...Chapter 7- Ethical Problems of Death and Dying: Option 1 A 45-year-old man with metastatic lymphoma cancer has decided to try palliative chemotherapy because "otherwise I might just as well roll over and give up." After the first cycle chemo, he requires hospitalization for fever and neutropenia (a complication of the chemotherapy). You stop by for a visit, and he says he feels terrible and wonders "if the chemo is worth all this", but that he's too scared to stop. WHAT DO YOU TELL YOUR PATIENT?- Patients with cancer and depression experience more physical symptoms, have poorer quality of life, and are more likely to have suicidal thoughts, or a desire for hastened death. The association between cancer and suicidal behavior is neither unusual nor surprising. Depression, pain, debility, hopelessness and a sense of being a burden to others have been identified as key risk factors for suicidal behavior in cancer patients (Rosenstein, 2011, p. 101). In this scenario the issue of when medical care might be considered futile, meaning, when the continuation of a particular treatment might have the anticipated medical effect and yet not be beneficial to the patient any longer rises an must be addressed accordingly. Chemotherapy and other medications used in cancer treatment (glucocorticoids, narcotics, benzodiazepines, antihistamines, and antibiotics) often lead to adverse effects that mimic depression. For example, dopamine-blocking antiemetic’s such as metoclopramide (Reglan)...
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... Ethics Case: Profiting From Death: “Janitor’s Insurance” (1)The definition of unethical is “not morally correct”. If just going off of that definition alone and not doing any research, I would say yes, that COLI is unethical from reading the case involving employers taking out COLI policies for their employees. After doing research on other examples of unethical business practices, I found some very serious cases, such as Toyota’s example where the company was ignored safety concerns to save money. This caused hundreds of rollover accidents and caused deaths as well. This is clear as day example of an unethical business practice. Now for this case, I believe an employer being able to take out Company Owned Life Insurance (COLI) policies out for their employees is not unethical. As long as the employees are given life insurance as an option under their benefits package, then I don’t see a problem with it one bit. In the case “Profiting from Death: “Janitor’s Insurance””, there is one example that I do believe is unethical. The Stillwagoner family asked the owner of the company where their diseased family member worked, if the company provided life insurance. The owner stated that it did not. A couple of months later, the Stillwagoner family learned that the company had a $200,000 life insurance policy out on their loved one. Lying in general is wrong, but when it involves someone’s death and a family trying to figure out possible money...
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...HCE 430: Healthcare Ethics Regis University October 10, 2012 Introduction To die with dignity should be a given. Death will present itself to everyone eventually and presumably no one in their right mind would choose not to die with dignity. That being said why is it that so many people who would choose to die a good death are no allowed to. For some people no death is a good death, but that is silly because as everyone knows death is inevitable. No one can escape this fact. The controversy herein lies within the circumstances people who are suffering or lingering with a terminal illness that debilitates them such that they have no quality of life are not afforded the comfort of dying with dignity. It seems that this high merit is available to our beloved pets, but not our beloved family members. Aunt Bessie is forced to endure unrelenting pain from here incurable pancreatic cancer. No amount of pain medication is available to treat her pain and allow her to maintain consciousness. She knows her time is limited and she does not feel she should have to wait out the inevitable in such a terrible state. At the same time the family pet Bassett hound is found to have a mass in her intestines. She cannot eat and barely moves as she is in so much pain. The veterinarian has given the option of putting her to sleep or euthanizing her to put her out of her misery as she is suffering so. This sits well with most people. Aunt Bessie requesting euthanization though is out of the...
