Essay about End of Life Decisions

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End of Life Decisions Brandon Irving Grand Canyon University HLT322 10/25/09 Abstract With anything that is done in the medical field there will be ethical issues that surround it. Since we are only on this earth for so long then death becomes one of those issues that we must face. With the new advancements in technology death can become complicated. Also since we have other issues such as euthanasia involved things will only get even more complicated. Euthanasia, definition of death, living will decisions, and ethical issues surrounding these subjects will be discussed. End of Life Decisions No one living on this earth will live forever. It comes a point in time when we all must go. Our bodies are not made that way and…show more content…
Involuntary euthanasia is the act of ending the life of someone contrary to the wishes of that person” (Munson, 2003, pp. 330-331). Traditional death is defined when your heart and lungs are no longer working. A person is considered whole-brain dead when permanent cessation of all brain functions occurs. When u have permanent loss of consciousness a person is considered high-brain dead. Lastly when a patient is in a vegetative state their bodies are working but the mind is absent (Blaze, 2008). Technological advancements that preserve life have made it very difficult to define death. An example would be a person whose brain is no longer functioning in a way that it can tell the lungs to breath or the heart to pump blood. So the person continues to breathe and pump blood through the body by a machine, death has occurred by definition but the person is still alive because of the machine. So more ethical issue arise because is it morally right to keep a person alive in a vegetative state? Or is it right to pull the plugs on the machine and allow them to die? These are questions Americans face every day. In some cases a living will can cease all the ethical dilemmas. A living will allow a person to communicate wishes about their future care when they are not able to communicate verbally anymore. If a person has certain wishes about what medical staff should do in case they go into a coma or go into cardiac arrest. A person may even put
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