Autonomy in Death Essay Example for Free

Autonomy in Death Essay Physician-assisted suicide is a controversial topic with only a few states having legalized it; however, many groups are advocating for its approval. Physician-assisted suicide has ethical limitations that only allow a doctor to prescribe, not administer, a lethal dose of medication for a patient who has been deemed terminally ill with less than six months to live by two physicians. The prescription allows the patient to choose both the timing and setting of death and the physicians only role is provision of medication. This gifts patients with autonomy in their death and relieves the doctor of any moral burden in participation with death keeping this action an ethical practice. Oregon was the first of few states to have legalized physician-assisted suicide but I would like to argue its potential advantages to the entire United States. Ball (2010) said, â€Å"In Oregon the one state in the U.S. where assisted suicide is legal – doctors are allowed to help only state residents who are expected to die within six months† (p.1). Giving terminally ill patients the power to choose a peaceful death demonstrates empathy toward the ill patients and their families. Terminally ill patients without this empowerment face the difficult choice of using limited resources to end their lives if not given the legal freedom to choose how and when they die. The Code of Ethics for Nurses provision 1.4 is the right to self-determination and it states that Respect for human dignity requires the recognition of specific patient rights, particularly, the right to self-determination. Self-determination, also known as autonomy, is the philosophical basis for informed consent in health care. Patients have the moral and legal right to determine what will be done with their own person; to be given accurate, complete, and understandable information in a manner that facilitates an informed judgment; to be assisted with weighing the benefits, burdens, and available options in their treatment; to accept, refuse, or terminate treatment without deceit, undue influence, duress, coercion, or penalty; and to be given necessary support throughout the decision-making and treat ment process. Such support would include the opportunity to make decisions with family and significant others and the provision of advice and support from knowledgeable nurses and other health professionals. Patient should be involved in planning their own health care to the extent they are able to choose to participate (American nurses association, 2001, p.148). Giving this added right to chose physician assisted suicide allows patients the autonomy described in the Nursing Code of Ethics. The purpose of this paper is to argue that physician-assisted suicide is ethical and beneficial because it allows for patient autonomy. â€Å"I would argue that by denying terminally ill people recourse to death with dignity via physician prescribed medication, they are inflicting their own brand of coercion and abuse. The concept of a merciful death needs to be part of this discussion. It is a sad commentary that our society responds to our pets terminal suffering more humanely than to our fellow human beings end-of-life struggles†(â€Å"Death is best approached†, 2012, p. 1). Many feel that denying patients the right to choose is not advocating for their best interest and is a form of abuse. We wouldnt leave our ill family pet alive to suffer so why wouldnt we consider letting our loved ones put themselves out of their misery in a peaceful way? The entire point is to give the public a choice. It would still be up to each individual to decide whether or not to exercise that right if their physician deemed their situation appropriate. The Code of Ethics for Nurses says that â€Å"Respect for human dignity requires the recognition of specific patient rights, particularly, the right of self-determination† (American nurses association, 2001, p.148). This statement implies that the patient should have the right to make end of life decisions on their own. When terminal patients are in pain and suffering, they may not have the strength or will to fight any longer. It is cruel to prolong a patients pain and suffering and deny their autonomy to make the decision of having a peaceful death. Also, it can be argued that when patients have their mind set on ending their lives, they tend to follow through on their own even if their physician cannot assist them. This may lead to a more traumatic death and a scene that can be quite traumatizing for the family member or friend who finds their loved ones remains. The alternative is a prescribed medicine that the patient may take home, choosing the preferred place to die, to allow the patient to die peacefully without sustaining disfiguring injuries thus allowing them a more dignified burial if the family chooses to view the body one last time. However, in most of the United States, physician-assisted suicide is still illegal so very few Americans are afforded the right to choose to end their life when they are terminally ill. Because physician assisted suicide was brought to the publics attention as an option by the unconventional tactics of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the idea of legalizing this was tainted from the beginning, making many