Court Case: The Sydney Fikse Case

Imagine the tragedy you had brain cancer with tumors coming left and right in your head causing untreatable headaches, or imagine you had terminal lung cancer where you are gasping for air and feel as if your chest is caving in, or what about stomach cancer in which you are unable to take a bite of food without vomiting uncontrollably…well these things are undeniable awful, but what if someone were to make you live each day of life this way? How bad would that be? Well this is something people in America go through each and every day.

The appellant, Sue Rodriguez, suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Under this condition, Sue will lose the ability to swallow, speak, walk, and move her body without assistance. As a result, she will eventually become confined to a bed. With a life expectancy between 2 and 14 months, Sue wishes to end her life on her own will when her condition becomes too painful to bear. This can be accomplished with the assistance of a qualified physician. However, s.241 of the Criminal Code prohibits the giving of assistance to commit suicide. Sue Rodriguez applied to the Supreme Court of British Columbia on the grounds that s.241 of the Criminal Code is a violation of her s.7, 12, and 15(1) rights of the Charter. The court dismissed her application

Make and keep your major health decisions with advance health care directives. While they vary by state, advance directives can carry significant importance, especially as one gets older and increasingly concerned with health care and end-of-life decisions. Typically, two basic advance directives can cover a patient’s needs: the durable power of attorney for health care and the living will. Both serve the purpose of empowering the individual concerning personal health care in the case of incapacitation by illness or injury.

When the health care provider decide that the patient will not improve and there are no brain activities. Since her husband and her father are there, the hospital should listen to them to suspend the life support. But in this case husband want to discontinue the treatment, father want to continue the treatment, doctor does not have hope and they do not know what patient would want. In this situation, this case should be referred to the court. Court should make the decision protecting patient right, understanding their relative feelings, hospital ethical committee with doctors’ advice. It is always possible to apply to a court for an order by the hospital to show cause as to why a specific treatment should not be instituted and Substitute decision-making document is not submitted (Johnson, 2011).

Terminally ill patients lose control over so many aspects of their lives, in many ways physician-assisted death gives them back some of the control they lost. Illness is not discriminatory. Therefore, people of all ages and backgrounds are diagnosed with things like cancer, kidney failure, and heart disease every day. Also, for anyone who is unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with any terminal illness, it can feel like their disease controls every aspect of their lives and they have no choice in the matter. Authors for the Journal of the American Society on Aging Lee Combs and Grube describe how persistent pain took control of a young woman named Brittany Maynard’s life, “Even after undergoing a sophisticated surgery and numerous cancer treatments,

People should be able to live their life to the longest. Physician-assisted suicide is a controversial topic spreading throughout the United States due to the ethical issues surrounding the topic. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in a few states and other states have passed bills to make sure this does not happen. Even though some say that all have a right to die, physician-assisted suicide should not be legal because it would be too psychologically damaging to all involved.

Oftentimes, grief can be a challenging thing to overcome as a healthcare provider. It not only stymies people from making sound decisions, but it can end up with blame focused in areas where it should not be. This is with particular regard to patient families. In the case of this 72-year-old patient, there are a number of issues in this situation that are both unethical and downright illegal, including the fact that the patient’s living will is not currently being respected.

The main purpose of this chapter is to identify the arguments in favour and against assisted dying and to set out a framework of safeguards that would accompany any changes in legislation. This chapter will help show how the concerns regarding the legalisation of assisted dying are outweighed by the arguments in favour of a change in legislation.

Everybody has a right to make a choice. When a person goes to a restaurant, that person has the right to make choice of which entree to eat. However, sometimes a person might not be able to make a decision, such in case of person who is bed bound or a person with a terminal illness. I believe that Physician-assisted suicide should be available as an option for those who can and can’t make decisions for the following reasons cost and ending deterring quality of life.

For several years, physicians and patients have argued that a legal form of suicide should be legalized. Many of the patients who support this idea are in critical condition and for many of the physicians, this is their last resort. While some support this idea, others argue that this is not a logical stance to take. The concept that has swept and divided the nation is perceived as “Assisted Suicide”. The intent of Assisted Suicide is to eliminate the pain and suffering of a patient by in a sense being able to “Die with Dignity.” (Endlink3) However, this idea violates the morals of others, sends a negative message to individuals who are struggling,and terminates the possibility of the situation

Many times in life we are faced with difficult decisions, but is it you who are making the decisions, or is someone else making the decision for you? When it comes to ending a person’s life, because of a terminal illness, it should be the patient’s decision. Physician-Assisted Suicide or PSA has been an issue for many decades, questioning its morality, and the legal issues it could face if legalized.

The topic that I have chosen last week was “Hastening Death” and I presented an insight of both the pros and cons to the controversy. However, this week’s critical thinking analysis, I am choosing the pros of Hastening Death because of many reasons that are forth the positions. First of all, making decision is something that one should definitely make on their own because at the end of the day, your decision is going to matter the most. Even, if there are people who are going to disagree with what you decide on, it depends on what you want at the end. So, having the options to hasten your own death should be available. An empirical article that I came upon that talks about “Hastening Death and the Boundaries of the Self” by Lynn A. Jansen portrayed a

Assisted dying is becoming a significant topic that concerns people around the world, but it is still banned in the United Kingdom. More and more people justify assisted dying so perhaps it is time to make it legal. It is a process where mentally competent and terminally ill adults, after meeting the legal safeguards, voluntarily decide to take prescribed medication to end their lives (Dignity in Dying, 2013). According to Dignity in Dying (2013), the greater proportion of the public is in support of the legalisation of assisted dying. Eighty percent of the public is in support of assisted dying to be legalised. However, the government is not willing to change the law. They see the illegality of the right to die as a vital issue and that if

I actually, do have some experience with this topic. I currently work at the St. Cloud Hospital. As a nurse, I have to go through a bunch of different questions when I admit someone to our department. One of the questions is, do you have an advanced care directive or would like information on one. Sometimes people ask questions such as, “What is an advanced care directive”? Or “What does an Advance care directive do?” or “Why would I need one?” So, then I tell them what one is and the reasons how it could be helpful to them. If they do want the information, then I give them an Advance Care Directive that is supplied by the St. Cloud Hospital. If the patient needs further assistance in filling out the forms, I can refer them to a St. Cloud Hospital social worker.

Approaching end of life is not only a challenging time for the individual, but also for the family. There are many decisions that must be made in order for the individual to receive the proper care in the process. One must think about choosing hospice care, palliative care or other end of live services. Also, one must make sure that their finances are in order, does one have special arrangements for the funeral or how about setting up a living will? A great number of individuals who enter end of life care have a majority of it figured out; some leave it until the last minute. End of life care is not only about finances and advanced care directives, but also where one wants to live and important decisions about their care.