Elizabeth Kubler-Ross is credited with introducing the subject of death and dying as a legitimate subject for discussion in medical circles, and the community as a whole, and her book On Death and Dying is required reading in most major nursing and medical schools (Redwood). Kubler-Ross, her self a physician, began her pioneering work with the terminally ill at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver, and her interest in death and dying was sparked by a visit to a concentration camp where thousands of children had died in the gas chambers, leaving behind walls covered with drawings of butterflies. Kubler-Ross was fascinated with how normal human beings could become killers of children, and this inspired her to become a doctor and study death and dying.
Kubler-Ross, in an interview in 1995, believed that those caring for the dying should be honest with them, answering all their questions honestly, but not volunteering any information that was not asked for (Redwood). She believed if they did not ask about something, it was because they were not ready to hear the answer. She also believed strongly that you should never take away hope from a dying person because without hope, they would not live, and you never know what is just around the corner. One thing you should do, she said, is to avoid cliches like, ôItÆs GodÆs willö or ôThings will work out for the bestö or ôEverything happens for a reasonö (Kubler-Ross).
The American Medical Association (AMA) defines life-sustaining treatment as ôany treatment that serves to prolong life without reversing the underlying medial condition. Life-sustaining treatment may include, but is not limited to, mechanical ventilation, renal dialysis, chemotherapy, antibiotics, and artificial nutrition and hydrationö (Death). The Ethics Manual of the American College of Physicians presents its views on the matter in a section entitled ôDilemmas Regarding Life-Sustaining ...