states hesitant to allow assisted suicide. Miller (2011) notes that â€Å"Jack Kevorkian rose to national prominence as Dr. Death, a physician who insisted that sometimes a doctors first duty to his patient was to help him die. The retired pathologist, who became an assisted suicide advocate claiming to have had a hand in 130 deaths in the 1990s, helped spark a national debate over euthanasia† (p. A5). Jack Kevorkians tactics were questionable because he publicized the deaths of elderly, disabled, and terminally-ill patients using inhaled carbon dioxide or using his self-made suicide mach ine. Although the patients had asked for Dr. Kevorkians assistance to end their suffering by assisting in their suicide, he received a lot of negative attention because he publicized his assistance in this process by encouraging CBS to broadcast a video of himself injecting a cocktail of lethal drugs into a patient suffering from Lou Gehrigs disease (Miller, 2011). After much backlash from the public over the fact that he actually injected patients with lethal drugs, he developed a suicide machine which allowed the patient to press a button that caused the machine to administer a mixture of sodium pentothal and potassium chloride which was first used on Janet Adkins, a 54 year old sufferer of Alzheimers disease (Miller, 2011). The last thing Janet Adkins said was, You just make my case known,' Dr. Kevorkian told the Associated Press† (Miller, 2011, p. A5). Although his tactics were extreme and caused a lot of public controversy, his patients wanted to end their suffering and his act ions caused others to advocate for ethical standards to be put into place for legal physician assisted suicide while at the same time completely turning others away from the concept of legalizing euthanasia. Dr. Goodwin, a general practitioner, said he began advocating for the right to help terminally ill people die after listening to his patients (Miller, 2012). They want autonomy at this time, to be allowed to die at home with the comfort and support of their families, Dr. Goodwin said in a 2001 interview (Miller, 2012, p. 1). Because of the extreme tactics used by Jack Kevorkian, who initiated the debate on legalizing euthanasia, many people view those who advocate for the clients right of physician assisted suicide as cruel or lacking in empathy for patient and families. However, â€Å"Peter Goodwin, a family physician who wrote and campaigned for Oregons right-to-die law in the 1990s, died after taking a cocktail of lethal drugs prescribed by his doctor, as allowed under the legislation he championed. Dr. Goodwin, 83 years old, had been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder similar to Parkinsons disease and had been given less than six months to live.†(Miller, 2012, p. 1). Dr. Goodwin believed in a patients autonomy in death so much that he chose to exercise his own rights in the same fashion in order to end his own suffering. In an interview with the Oregonian, the local newspaper in Oregon, Dr. Goodwin said that his health was deteriorating and he would soon end his life. â€Å"His family gathered to bid him farewell. The situation needs thought, it doesnt need hope, he said. Hope is too ephemeral at that time†(Miller, 2012, p. 1). This clearly articulates the feelings of a terminally ill man towards the importance of autonomy in concern of his own death. â€Å"End-of-life decisions are not arbitrary or impulsive. Why shouldnt a person choose to end his or her life with dignity if it is obvious that all options for leading any kind of meaningful life are non-existent? I would think any modicum of compassion would respect such a momentous, personal decision. Suffering, physical and mental, and the anguish it causes should produce empathy for t he patients wishes and desires, even if they run counter to our own sense of rectitude. It is not about us. Its about the patients right of autonomy. We need to understand that it is ultimately his or her decision to make, not ours†(Death is best approached, 2012, p. 1). In this statement, an unknown author expressed the utmost sympathy for those suffering from terminal illness. Physician assisted suicide is ethical as it demonstrates compassion and empathy towards someone elses pain, suffering, and rights. There is nothing cruel about autonomy over the decision to die. These kinds of laws need to be considered using a deep emotional understanding of the terminally ills feelings and problems. Other countries have legalized euthanasia and have less restrictive laws which allow them to provide services for foreigners. Because of this, if all United States citizens arent granted the autonomy they desire in their own country they will still be able to get the results they so desperately want but the outcome may be more painful to family members whose loved ones would end up dying in other countries and in less desirable conditio ns. Mr. Minelli, who is head of Dignitas, a Swiss company that provides euthanasia services only to foreigners, said that â€Å"a memory of his seriously ill grandmothers pleading in vain with her doctor to help her die left him with a particular interest in Switzerlands growing right-to-die movement, and he joined one of the main groups. In 1998, he quit to found Dignitas†(Ball, 2010, p. 2). In 2008, his neighbors complaints forced