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...exploring the sociological literature on death and dying, explore and argue for or against one of the following statements: b. Death and dying are subjected to and defined by the clinical gaze. Euphemism and grandiloquence are core mechanisms employed in the theoretical and authoritative discourses surrounding the issues and definitions of death, as seen with the propositions put forward by the British Medical Association (BMA 2003). The BMA’s ideas allude to a suggestion that death could be redefined and that ‘Elective Ventilation’ (a prohibited medical procedure on the outer frontiers of legality and morality) might become a ‘new’ status of the dead and dying. Other articles take this presumption further, by questioning whether as individuals, society should legally be bound to ‘opt out’ rather than ‘opt in’ of this innovative condition; meaning if our bodies befall fatal injuries there is a presumption that they instantly become the assets of the medical institution (Wilkinson 2012). An alternative belief is being presented, that our ethical and moral concerns should lay with the future recipient of our assumedly ‘redundant’ organs. Already some European states such as Wales are considering backing such a proposal (Wales News 2012). Actively delaying death or maintaining a body to increase organ donation is illegal as the interests of the patient are not paramount. Is the idea of Elective ventilation the ultimate scenario in defining death through a clinical gaze? Furthermore...
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...Physician participation in executions of convicted criminals is explored in this paper. The history of the death penalty, including the early involvement of physicians is surveyed. The pros and cons as well of the legal and ethical grounds for medical professionals are weighed ultimately present the necessity for qualified medical professionals to carry out state sanctioned executions regardless of one’s position on the death penalty. Outline I. Introduction a. Thesis- Even though physician’s participation in the implementation of court ordered executions are in direct violation of the fundamental directive of the Physician’s Code of Ethics, “First, do no harm…,” it is a necessary product of the practice to ensure a “good death” for the convicted. II. History and Development of Capital Punishment a. Primitive Forms b. Physician Involvement in capital punishment progression c. Federal Government Intervention d. Current participation state statistics III. Medical Code of Ethics History IV. American Medical Association (AMA) a. AMA stance b. Acceptable actions c. Unacceptable actions V. The Physician’s Argument a. Same motivations- different point of view VI. Other Ethical Governing Bodies a. Tennessee b. Virginia c. Ethical Bodies Statements VII. The process of capital executions a. Exhausting legal options b. Movement from death row to the death chamber c. Witnesses-observers VIII. Medications used in lethal injections. a. sodium thiopental ...
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...of family life, learned from friends at a young age, influenced by coworkers and peers as an adult or could be a set of societal norms that a whole community conforms to. Philosophers have developed many theories regarding the reasoning behind the most common moralities, some as far back as Aristotle and others more recent, such as Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. The three most common theories of morality are best exemplified by these three men; Aristotelian moral theory, Kantian ethics and Mill’s utilitarianism. While these theories hold much in common regarding how they see morality, they differ greatly in their reasoning for why they think that way. Aristotelian virtue ethics focus more on the person as a moral creature at heart and their desire for morality to be the driving force behind moral behavior. An excellent example of the difference in the three theories in this instance would be a situation involving lying. Dishonesty is considered morally wrong by most theories of ethics, but all of the moral theories approach it differently. Deontology, as espoused by Immanuel Kant, would argue against the morality of lying from a moral absolutism standpoint. Lying is wrong no matter what, and any good that comes from it is discounted by the evil of lying. Utilitarianism, as espoused by John Stuart Mill, would consider lying to be acceptable as long as a greater good for society at large to come from it. A virtue ethicist such as Aristotle would look less at the act...
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...10-23-2010 Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Businesses and individuals face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. We all have to have some level of concern for the decisions that we make in life because our decisions affect others in many ways. Businesses definitely have to care about ethics because their employees depend on them to help define the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior (Managing Business Ethics, 2007). Individuals face moral issues as well as ethical issues. People are motivated by economic and moral concerns. We, as individuals, have to care enough about each other to make ethical and moral decisions throughout our lives. Most times, the decisions that individuals make will affect others in one way or another, so it would be wise to think things through before making any unethical or immoral choices. Some individuals believe that there is no huge difference between morals and ethics, but there is. Morals define personal character, while ethics stress a social system in which those morals are applied. This means, ethics point to standards or codes of behavior expected by the group to which the individual belongs (www.wisegeek.com, 2010). An example of an ethics would be if the CFO of an organization allowed the accounting clerk to record payments received from clients, write checks and perform bank reconciliations every month. In the accounting world, this would be deemed unethical because there is a chance that the clerk can steal money from...
