MEDICAL ETHICS & THE TERMINALLY ILL

Perhaps one should begin facing the dilemma proposed- eliminating two tube feedings, dehydration, and the withholding of other medical treatment from a dying patient- from the patient's side. "The right of the patient to direct his or her medical care and health outcome, known as patient autonomy, and the right of society to control and allocate 'limited resources', known as 'distributive justice', will certainly collide" (Guellec 1999 1). What Ms. Guellec describes in her essay is that the ethical and moral beliefs of society - especially the medical profession- has changed and is continuing to change. "According to Hiller (1986), six ethical principles are relevant for health care leaders. They are beneficence, non-malfeasance, respect for persons, justice, utility, and truth telling" (Guellec 1999 1). But, as she points out, this is all ver

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in the cases where physicians are literally forced to make a moral, ethical, and ultimately medical decision, they then are faced with alternatives: dehydration, removal of tube-feeding, or over-sedation. Nutrition and hydration have long been considered to be life-sustaining therapies that are associated with comfort and relief of suffering. This belief is largely based on our own experiences with the sensations of thirst and hunger, which have led physicians to question whether withdrawing or withholding nutritional support form a dying patient can be morally or ethically justified (Winter 2000 723). It would seem only rational to put aside the moral and ethical question, when the court has decided that a patient with no chance of survival, or, in some instances, a comatose patient with no brain function who has no chance of returning to consciousness, can be deprived of nutrition with the consent of a family member. The UK now has a ruling on withholding nutrition: "In NHS Trust v. Bland (1993). . . the House of Lords held it lawful for a doctor to withhold tube-delivered food and fluids from his patient in a persistent vegetative stateaeven though this would cause death by dehydration. The most controversial as
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Some common words found in the essay are:
House Lords, Elger Chevrolet, Supreme Court, According Hiller, Hippocratic Oath, Medical Ethics, Dr Kevorkian's, UK Cambridge, Ms Guellec, Community Health, ethics vol, london uk, london uk journal, uk journal, uk journal medical, medical ethics, medical ethics vol, journal medical, journal medical ethics, terminally ill, cantor 2001, moral ethical, vol 28 issue, dying patient, death dignity,
Approximate Word count = 2214
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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