Transcript For Euthanasia

Group 5:
Heather Donaldson
Jatna Azuri
Marcia Powell
Christina Ramotar
Tiffany Wood
Alicia Mendoza
Katherine Riedi
Definitions
• Morals- principles on which one’s judgments
of right and wrong are based. More abstract,
subjective, and often personal or religion-based.
• Ethics- principles of right conduct. More
practical, conceived as shared principles
promoting fairness in social and business
interactions
▫ Ethics is also a field of philosophical study.
Step 1:
Ethical Questions
1. In all circumstances, doctors
and nurses should do
everything possible to save
the life of a patient.
2. Sometimes there are
circumstances where a
patient should be
allowed to die.
When a person has a disease that cannot be cured
and is living in severe pain, do you think doctors
should or should not be allowed by law to assist
the patient to commit suicide if the patient
requests it?
I. Should?
II. Should not?
Do you think a person has a moral right to end his
or her own life under any of the following
circumstances?
I. When this person has a disease that is incurable
II. When this person is suffering great pain and has
no hope of improvement
III. When this person is an extremely heavy burden
on his or her family
IV. When this person is ready to die because living
has become a burden
Step 2:
What are the Facts?
History
17th
Century
1961
1994
1800’s
1957
1996
1828
1939
1999
20th
Century
1937
2000
Future?
1920
1935
2002
2008
Forms of Euthanasia
It Can Be:
Passive
Active
Other Forms of Euthanasia
• Indirect euthanasia
▫ Providing treatment that has the side effect of
speeding the patient's death
▫ Primary intention is not to kill
• Assisted suicide
▫ Who is going to die needs help to kill themselves
and asks for it
▫ Getting drugs for the person and putting them
within their reach
Classification of Euthanasia
• Voluntary
▫ Occurs at the request
of the person who dies
• Non-Voluntary
▫ When the person is unable
to make a choice
• Involuntary
▫ When the person who dies
chooses life and is killed
anyway
▫ Usually called murder
▫ An appropriate person takes
the decision on their behalf.
For Euthanasia
• Right to choose when
to die
• Dignified death
• End pain and
suffering
• Promotes quality of
life
• Save money on drugs
and medical bills
• Act of Murder or
Suicide
• Religious beliefs
• Devalues human life
• Promotes quantity of
life
• Misused or
manipulation
• Hinders further
medical developments
• “I will give no deadly
medicine to any one if
asked, nor suggest any such
counsel”(Hippocrates).
Step 3:
Identify the Stakeholders
Terminally ill patients
• Individuals who are
terminally ill do not want
to die, but at the same
time, they do not want to
suffer terribly either.
Family Members
• Many family members would
prefer to take the time to care
for their terminally ill loved
ones, but it is not their choice.
Physicians
• Have been taught to heal and not do harm
to patients.
• Faced with the prospect of:
▫ Having to forego what they were taught
▫ Ignore their moral values of respecting
each individual human life.
The Society
• Faced with the dilemma of:
▫ Whether a person should be allowed to
choose to die with dignity.
▫ Get relief from pain and suffering and die a
natural death.
Religion
• Most religions disapprove
of euthanasia.
▫ Some of them absolutely
forbid it.
▫ “You must not kill‘”
• Some Eastern religions take
a different approach.
▫ Their attitudes to death are
achieving freedom from
mortal life, and not-harming
living beings.
Step 4:
What are the Options for
this Case?
Options for Euthanasia
• Pain Killer or Medication Overdose
▫ Also known as active euthanasia
▫ Physician’s are not actively “killing”, but aware
of inaction on their behalf will ultimately be
the death of the patient.
• Lethal Injection
• Withdrawal of Treatment/Withholding
Treatment
▫ Passive Euthanasia
Title- Medication Given for Euthanasia
(options for Euthanasia)
 Nembutal (Pentobarbital)
o A barbiturate, administered in rapid overdose
o Causes rapid unconsciousness, followed by respiratory
distress, paralysis of the diaphragm, and finally collapsing of
lungs.
 Seconal (Secobarbital)
o Originally used in patients to treat long standing insomnia
o These patients are already taking barbiturates of some kind.
o An extremely strong sedative
 Lethal Injection (3 drugs are used)
o Sodium Thiopental- induces unconsciousness
o Pavulon (pancuronium bromide)- causes muscle paralysis
and respiratory distress
o Potassium Chloride- to stop the heart.
Other Options
• Pain Management
▫ Palliative Sedation
• Withdrawing life-sustaining treatments
▫ dialysis, where a machine takes over the
functions of your kidneys
▫ ventilators, where a machine takes over
your breathing
Other Options
• Refusing Treatment
• Advance Directive
▫ allows you to document your wishes
concerning medical treatments at the
end of life.
• DNR Order (Do Not Resuscitate)
▫ Not to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR)
Step 5: What should be done?