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...Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide “This is not about a matter of life versus death, but about the timing and manner of an inevitable death.” -Unknown. Active voluntary euthanasia is described as mercy killing at the patient’s request. Physician-assisted suicide is described as the killing of a person by the person’s own hand with the help of a physician (Lewis 264). Generally, the law forbids active euthanasia and the medical profession is officially opposed to it. In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is legal in only four states- Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont (Lewis 265). Death has become more difficult to define and the conventional notion of death seems to be inadequate. To overcome the traditional drawbacks of the traditional definition of death, alternative definitions have been suggested. According to the whole-brain definition of death, an individual is dead when all brain function permanently stops. The higher brain definition of death says that an individual is dead when higher brain functions—those that give rise to consciousness—permanently stop (Lewis 266-267). I believe when faced with certain undignified death, one should get to choose how they wish to die. For example: Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer and less than six months left to live, who wanted to die on her own terms wrote the following: “When my suffering becomes too great, I can say to all those I love, ‘I love you; come by...
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...Essay on Code of Ethics In nursing there is so much emphasis placed on ethics. The reason being is that ethics is a vital part deeply rooted within the field. This paper will look at certain ethical codes in nursing. For example, beginning with a historical overview of the evolution of nursing ethics, and followed by a discussion of the moral principles important to nursing. Next, the paper will look at the outcomes of critical thinking on nursing ethics, and the importance of moral improvement in nurses will be discussed. The following paragraph will discuss the historical introduction of ethics in nursing. The Nursing Code of Ethics began in 1893 with the "Nightingale Pledge" which was patterned after the Hippocratic Oath in medicine, and is understood as the first code of nursing ethics (ANA, 2005). Even though the “Nightingale Pledge is hardly used or enforced by many institution today, much of the same messages or meanings is still practiced today. For, instance in the pledge itself states that “I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug” (Edelstein 1943). I have come to find that this statement means that the nurse giving care should always take precaution when giving medication. A Nurse should deliver optimal care to all patients. Mistakes are made when nurses leave out what is very important. Later on the Nurses' Associated Alumnae of the United States of America and Canada...
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...THE CHURCH, EUTHANASIA and ASSISTED SUICIDE Euthanasia also known as “mercy killing” and assisted suicide are worldwide controversial issues. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the word euthanasia comes from Greek, meaning easy death (eu: easy, thanatos: death). Euthanasia means to end the life of a person who is terminally ill or suffering from severe pain, in a deliberate way. At the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) webpage, in the section Ethics guides, under the title of Forms of Euthanasia, Religions and Death? (2009), different types of euthanasia are described, such as indirect, active, passive, voluntary, involuntary and non voluntary. On the other hand, assisted suicide is usually performed with the help of a health professional; that is why; it is usually called Physician Assisted Suicide (or PAS). The main controversy is over the different opinions on whether it is the sick patient’s decision or if it is a legal, ethical or religious issue to be considered by a third party. In order to practice assisted suicide in a country where it is legal, many factors should be present, such as the moral and religious beliefs of the patient and the physician or the patient’s family and the physician, as well as the legislation of the country where it is going to be carried out. At present, in countries where euthanasia is not legalized yet, it is very difficult to obtain legal permission to practice it. As regards the ethical...
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...faced with ethical dilemmas that we consider wrong according to our own code of ethics. No one person is right or wrong for having an opinion. Our own personal code of ethics helps us shape the people we are today and defines our personality. From the time we are able to comprehend what death and murder was, we knew and understood that it was morally wrong and was stated so in the Bible. We ask ourselves this question: “Do any of us have the right to determine who gets the death penalty?” Many are against the death penalty, some are for it, it all depends what side fits their code of personal ethics. Personally, I am against it. The Bible states that “Thou shall not kill,” and I take that literally, no matter what the situation or circumstance. As early as 1700 BC was the first known death penalty laws. The Code of Hammurabi was a legal document from ancient Babylonia. Twenty-five crimes were punishable by death. Some of these crimes included adultery and helping slaves escape. Murder was not considered a punishable crime at this point. 1608 was when murder became a serious enough crime to get the death penalty. The Founding Fathers had included provisions to the Constitution including the Fifth and the Eighth Amendment, and the basic principles of government executions remained allowable under each separate state and federal governments. Thomas Jefferson attempted to change Virginia’s death penalty laws so that murder and treason were the only punishable offenses,...
