Hi, this is an ethical question, please don’t quote too many bible phrases.
PLEASE READ: i am NOT in ANY way condoning or suggesting that we let people die/ kill people/ euthanise people, i am merely asking whether it is ethically and spiritually right to let a person keep suffering here on earth with tubes doing all their bodily functions…
anywho i’m a nurse working in aged and palliative care.
heres how it happens: when a person stops walking, we put them in a special chair that tilts back. they sit in it ALL day. (painful).
when they stop eating, we feed them. when they stop coping with that, we put a naso gastric tube in them, or we put a tube into their stomach and give them liquid nutrition through it.
when they stop being able to use their bowels or urinate (which often happens) we cathetorise them (tube into the bladder), we give them suppositories to use their bowels, and sometimes do surgery to make it happen.
when their breathing starts to stop, we put an oxygen tube into their lungs.
when their heart stops, we do CPR
so i ask.. how can a person simply just die when we can stop so much of death from happening?
is it ethical to keep doing these measures or should we simply be keeping a person comfortable and letting their body go as it wants?
(i realise that it is the patients choice, but many of my aged and palliative patients have advanced dementia/ psychosis and are no longer able to decide for themselves).
elements: agreed. i’m getting a living will drawn up sooner or later to say that unless there is a significant chance i will make a decent recovery- then no medical intervention is allowed. want to die in peace.
I see where you are coming from, I worked in nursing care myself for people with different stages of dementia, terminal illnesses, palliative care etc the whole bundle. Im not so sure I agree with euthanasia, but at the same time understand that these poor people have little to no quality of life and what they do have is very undignified.
I would say, in my opinion, the only ethical way to solve the problem is the living will. I don’t think it is right that people should have their last days, sometimes years and years, in a body that just dosn’t work and can be so painful all the time, emotional pain also. But, I dont think it is right that another person should choose to end anothers life no matter what. Thats a can of worms waiting to be opened in my opinion.
We should all have very thorough/in depth living wills stating our wishes, should we ever be in a situation where we are unable to communicate our wishes, our desire to suffer no more.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. There were a few times over the last year my Grandpa was alive (this past year) that medical intervention was the only thing that kept him alive but between those times, we still had some good memory making and his last 48 hours were drawn out but it gave our whole family a chance to be together with him one last time. On the other hand, he was so weak and out of it whereas a year beforehand, he was so amazingly spry and would’ve "died with his boots on" so to speak.
All I know is once I can’t even crap for myself, I’m outta here, and 99% of your elderly patients would agree with me if they were even capable of talking anymore.
We have come so far in Medical Care that we are able to extend a person’s life for years beyond its natural ability to sustain itself. If it was me sitting in a chair with a catheter or a naso gastric tube and I was unable to speak or even think clearly, I hope that my loved ones would make the decision to let me go. It’s not suicide for a dying person to choose not to continue living.
I think its unethical to force a body to live, when it is clearly time for it to let go. A senile person, makes no contribution to society and is usually only kept a live because the family doesn’t want to let go. Well the person is gonna die anyway….so let them die in a natural way.