Brittany Maynard
 The most widely known case in
recent history
 Chose to end her life on
November 1st, 2014 after
suffering from terminal brain
cancer
Ethan Remmel
• Psychology Professor
• Diagnosed with terminal colon
cancer
• Did not want his children to see him deteriorate
or suffer and remember him that way
• Obtained the meds and held onto them until he
felt it was time
• His wife said to NBC “We obviously didn’t want
him to die, but he was dying anyways”
Barbara Mancini
• Father suffered from Kidney and Cardiovascular
problems along with others
• Accused of helping her father commit suicide by a
lethal dosage of morphine
• Handed him the bottle of morphine not knowing
what he was planning to do with it
• Her father had a DNR and made it clear that he
did not want to be in the hospital
• Eventually the case was dismissed
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
• Assisted in the deaths of an
estimated 130 patients
• License to practice medicine
was revoked in 1991
• Went on trial 4 times and was acquitted
of charges
• Was convicted on the 5th trial which
involved the assisted suicide being
recorded
• Convicted of 2nd degree murder and
served 8 years of his 10-25 year sentence
Step 5: Make a choice
• Yes
▫
▫
▫
▫
Frees up hospital beds
Relieves suffering
Gives the right to choose
Reduces the spread of
diseases
▫ Removes the economic burn
from relatives
▫ Relatives spared the agony
of watching their loved ones
deteriorate beyond
recognition
• No
▫ Voluntary Euthanasia gives
doctors too much power
▫ Voluntary Euthanasia can
bring non-voluntary
▫ Society having a distorted
view of the seriously ill,
disabled or elder
▫ Medical advances /cures
may come before death
▫ Dead people cannot change
their minds
Results are in:
Legalize
Voluntary
Euthanasia only
Group 5
Step 6:
What Justifies your
Choice?
• We are “for Euthanasia”
depending on the
circumstance
▫ Examples: Terminally ill
patients that have terminal
cancer, end stage renal
disease, advanced heart
disease…Basically any
incurable disease
Because
• It provides a way to
relieve extreme pain
• It provides a way of relief
when a person's quality
of life is low
• Frees up medical funds to
help other people
• It is another case of
freedom of choice
Justifying choice
• Euthanasia also known as mercy killing is a way of
painlessly terminating one's life with the "humane"
motive of ending his suffering.
• Legalizing euthanasia
▫ would help alleviate suffering of terminally ill patients
▫ would be inhuman and unfair to make them endure the
unbearable pain
• In case of individuals suffering from incurable diseases or
in conditions where effective treatment wouldn't affect
their quality of life; they should be given the liberty to
choose induced death
If the patient has the right to discontinue
treatment why would he not have the right to
shorten his lifetime to escape the intolerable
anguish? Isn't the pain of waiting for death
frightening and traumatic?
• "The victim should have the
right to end his life, if he
wants. But I think it would be
a great mistake. However a
bad life may seem, there is
always something you can do,
and succeed at. While there's
life, there is hope.“
(Stephen Hawking)
Step 7:
How can this Problem be
Prevented?
Prevention in Unnecessary
Deaths
• A patient must be given 6
months or less to live
• Medical and Technological
advances
• Advances in palliative
medications have been able
to relieve pain
Prevention
Time Constraint
• Terminally Ill patients lose motivation
• Takes time for medical advances
• Is 6 months long enough?
Prevention
Examples of Medical Advances
• Here are some examples of Medical Advances
over the last decade:
• Smoke Free Laws
• Targeted Cancer Therapies
Can a Child Choose the
Right to Die?
• If a child is suffering and in pain, do
the same concepts apply?
• Should parents be able to make the
decision for the child?
• This all depends on the age that the
child fully grasps the concept of death
How can this be Prevented?
• Better training in long-term
pain management
• Developing treatments with
less debilitating side effects
What to Do?
•
•
•
•
Help them feel useful
Give love
Encourage them to live
Educate yourself to make
the right decision
References
• American Brain Tumor Association. (n.d.). Glioblastoma (GBM). Retrieved March 10, 2016,
from http://www.abta.org/brain-tumor-information/types-oftumors/glioblastoma.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
• Bulger, M. (2015). Can a Child Choose the Right to Die? The Humanist. Retrieved March
16, 2016
• Ethics vs. morals. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2016, from
http://grammarist.com/usage/ethics-morals/
• Euthanasia. (2014). Retrieved March 6, 2016, from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/
• Euthanasia. (n.d.). Retrieved March 06, 2016, from http://www.life.org.nz/euthanasia/
• Fieser, J. (2015, January 01). From Moral Issues that Divide Us and Applied Ethics: A
Sourcebook. Retrieved March 03, 2016, from
https://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/class/160/6-euthanasia.htm
• History of Euthanasia. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2016, from
www.euthanasia.com/historyeuthanasia.html
• Nordqvist, C. (2015, October 30). Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Retrieved March 12,
2016, from www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/182951.php?page=2
References
• Oregon Health Authority. (n.d.). Death with Dignity Act. Retrieved March 08, 2016,
from
https://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/Dea
thwithDignityAct/Pages/index.aspx
• Prokopetz, J., & Lehmann, L. (2012). Redefining Physicians' Role in Assisted Dying.
New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
• What are Advance Directives? (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2016, from
http://www.caringinfo.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3285
• N/A. (n.d.). Euthanasia & assisted suicide. Retrieved from Lost All Hope:
http://lostallhope.com/suicide-methods
• N/A. (n.d.). Nembutal. Retrieved from Drugs.com:
http://www.drugs.com/mtm/nembutal.html
• N/A. (n.d.). Secobarbital. Retrieved from Drugs.com:
http://www.drugs.com/mtm/secobarbital.html
• Unknown. (n.d.). Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Retrieved from BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/