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...MEDICAL ETHICS: THE TRUTH BEHIND END OF LIFE MATTER 1 HLST 4010 Professor Geoffrey Reaume Lilyana Nooro 211862935 April 7th, 2015 MEDICAL ETHICS: THE TRUTH BEHIND END OF LIFE MATTER 2 Medical Ethics: The truth behind end of life matter When it comes to death and dying, the medical processes of these notions are highly controversial in ethical means. All forms of end of life are illegal in Canada, whether it is voluntary/non-voluntary euthanasia, assisted suicide, and some cases of refusal of treatment. These procedures affect someone who is terminally ill, undergoing a disease, experiencing severe,...
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...Personal Ethics Versus Professional Ethics Term personal ethics to mean one’s conscience and the term professional ethics to mean adherence to a professional code. Sometimes those two roles can conflict. For instance, we have cases of doctors who have refused to prescribe the morning after pill, because they believe it will terminate a human life. In this case the doctor has decided that his personal ethics will guide him or her. Personal ethics depends highly on personal beliefs and loyalties, and results in behavior in a person's life in his relationships, family and friends. It defines our stand on what is right or wrong.This branch of ethics gradually develops since our childhood and tend to emulate the things which are set as an moral value to us by our parents or guardians in the family. Professional ethics defines adherence to rules and regulation .Here the individual is expected to follow religiously, the code of ethics framed by the organization .It can be heavily influenced by the culture of the organization but it cannot change as frequently as the personal ethics. Also it depends highly on the requirements of the profession, looking out for the interests of the organization as well as the customers. We are often bound legally by our professional ethics, such as confidentiality and due diligence. Professional ethics are usually written and signed, and rarely change over time. There may be at times where our personal ethics can conflict with our...
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...main thrust of a philosophical justification for the advocacy of liberty and individualism. (1) Many readers are shocked to find a twentieth-century author who advocates moral absolutes with the vigor Rand does. She stands in sharp contrast to our culture of relativism. She opposes the ethical nihilist. She ridicules the subjectivist. According to Rand, altruism is found in various forms. The mystic theory of ethics, or any ethics based upon alleged revelation from God, offers humans meaning only beyond this life. As such, it is an ethics of death. The social theory of ethics locates the value of human life in society or the collective. As such, it is an ethics of death for the individual. The "subjectivist theory of ethics" is really a negation of ethics. It can supply no real guidance for life, and is the ethics of death. Altruism, in whatever form, is the morality of the past. It has lead humans only toward death rather than promoting life. What we need to live is not a return to this old morality, which is essentially irrational, but to discover a rational ethics and chose to adopt it and live by it. There are certain preconditions for values to exist: one precondition is the existence of alternatives; the other precondition is the ability to choose. But there is a primary precondition to values that cannot be overlooked: life. Non-living entities do not have values, for they do not have life, neither do they have rationality or consciousness or...
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...This essay will demonstrate that it is not “always morally worse to kill than it is to let die”. It will be argued that passive euthanasia (i.e. letting someone die) is not morally wrong and that active euthanasia (i.e. accelerating their death) is no less moral. However, the many complications associated with the legalisation of active euthanasia (and euthanasia in general) must be identified and addressed. These identified complications may be eliminated with an appropriate regulatory regime. Assuming that identified complications can be overcome, and having established that it is not always morally worse to kill than to let die, it will be demonstrated that active euthanasia should not be banned. Morality, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is “principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour”1. Hinde states that the principles are influenced and changed by one’s society and culture but also “based in human nature”2. As morality is influenced by society, public opinion is important when it comes to controversial issues. Morality differs from place to place and evolves over time. To compound this diversity, changes in medical treatment, and discoveries which enhance medical knowledge evolves rapidly and what was not even conceivable in some cultures or at certain points in history are now commonly accepted. Developments in end of life care fall within this category. With our increased ability to prolong life, arguments can now be made...
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