With the final debate coming up tomorrow, I figured it would be a good discussion to get me thinking about it. The pro team will be backing up healthcare providers and that end of life decisions should be decided by them and not the patient. The con team, on the other hand, backs up the decisions made by the patients and not the providers. The pro team has a lot of reason to argue that the decision should be made by the healthcare provider, after all, the healthcare provider is the one trained to handle such matters. They should know the ins and outs of the medical treatment received and educate their patients on such decisions. Most doctors are going to decide to do whatever it is that they can do to keep their patient alive, but what about the patients feelings? He/she is the one fighting to hard to hold on to their life and isn’t there a time when you would feel like you just don’t want to fight anymore. The doctor has so much weighing on their shoulders on what happens to each and every patient. What if the procedure works, not to mention saving a life, they received credit and money? I think that healthcare providers to take everything else into consideration besides just the life of the patient. The patient may also have tons of thoughts running through their mind as well, such as family and income. It is emotional stressful for a patient to have to think of these things but I believe that once they have fought for these things so long that there is a time to let go. Since we are talking about long term care for example the healthcare providers believes that a nursing home would be suitable for a woman’s husband, but neither the woman nor her husband would like him to go into a nursing home. The woman is elderly as well and cannot take care of her husband like she used too. The doctor has to take many things into consideration such as the autonomy of the patient, informed consent, living will, durable power of attorney, and so on. When does it end? The doctor is also looking out for the well being of the woman, other options should be discussed and there should be some kind of compromise on the decision. In my opinion all cases should be up to the patient, unless they are incapable and do not have a durable power of attorney to make the decision for them. .
If I was terminally ill and have been fight for a long time and wanted to participate in physicians assisted suicide, I believe it is my decision to do so. Many decisions have to be made in healthcare and they are very controversial decisions, I am very thankful that we have rules and regulations to help us make these decisions. I use healthcare as guidance, education, and help with the decisions I need to make in my life.
