3BrNBBRz4UYdo+!~~60_7.JPG "chameleon54"){kind=avatar}
@not_for_sale2025 wrote:
@chameleon54 wrote:Humans who are very ill also often stop eating, but medicine and hospitals in their wisdom feed them through tubes. We have become very good at keeping people alive, but often, not really living. Many of the people who would consider euthanasia may well have passed away naturally months before, had modern medical practices not been so efficient at keeping them alive.
The thing is, doctors and nurses have professional duties and responsibilities that are in conflict with euthanasia, including passive euthanasia. How could they be expected to separate their personal and professional views without clear policies and guidelines.
They couldnt and it would be unfair to ask them. That is why there needs to be a clear legal process set up for medical staff to follow.
What it frequently narrows down to is; who makes the decision to stop preserving a person's life
It should always be the individual themselves or in cases where the individual is no longer capable of making rational decisions, immediate family members. This is already happening now to an extent. My mother has provided me and another sibling with a written and signed care directive as to her wishes regards mecical care should she be unable to make informed decisions in the future. The document was written in consultation with a lawyer, after our father was kept alive 3 years longer than he should have been.
Several months ago our family also had to meet and decide whether to refuse further medical treatment for a family member who was in ICU and unable to make informed decisions.. The side effects of treatment where horrendous and had the potential to cause lifelong major problems. We decided to refuse further treatment which was respected by most the medical staff, although a few where pretty rude about it. The family member improved whithin hours and we self discharged them against medical advice 24 hours later. They recieved 24 hour care at home and made a complete recovery whithin a week.
if it is thought the person may want to die?
Again - care directives. If a person is terminally ill, or just simply interested enough, they can make a care directive while still of sound mind. It could be promoted and perhaps included with the legal will process.
And should a doctor or a nurse be forced to carry out action/inaction that could result in a person's death if they have professional, moral or ethical concerns with the action/inaction.
I think the decision to refuse further medical treatment is ultimately not up to doctors and nurses. The rights of the individual in this case, trump the moral ethics of medical staff.
If positive action rather than just withdrawing medical services is required it should be left to those doctors who are willing to administer this service. I grew up in a small, remote rural community with a single doctor who had been there for years. He was a bit of an ecentric who didnt have much time for the intracies of proper process and yes he got in serious trouble a few times. ( it never stopped him practicing though ) When blokes went to visit him, the first thing he would do is ask them if they wanted a beer. And the media is now just starting to ask how we can make doctors surgeries more male friendly.........
He was also brilliant at his job and performed medium level surgery at the local hospital, set fractures with the help of an old x-ray machine, saved numerous road accident victims and delivered every baby born in the town for the last 25 years . He knew everyones personal problems and family history, which wives where getting mistreated by husbands and which kids needed a bit of extra care. It was also rumoured in hushed tones that when some-one was terminally ill and in great pain, the morphine doses where sometimes increased to allow for a peacfull passing. Ethics ????, Dunno really, I was just a kid, but the doctor was highly respected by the community that he cared for.
These are very delicate and hard issues to try and work out.
