Tangent 21 - To be or not to be...

Posted by
Incandenza

Posted on
11:12
Mar 08 2002

To be or not to be...

Today in the high court, a decision will be made regarding a middle aged woman who wishes to have her life support system switched off.

The woman is single and has no children. She has been unable to move or breathe unassisted for a year and doctors estimate she has less than a 1% chance of improvement.

This is not assisted suicide, since she cannot survive without treatment and is asking *not* to be treated.

However, her doctors are claiming that to switch off the life support would breach their professional ethics, and also claim she cannot make an informed decision without trying special rehabilitation.

The woman's lawyers argue that as a fully competent adult, she has a right to refuse treatment under the Human Rights Act.

Personally, I think that she should be allowed to make that decision.

What do you think?

23 Replies and 5791 Views in Total. [ 1 2 ]

Keenangel *Fourteen phonecalls a night??!!*

I agree with you Inc... it's her body, she's of sound mind, and she has no family.. what could possibly be benefited by her spending the rest of her life attached to a respirator with basically no chance of improvement?.. it sounds cruel

Posted: 11:38 Mar 08 2002

SPIKE "Hakuna Matata" Captain Zapy

i agree its up to her what she does.

Posted: 11:46 Mar 08 2002

DJ Billy You can't really dust for vomit.

I agree too. If there's absolutely no chance of improvement then she should be allowed to make the choice.

Posted: 11:47 Mar 08 2002

Sange It's only kinky the first time!!! after that it's just the Norm ;o)

Agree too
We wouldnt allow and animal to suffer yet we will a human ... as she is of sound mind then I think she has the right to say wether she is treated or not and as Inc said she isn't asking for them to kill her just not treat her

Also we are all allowed to make decisions as to wether an unborn baby can live but we arn't allowed to decide wether we can? maybe I've just opened another can of worms here

(Edited by Sweet-Sange 08/03/2002 12:47)

Posted: 12:45 Mar 08 2002

In a State of Dan That's just, like, your opinion, man

Ah, it's good to have you back, Inc.

But yes, I agree with this one. She should be allowed to make that decision.

Having said that, I don't think I'd wanna be the doctor who had to switch off the machine...

Posted: 13:02 Mar 08 2002

head2head 'Rene Descartes was a drunken fart, I drink, therefore I am. '

Well, I think that she should have the choice over whether her machine is switched off or not. When it comes down to it, this is not about Doctors ethics - this is about one person and their life. If she was married and had children, then that would be a slightly different matter. The situation being what it is however, it would seem that this would be the best thing to do.

Like Dan though, I agree that I would not want to be the doctor to turn the machine off.

Posted: 17:25 Mar 08 2002

Maffrew In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight...

Let the poor woman die.

Posted: 17:30 Mar 08 2002

Desire Girls don't like boys, girls like cars and money.

Do I win the bet? I said no more than 2 days before we get an "inc" post!

Only teasing!

Personally I think its her life and she should be allowed to do what she wants with it.

Posted: 18:49 Mar 08 2002

Ferretgirl Make something idiot-proof and they will make a better idiot

We've been doing about this in R.S. Chirstianity recently and discussing euthanisia and life support machines etc.

Personally i agree that she has the right to die.

Posted: 19:25 Mar 08 2002

JtB If someone gives you freedom it is not freedom, freedom is something you take for yourself.

I certianly wouldnt want to carry on if as what sort of life is she having at the moment and has no chance of improvement. Just let her refuse treatment and go wth some dignity without dragging the legal process out. Its her body afterall.

(Edited by JtB 08/03/2002 20:26)

Posted: 20:25 Mar 08 2002

Jola

Yep I agree - she should be allowed to do what she wants with her life.

Like mentioned before - we can put animals down, we can terminate pregnancies but the judicial system is against euthanasia. To me that stinks.

I'd hate to be in a position where my quality of life was non existent and have to see my family suffer with the effects. I'd want to know that if no more could be done then so be it - bye bye.... maybe one day the law will change.

Posted: 22:18 Mar 08 2002

Velvet Glove

I caught a tv program on really late the other night (during this week) it had a really good debate going about this.

Euthenasia & refusing treatment are two very different issues & should be treated very differently.

To refuse treatment.... I honestly thought this was everyones right? I remember on ER (OK I know that is just a tv show) various people have had DNR (Do Not Resuscitate(sp?)) requests which were honoured by the hospital.

I really believe that this poor woman is under so much scrutiny & must be so very frustrated at not being allowed to refuse her treatment. It can't be any fun to be attached to a life support machine & just lay there a prisoner in her own body

I hope they allow her to do what she wants to do.

Posted: 10:53 Mar 09 2002

Miss Edith People don't fall in love with what's right in front of them. People want the dream -- what they can't have. The more unattainable, the more attractive. --Xander

by Incandenza
her doctors are claiming that to switch off the life support would breach their professional ethics

I'm sure they would change their "professional ethics" if they were in her position. I always try to treat people as I would like to be treated. It really sounds like they are not considering her situation at all. I wonder how they would cope if they had their dignity, pride and life ripped away.

Posted: 16:38 Mar 09 2002

Lioness A stranger is simply a friend you haven't met yet.

I agree with everyone herre. The woman has the right to choose whether she lives or dies. The doctors have no choice in the matter. Fair enough if there were a chance she could actually live and regain a satisfactory quality of life, but the poor woman is practically a vegetable.

I don't understand the whole situation, but is there no way she could turn the machine off herself?

Posted: 16:42 Mar 09 2002

Incandenza It's not a zero-sum game.

by Lioness
I don't understand the whole situation, but is there no way she could turn the machine off herself?

by Incandenza
She has been unable to move or breathe unassisted for a year

by Velvet Glove
I remember on ER (OK I know that is just a tv show) various people have had DNR (Do Not Resuscitate(sp?)) requests

As did Scully in The X Files. Both shows are set in America however, where the situation is different.

Posted: 18:00 Mar 09 2002

Barbara No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. --Eleanor Roosevelt

It's the womans choice.

if that was me, I know that I'd want the life support system to be cut off.

Posted: 18:15 Mar 09 2002

Joe "Aren't you a little short for a storm trooper?"

Just a mench that this subject was discussed on Radio 4's 'The Moral Maze' last Wednesday, and an interesting discussion it was (with a rabbi 'witness' stating that euthanasia was murder, pure and simple).

It's repeated on Saturday evening, at 10 O'Clock.

Posted: 02:01 Mar 15 2002

Jayjay "I may be scattered / A little shattered / What does it matter / No one has a fit like I do / I'm the only one that fits you"

Missed this before, but I thought I should clarify that even in this country you do have the right to refuse treatment. The main legal argument that the doctors are using is that the patient is in a ward of terminally ill patients, and they believe this is depressing her, and why she is not to be considered able to make the decision rationally. It's all BS and I smell religious zealotism behind this. As far as I can see the doctors do not have a leg to stand on.

On the wider issue of assisted suicide/voluntary euthanasia, if we do not have control over our own lives then what do we? To live or die has to be our own decision.

Posted: 02:16 Mar 15 2002

Bryany Ah, youth is wasted on the wrong people.

by Jayjay
The main legal argument that the doctors are using is that the patient is in a ward of terminally ill patients, and they believe this is depressing her, and why she is not to be considered able to make the decision rationally.

Jeeeeeeeeeze and the physical condition that she's in isnt anything to do with it? */me misses the rolleyes smilie*

Posted: 12:40 Mar 15 2002

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