euthanasia and living will

[lazycat]

are you agree or disagree about euthanasia ? if you are working at a state or country that euthanasia is legal, are you willing to do this for your patient ?

patients have their living will, they have their own option. they can not stand the pain for the long time in the last stage of cancer or incurable diseases... they ask you to let them die in painlessness, and is it right option you should do to release your patient from pain?

do you think euthanasia is contrast to Hippocratic oath ?

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[Nanon]

Yes, I absolutely agree with euthanasia, and my husband and I both have living wills. In terms of the Hippocratic Oath, the way that I understand it, the major theme is "First, do no harm," and I'm assuming that this is the tenet that you're asking about. I would say that "harm" is relative. Surgery is harm, but we do it because it produces relative benefit. Euthanasia is harm, but I think the relative benefit is enormous if one considers the harm that is done to the patient who is kept alive in spite of an inability to speak, move, eat or breathe, is in substantial pain, and does not wish to live that way.

 

[turkeyjerky]

Kill 'em all and let god sort them out!

 

[turkeyjerky]

by the way, why would anyone be against a living will?

Me thinks the two should be separated in the poll

 

[Dirt]

I am president of the Doctors Against Cutting For Stone club at my school if that helps.

 

[Tired]

by the way, why would anyone be against a living will?

My experience is that most people are not intelligent enough to make this decision.

That's why I make it for them.

 

[penisclaw]

I like the idea of physician assisted suicide better than euthanasia, but either is better than no option. Living will is a must.

 

[turkeyjerky]

My experience is that most people are not intelligent enough to make this decision.

That's why I make it for them.

That went right over my head

 

[Nanon]

That went right over my head

lol...

 

[sacrament]

are you agree or disagree about euthanasia ? if you are working at a state or country that euthanasia is legal, are you willing to do this for your patient ?

patients have their living will, they have their own option. they can not stand the pain for the long time in the last stage of cancer or incurable diseases... they ask you to let them die in painlessness, and is it right option you should do to release your patient from pain?

do you think euthanasia is contrast to Hippocratic oath ?

There is some confusion at play here. There is no state in the U.S. that allows for active euthanasia, living will or not. Oregon allows for physician-assisted suicide, which is a different animal and cannot come into play via a living will. Passive or "non-active" euthanasia (e.g. withdrawing mechanical ventilation, withdrawing antibiotics, withdrawing tube feeds, etc) is widely practiced under the proper circumstances (e.g. clear advance directives or POLST form) with very little in the way of controversy. Withdrawal of care in the context of clearly-stated patient wishes, generally speaking, is not considered ethically problematic amongst the mainstream medical community and it happens every day in ICUs across the country. On the other hand, a living will technically cannot instruct a physician to administer lethal doses of narcotics. In the pursuit of patient comfort we often end up using treatment modalities that probably shorten already short life spans, such as the use of relatively high doses of morphine to minimize air hunger when a vent-dependent patient is extubated.