Every person at some point in life experiences a situation in which they are required to make a decision. Every single day a person needs to make decisions regarding some scenario. All scenarios require that the decisions made are ethical or moral. A moral decision is one based on the characters, manners, ethics, and believes of what is right of a person, and the decision affects not only an individual but other people as well. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrated ethical decision making by advising a patient who is terminally ill and wants to participate in a physician-assisted suicide program. The article will also explain the theory of Nash's 12 questions for moral choices (the functional puppy theory) and its relation to the scenario, whether a doctor can end an individual’s life as well as how technology use can complicate the dying process.
The Letter
Dear Patient,
I hope this finds you well. I am writing to you regarding the conversation we had during your last visit to my hospital. I am delighted to be your doctor, and it is in my best interest to ensure that as my Patient, you get the best care ever to improve the quality of your life. During your last visit, you told me that you were considering going to Holland to participate in the suicide program since your pain due to your health condition is no longer controllable. The conversation got me thinking after you left and I would like to give my opinion regarding your decision.
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Being terminally ill does not necessarily mean a quick death, and it does not also mean that you cannot live a full life. I, therefore, think and believe that you should not consider participating in the program because despite the pain that you are in through prayers, care, and treatment that can help manage your symptoms your quality of life can be improved. I would recommend that you register with the palliative care team so that they can help you and your family through this time. Being a member of the palliative care team, I am willing, and I am prepared to help you through this journey to ensure that you are well and active. I am also positive that a new treatment can be started to see how your illness will respond.
I would love to have a one on one conversation with you as soon as you receive my letter so to discuss more on how we can cooperate to better your life.
Thank you, Yours Faithfully,
Doctor
From the good puppy theory, any decision that is taken by an individual it should at all times ensure that it does not cause any form of social injury. A decision that identifies what is right and upholds it with wisdom, prudence, righteousness, godliness, and courage. From the scenario, participating in an assisted suicide program would only mean giving up in life and speeding up one's death, which socially is not accepted and is not considered to be moral. This decision does not consider the values and norms of the society of a human being, not being a life taker ( Nash, 1981) . It does not also consider the feelings of the society who consist of the family and friends who would want to spend as much time as possible with their loved one and not thinking about them as being in attendance of the suicide program.
Over the years, the models of ethical decision making have helped physicians and doctors in making the decisions they consider to be right and those that do not cause injury to society. A doctor knows how to treat a particular patient through the right treatment to ensure that the family of the ill person and society at large are not devastated by the outcomes.
The doctor can end the life of an individual who has a terminal illness and has no hope of recovering based on the decision of the Patient ( Connolly, 2018) . As long as a patient is willing to end their life or be assisted to do so due to much pain while the illness is terminal and the treatment administered does not relieve the pain, a doctor can assist in ending their life through euthanasia, or withdrawing treatment. However, this only possible where the action is allowed by the rule of law and the doctor is licensed to do so as some states do not allow this action.
A living will is used to guide an individual in making decisions on ending their life whenever they are unable to make those decisions for themselves. A living will is usually in written form, and the instructions are legal. It states the treatment that a person would want or would not want to be administered to them in order to keep them alive as well as other medical decisions such as organ donation and management of pain ( Susanu et al., 2017) . Through a living will a patient is asked to address the possible decisions to end life, and a person is required to ask questions in case they require clarification on decisions such as tube feeding, mechanical ventilation, dialysis among others. Through a living will, good decisions can be made by the Patient.
Technology in the medical sector has played a part in prolonging human life. For example, the use of respirators to support failing lungs. It has become a gift to people who wish to survive an illness. Technology has, therefore, prolonged the process of dying as well as sufferings.
References
Nash, L. L., (1981). Ethics without the sermon. Harvard Business Review , 59 (6), 79-90.
Susanu, I., Cristache, N., Stanciu, T., & Plesa, T. I. (2017). Effect of Patient Satisfaction and Medical Ethics on the Performance of Health care System. Revista de Management Comparative International , 18 (3), 260-273.
Connolly, C. J. D. (2018, June). The Just War Tradition: A Model for Healthcare Ethics. In HEC Forum (Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 133-152). Springer Netherlands.