Dignitas out of his rented apartment that he had been using to conduct the assisted suicides and Zurich city officials refused permission for a new venue. In response to this Mr. Minelli organized suicides in cars, a hotel room, industrial sites, and his own home which drew the attention of local officials. Someone who is used to a five-star hotel cant come to Dignitas and expect the same, says Mr. Minelli†(Ball, 2010, p. 2). Is it really beneficial to force terminally ill patients into a foreign country to a harsh environment to grant them the freedom to end their own lives? If terminally ill patients really want a physician assisted suicide, they will find another setting in which they can achieve one but allowing patients to have one in their own country optimizes the setting and allows for more family support near the time of death. It also saves the family the trouble of getting the body of a loved one from a foreign country after t he time of death and allows the family to begin funeral arrangements sooner so that they can go through the stages of grieving that they need to in order to move forward with their own lives. This act of ending the life sooner also spares the family the pain of watching their loved one suffer longer than they want to. Another benefit to approving physician assisted suicide is that just know that the option is available can be therapeutic for terminal patients. â€Å"Mr. Minelli argues that making assisted suicide available removes a taboo around suicide, helping people who want to kill themselves open a dialogue and seek help. About 70% of people who get the green light from Dignitas for an assisted suicide never contact the group again, proving the palliative effect of knowing help is available, he says†(Ball, 2010, p. 2). This clearly proves that just knowing that euthanasia is an option is enough to help patients carry on with terminal illness. Even if a patient chooses never to exercise the right to a physician assisted suicide, the knowledge that they have an option for a way out of their suffering is comforting in itself. Craig Ewert was a retired university professor who suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrigs disease. He decided to end his life because he wanted to make this decision before he lost the ability to decide his own fate, overcoming the resistance of his doctors (Ball, 2010). When youre completely paralyzed and cant talk, how do you let someone know you are suffering? he told a television interviewer before his death in September 2006. This could be a complete and utter hell (Ball, 2010, p. 3). Mr and Mrs. Ewerts were from the U.K. but they traveled to Switzerland and chose Mr. Minellis group, Dignitas, because it accepts foreigners. Mrs. Ewert said that had she not been able to travel to get her husband the assisted suicide services that he desired she may have been forced to help her husband die and she worried that she wouldnt have known exactly what to do (Ball, 2010). She defended Mr. Minelli saying Sure, there have to be some protections for people, but I think were going way beyond what there needs to be, I admire Minelli for being willing to take the heat (Ball, 2010, p. 3). Because Craig Ewert was allowed to make his own decision to die, his wife was spared the pressure that he may have put on her to help him end his life. Furthermore, had he been denied the right to make his own decision and his wife Mary had been coerced to help him commit suicide, there would have been extreme emotional and possibly even legal consequences to her action despite the fact that it was her husbands wish. This is a situation that may Americans are also threatened with because physician assisted suicide is illegal in most of the country. All United States citizens should be afforded the right to choose a physician assisted suicide if they have been deemed terminally ill because this freedom shows compassion and empathy towards the patients suffering. If patients arent allowed to legally choose death here, they may travel to another country to receive services or chose to carry out suicide on their own. If patients chose to take matters into their own hands this would be harder on the patient as the death would probably not be as peaceful as the lethal injection that the physician would prescribe and if would also be harder on the patients loved ones. If patients decide to go to another country to achieve the death they desire they would lose the privilege of dying in their own comfort zone and the distance would make the death harder on the family to make funeral arrangements and move on with their own lives. The Code of Ethics for Nurses stated that â€Å"Respect not just for the specific decision but also for the patients method of decision-making is consistent with the principle of autonomy† (American nurses association, 2001, p.149). Regardless of whether or not we understand an individuals motivation for seeking a physician assisted suicide, nurses should support the autonomy that patients needs to make this choice on their own. Giving terminally ill patients autonomy in their death, by making physician assisted legal for every United States citizen, is only giving patients additional rights that they may or may not chose to exercise and is the most compassionate way to show empathy for those who are dying.

