End Of Life Care: A Case Study

The documentary, A Death of One’s Own, explores the end of life complexities that many terminal disease patients have to undergo in deciding on dying and dignity. It features three patients, their families, and caregivers debating the issue of physician-assisted suicide or pain relief than may speed up death. One character, Jim Witcher has ALS and knows the kind of death he is facing and wants to control its timing. Kitty Rayl is suffering from terminal cancer and wants to take advantage of her state’s Death with Dignity Act and take medication to terminate her life. Ricky Tackett, on the other hand, has liver failure and together with his family and caregiver agrees on terminal sedation to relieve his delirium and pain.

When a patient is at the end of life it is very important to value the patients self dignity and their decisions at the mere end of their lives.The end of life care is to relieve the weight of the patient 's shoulders physically and mentally.I approve of end of life caring.Basic end of life care is summarized by improving the care of quality of life and dignity of the ill person.The important themes to good ethics of end of life care is a combination of human rights,respect,dignified care,and privacy.Health Care givers should be aware of the issues on what to say and how to act,give emotional support,and when to use hospice care.

Threatening to diminish the value of life is very dangerous. Euthanasia, also called mercy killing, is the practice of doctors intentionally ending a terminally ill patient’s life in what is purportedly a gentle and dignified manner. The term originated in ancient Greek and means “easy death.” Doctors perform euthanasia by administering lethal drugs or by withholding treatment that would prolong the patient’s life. Physician-assisted suicide is also a form of euthanasia, but the difference between the two methods is that in euthanasia, doctors end the patient’s life with lethal injections, whereas, in physician-assisted suicide, patients kill themselves with a lethal amount of drugs prescribed by the doctors. Physicians practiced euthanasia

Advanced care planning encompasses a collaborative approach, which includes not only the patient, but the family, clergy, caregivers, nurses, and physicians as well. The goal of the planning process is to establish the wishes of the patient in advance of adverse system responses, in addition to completing any legal documents that will specify the treatment specifics. The purpose of this proposed change is to guarantee the establishment of this advanced care plan early in the hospice process, in an effort to avoid any restraining forces that would inhibit holistic care for the patient. By educating all parties earlier in the process, the likelihood of emotions preventing rational decision-making is avoided. When the potential for harm from continued administration of artificial nutrition and

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).

Assisted living facilities are one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. Unfortunately, assisted living facilities have a history of being problematic. Specific cases from the movie Life and Death in Assisted Living Facilities indicates that assisted living facilities are often under staffed, poorly trained, and often admit elderly patients who are not qualified candidates for their facilities (Byker and Thompson, 2013). When taking this in to account, it is important to consider why families may admit their loved ones in to assisted living facilities. Hillier and Barrow (2015), associate problems of caregiving with the responsibility itself, the caregivers personal health, role strains, strained family relationships, ect. With all of this strain on an informal caregiver it seems most beneficial to the caregiver and the elderly individual to consider admittance in to an assisted living facility. Once a basis has been established as to why an elderly person is admitted in to an assisted living facility, further insight shall be established to denote what is considered elder abuse. In this movie, Life and Death in Assisted Living Facilities, several

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.

People have moral and ethical values that assist them in making decisions about their healthcare on a daily basis. What if a person found out that they had a terminal illness and only had months to live? What if those few months would be filled with treatments, pain and suffering, tear filled family members, and high cost medical bills? Physician- assisted suicide remains a debated topic which causes physicians, nurses and those involved to take a look at what they value and what they are willing to do in order to carry out a patient’s wishes. Physician- assisted suicide can be thought of as helping a patient in carrying out their last days by providing the information and medication needed to end their life. The physician

The right to die is not embedded in the Constitution. Based on the first and fourteenth amendments euthanasia is not invested in the Constitution. The first amendment expresses freedom of religion. The fourteenth amendment states you can’t deprive anyone from life.

Most people would never contemplate whether or not to end their family pet’s suffering, so why can’t people be as sympathetic to their family and friends? In today’s society, the legalization of physician-assisted suicide is one of the most debatable topics. The debates on physician-assisted suicide go back and forth between whether or not patients, specifically terminally ill patients, should have the right to die with the aid of doctors. Opponents believe physician-assisted suicide is morally and ethically wrong for patients to end their lives, and they believe it violates basic medical standards. However, proponents of physician-assisted suicide believe it is a humane and safe way for terminally ill patients to resolve their agony. After researching both sides of the argument, it is clear that the benefits of physician-assisted suicide outweigh the disadvantages. The benefits of ending a patient’s pain and suffering, minimizing the emotional and financial effects on families, and preserving the right for patients to decide their own fate, supports the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.

With aging and disease comes many complications; the body is pushed to mental, physical, and emotional extremes. Many people experience pain and suffering with these changes and struggle to cope with it. Since the process of aging and the course of disease is a natural process it becomes a challenge to decide when enough is enough. Is palliative care enough or should assisted suicide be considered? Whether it be from the natural aging progression or onset of disease, the process of dying is inevitable and brings a variety of complications; therefore assisted suicide should be of consideration. Since assisted suicide is not a widely accepted option for end of life situations it is very controversial. People may argue that, assisted

The question remains do advance directives and living wills work for the homeless. Patients and in Paul’s case he may have a different opinion to what is his quality of life. For the health care team, they fought for Paul. Paul was unable to voice his desires, the medical team respected him. They were sensitive to his circumstances, his inability to care for himself, and remained his advocate. Attempts were made by the health care team to find a surrogate or family for Paul. He died with dignity and he died free from suffering. The ANA Code of Ethics directs nurses to practice “with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health

In recent years California’s legislation has been debating over whether to have an assisted suicide bill (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). Oregon passed a bill back in 1997 allowing the assisted suicide (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). Now some lawmakers are urging others to agree and pass the act, sending the bill to the governor of California (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). California’s lawmakers have seen at least 4 bills come through their legislation like this one since 1995, about the same time Oregon was discussing theirs (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). For many people with terminally illness this gives them the right or freedom to “die with dignity” within their own home (The Editorial Board, 2015, September).

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