer life-shortening drugs for the relief of

mental as well as physical distress. She was assured

that her doctor would not allow her to suff er

unnecessarily and a treatment plan was agreed which

followed best medical practice.

Annie Lindsell died of motor neurone disease inDecember 1997




Mrs Mary Ormerod had suff ered a series of strokes,and the only way she could be kept alive was to force

feed her through a syringe. Mary Ormerod's doctor

and daughters left her to starve to death in a nursing

home. They had taken a conscious decision to

withhold a nutritional supplement called Fresubin

from the 85- year-old after she ceased to communicate

with the outside world. She weighed less than fourstone when she died in August 1995




The GP who took the decision was suspended by theGeneral Medical Council, the regulatory body for

doctors, after nurses at the home complained abouthis actions. They had opposed his decision to withdraw treatment, and had secretly given food toMrs Ormerod.

Dr Ken Taylor, the GP involved was not suspendeddirectly because of his treatment of Mrs Ormerod, butbecause he failed to listen to nurses and consult

colleagues. In fact, he had done nothing legally wrong in starving Mrs Ormerod.

This is because artificial nutrition and hydration isregarded as medical treatment.




Dianne Pretty suff ered from motorneurone disease that left her paralysed

from the neck down and facing a painfuldeath which she wanted to avoid. MrsPretty was in need of 24-hour care andfaced an unpleasant death. Unable to

end her own life, she wanted herhusband to help her die without being prosecuted. She said “I want to have a quick death without suff ering, at home

surrounded by my family.” She appealedunsuccessfully to the UK courts, andthe European Court of Human Rights,to allow her husband to help her to die.

Stephen

Hawking suff ersfrom motor

neurone disease




Dianne Pretty’s court case to try to get permission for

her husband to help her die failed, and she died

without any assistance in May 2002.




Miss B was paralysed from the neck

down following a ruptured blood

vessel in her neck. Unable to breath

unaided Miss B was placed on a

ventilator. Miss B wanted the

ventilator to be switched off so she

could die. Doctors at the hospitalrefused to turn the ventilator off .




Miss B was allowed to have her ventilator switched off

as it was considered to be medical treatment that she was allowed to turn down because she was considered

to be of ‘sound mind’. Refusing to have treatment is

considered a diff erent issue to actively causing death.




Dignitas

Wikipedia says:

Dignitas is a Swiss assisted dying group that helps

those with terminal illness and severe physical andmental illnesses to die assisted by qualified doctors and

nurses. Additionally, they provide assisted suicide for

people provided that they are of sound judgement andsubmit to an in-depth medical report prepared by a

psychiatrist that esta blishes the patient's condition, as

required by Swiss courts.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_illness



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_dying







A few months ago, cuddling up to her teenage children

on the sofa, Jenny Kamer told her family she was going

to get help from a Zurich based group called Dignitas

to commit suicide. She had just returned from a long

stay in hospital where doctors had had to put her intoan artificial coma for two weeks to keep her alive. "It's

very hard to tell your children you want to die," she

said. "But I have been dying slowly from an intestinal

disease for 10 years now and I can't do this anymore. I

want to die. Now I have to just choose a date."




When she told her family that the was going to get

help to die, her 16- year-old daughter couldn't wait to

leave the room. She has blocked out her mother's

decision and doesn't want to discuss it with her any

further. Her 18- year-old son Steve surprised her. Hesaid he would like to be there with her when she chose

to die to hold her hand. "It's not my body, it's her

body," he shrugged. "Of course when I lie in my bed at

night I get very sad thinking of her. But I want to let it

be her decision. She is the one who is in pain."




Jenny paid £10 to join Dignitas and since she has been

a member of the organisation, trained hospice sta ff

from the group have paid her numerous visits toprepare her and her family for the moment she'll

choose to die. Dignitas is run by a lawyer, Ludwig

Minelli, who says he set up the organisation because he

believes that if someone is terminally ill, it is their

human right to die when they choose.

"To live with dignity, to die with dignity. That is our

motto. What we are doing is a friendly act. The patientalways makes the last act - swallowing the drug or

opening a valve of a drip himself - so we have never

had a problem with police."Wednesday 21 September 2011



Once the decision has been made, the patient travels

to Zurich where he or she is taken to a Dignitas flat to

administer the dose of barbiturates which will end his

or her life. "What we are doing is a friendly act... we

have never had a problem with police," said MrMinelli. "The patient always makes the last act -

swallowing the drug or opening a valve of a drip

himself." The drug is supposed to induce a deep sleep

within minutes of being taken, which will lead to a

peaceful and painless death, Dignitas says.




Nurse Erica Lully, who prepares the doses, told the

BBC News website how she deals with patients in the

last few minutes of their life. "I bring [the drink] to

the patient and once again ask, 'Is this your last day

because this will be your last drink. Afterwards it's

over, you will sleep two to five minutes and afterwards

you will die'."




Although there is nothing concrete in the Swiss penal

code which says that assisted suicide is legal inSwitzerland, the practice of helping a terminally ill

patient to end his or her life is widely recognised as a

humane act. Unless the person helping is proven to be

acting out of self seeking motives, prosecution is

extremely unlikely. Dignitas has made sure that, at

each of the 109 deaths it has assisted at over the past

few years, there were two witnesses and the localauthorities are always informed. It has never fallen foul

of the law.