Free College Admissions Essays: A Good Role Model :: College Admissions Essays

A Good Role Model It is easy to answer some hard questions such as what does DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) stand for. One who studies in microbiology gets that answer in one second. For some easy questions, where does your character and personality come from? it is hard to answer such easy questions. One needs more time to get the answer. Psychologists may be concerned about one's childhood period and family environment. The character and personality is under the control of inherited genes but also is influenced by the environment. It is generally believed that the influence came from a family member during the childhood period and would spread to adulthood. To make a good character and personality for children, a family member needs to be a good role model. The essay "An American Childhood" by Annie Dillard is a good example of how a family member has influence on the children. This essay expresses her idea about her mother when the author looks back at her young age. Children will copy his or her character from the nearest person around them and develop this process until they mature. Family members would be the biggest influence to young children. A young girl imitates her mother and a young boy imitates his father, respectively. From the essay, Dillard said a lot about her mother's character and emotion in many points. Her mother is a strong and independent woman. The author says, "She was an unstoppable force; she never let go"(210). She means that her mother has strong energy to get something done and she never stops until it is accomplished. Her mother's character might differ from other ordinary women at the same time in the early 1960's. Her mother develops the seed of character and personality, which is the great impact and inf luence on her. For example, her mother questioned her about her assumption that Eisenhower would win the election. "How do you know?"(210) her mother questioned her. She said that everyone says that Eisenhower would win. Her mother asked "Did you ask everyone?"(210); She would definitely say that her mother was a straightforward person who questioned every detail in conversations. She had more and more unusual characteristics such as she persuaded the U.S. Post Office to let her keep her old address forever. The author may have learned not to be critical, but also taught her daughter to be independent and strong.

Self Reflection Mbti Type

Self Reflection: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Christopher Wright Seton Hill University Principles of Management, SBU 180-98, ADP Session 2 Lyzona Marshall, 10/15/12 Who are ENTJ’s? ENTJ’s are one of sixteen personality types, making up about 3-5 percent of the American public. ENTJ’s are Extroverts, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging personality types. They tend to be natural leaders, who make decisions based upon objective analysis, weigh pros versus cons, arriving at logical decisions.They often express opinions, messages, directions, plans, and goals clearly. ENTJ’s like to get right to the point without any unnecessary outside noise. Business leaders who are ENTJ’s are effective in communicating the company’s goals and direction, setting the standard by which expectations are measured. These types of leaders think big picture, what is going to happen in future and how do I need to plan for it, not getting caught up in the now.What do the letters ENTJ mean and what are the associated pros and cons with the individual letters as a manager? E – Extrovert. An extrovert could excel in negotiation, while they could be a hindrance in conflict resolution. N – Intuitive. Intuitive thinkers would help in business development but would slow down analyzing financial statements. T – Thinking. Thinking types would help in analyzing headcount to cost ratio but would hinder discussion in performance reviews with employees. J – Judging.Judging types would benefit business expansion or project management but would interfere with analyzing costs. Some additional pros and cons associated with ENTJ’s are critical thinkers, planners (plan for everything, including back up plans), level headed (ability to stay calm in a crisis or stressful situations), calculated risk takers, orderly, self centered or arrogant, trouble expressing affection, opinionated or stubborn, set unrealistic expectations, hasty decision m aking, critical of incompetence or inefficiency, not free with compliments.An ENTJ is a leader, direct approach type. They are big picture thinkers, identify potential problems, and create a plan to change those problems. However, ENTJ’s must develop their Intuitive and Thinking skills or they run the risk of not being able to apply logic to their ideas. This could lead an ENTJ to become dictatorial and abrasive.

The Epidemic Of Smallpox Vaccine - 943 Words

In the 21th century we live our lives day to day seeing the next medicine breakthrough. It is easy for us to assume that’s how the history of medicine has always been. On the contrary, medicine became positively modern in the 19th century, new inventions were introduced, new discoveries were brought to their attention, remedies was in the spotlight, and the start of women’s professions generated. Vaccines are the most successful strategies in medicine to prevent and even eliminate the most gruesome and contagious diseases. For centuries, smallpox traumatized the human race. Today, smallpox is not something we automatically think of when somebody gets a rash or have the chills, thanks to Edward Jenner. The first successful smallpox vaccine was introduced by Jenner in 1796. Although, Jenner’s portrayed the first scientific attempt to control this deadly disease, later in the 19th century it was perceived that the vaccination did not grant immunity for the rest a vi ctim s life. As the 19th century came to an end, the smallpox vaccine became more advanced and more depended on. Scientist Louis Pasteur amazed the French Academy of Medicine when he prevented two boys from contracting rabies. Once a person was to get rabies, the symptom was death. A 15-year-old, Jean-Baptiste, was bitten several times while conflicting with a rabid dog. Three days following to the dog attack, Pasteur and his colleagues injected Jean 13 times over 10 days with rabid rabbits’ nerve tissue that hadShow MoreRelatedThe Epidemic Of Smallpox And Vaccines1327 Words   |  6 PagesWhen a vaccine is given, the human body produces antibodies against the foreign substance, thus creating a defense mechanism for immunity to occur. A vaccine is defined as â€Å"any preparation used as a preventive inoculation to confer immunity against a specific disease, usually employing an innocuous form of the disease agent, as killed or weakened bacteria or viruses, to stimulate ant ibody production† (dictionary.com). The epidemic of smallpox is one of the most groundbreaking moments in medical historyRead MoreThe Epidemic Of Smallpox And Vaccines1327 Words   |  6 PagesWhen a vaccine is given, the human body produces antibodies against the foreign substance, thus creating a defense mechanism for immunity to occur. A vaccine is defined as â€Å"any preparation used as a preventive inoculation to confer immunity against a specific disease, usually employing an innocuous form of the disease agent, as killed or weakened bacteria or viruses, to stimulate antibody production† (dictionary.com). The epidemic of smallpox is one of the most groundbreaking moments in medical historyRead MoreThe Epidemic Of The Smallpox Vaccine1085 Words   |  5 Pageseliminated in a region. (Carter n.d.) Only one infectious disease to date, smallpox, has been categorized as eradicated worldwide (CDC 2010). How did this eradication occur? From 1958 to 1965 all fifty stat es enacted legislation mandating school age children receive the smallpox vaccine (College of Philadelphia). Consequently, by 1971, no smallpox cases had been reported in the United States for 20 years. The last known smallpox case in the world was in Somalia in 1977 (CDC 2010). Even though smallRead MoreThe Wonders of Smallpox1437 Words   |  6 PagesThe Wonders of Smallpox There are several epidemics in the world, but the one that stands out the most and has a large affect on people is smallpox. An epidemic is a widespread occurrence of and infectious disease in a community at a particular time. There are several epidemics and lots of them are very dangerous and can lead to very severe sickness or even death. For example there are more diseases that land in the epidemic â€Å"family† such as HIV, AIDS, Herpes, and Gonorrhea just to give you an ideaRead More Vaccination: A Necessary Precaution Essay1100 Words   |  5 Pagesimmunization is one of the most significant advances in scientific history that has led to the prevention of countless diseases and epidemics throughout the world. Still, despite the overall improvement of public health, the usage of vaccinations remains a controversial concern that is constantly challenged. Vaccination critics argue that the serious side effects associated with vaccines have been underreported, underfunde d, and rarely researched. This, however, is false. Vaccinations are a necessary partRead MoreThe Importance Of Compulsory Vaccination836 Words   |  4 Pages11 (1905)). This case was Jacobson v. Massachusetts. 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On the other hand, during the 20th century tuberculosis which was once thought to have been declining in developed countries, is now according to WHO (2013) second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide. This disease has been estimated by The World HealthRead More Vaccination: A Necessary Precaution Essay1525 Words   |  7 Pagesimmunization is one of the most significant advances in scientific history that has led to the prevention of countless diseases and epidemics throughout the world. Still, despite the overall improvement of public health, the usage of vaccinations remains a controversial concern that is constantly challenged. Vaccination critics argue that the serious side effects associated with vaccines have been underreported, u nderfunded, and rarely researched. This, however, is false. Vaccinations are a necessary partRead MoreVaccination : Is It Worth A Shot? Essay1395 Words   |  6 Pagesillnesses to spread from one person to another. Vaccines are inactivated or attenuated viruses that helps the body develop a strong immunity against detrimental diseases. It helps strengthens the population’s health and prevent them from having illnesses. Despite these advantageous benefits of vaccination, there is still an immense and great ongoing debate as to whether vaccinations should be optional or mandatory. Although others believe that vaccines should not be non-obligatory, it is safer andRead MoreThe History of Smallpox and How It Became Eradicated Essay1543 Words   |  7 PagesSmallpox is an ancient and very deadly disease. Scientists think that smallpox first started around 10,000 B.C. in Africa. They also think that it spread from Africa to India by Egyptian merchants. Scientists have studied th e mummy of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V., who died in 1156 B.C., and they think that he had smallpox. Smallpox was also known to be in China in 1122 B.C. 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