My Thoughts on the End of Life Video...

Watching the End of Life video in the learning plan for this week, made me think about what I would do in some of those situations that they provided. For me it was easy to decide where I stand on certain situations, and then it was harder at times for me to choose a side for some of the others. My feelings were not clear in certain situations. I believe there is not a right or wrong answer for everyone. What you decide is right depends on your own feelings and values. As I thought about this video the ethical idea that I started to think about, was natural law. Natural law as describe in the learning plan, states “according to natural law ethical theory, the moral standards that govern human behavior are, in some sense, objectively derived from the nature of human beings.” What this meant to me was that using this theory means that it has to be part of who I am as a human being. What helped me understand this was the passage from Romans 2:15, “They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness.” As I was viewing the videos I noticed that I was feeling more, than I was thinking. This ties to the passage that in Romans that it is written on our hearts. I also found that some of the bulleted highlights of the breeze presentation reinforced the ideas of the relationship between natural law and the situations described in the video. Natural law is engraved on our hearts, it identifies what it means to be human. It is not external to the human person, and moral truths are built on general moral principals reflecting our shared human nature. All of this reinforced the idea that I had to think about these situations from a shared experience where I had shared feelings and needed to put myself in their situation to determine how I would behave if I was in their place.

 As for the first scenario that they painted, the one with the parents deciding on their child staying on the ventilator to live, I had a tough time choosing a side. For I am neither a parent, nor am I even married. I still find that this would be a very hard choice to make. I think that the parents would want to keep their child alive, as well as they do not want their child to suffer and have a terrible life. I would not want to make that decision and I hope that I never have too.

 The next situation that they brought up was about the grandmother having Alzheimer’s disease. She told her husband, after being diagnosed by the doctor, that she does not want to be placed on machines or tubes to be kept alive. Together they made a legal document that stated her requests. When the time came that she needed medical treatment that involved machines and tubes, the husband wanted to refuse. Although the daughter of the grandmother stated that her mother told her to keep her alive. I feel that the legal document should be followed and upheld. And if there is no legal document, the wishes of the husband should be followed. Although it is a hard decision to make, but if he knows what she wants then they should follow her requests.

 Last they talked about a woman that had cancer. This woman wanted to have the word of her doctor that he or she would help end her life peacefully if it came to a time when she no longer wanted to fight and suffer. I felt that this was the most difficult scenario to choose a side. I myself would find it very difficult or impossible give the patient any help in ending their life. I feel that only God can decide that it is time. I would though stop treating, and caring for the patient, if they decided that they no longer wanted to receive, or go forth with more procedures. I do feel that it is your right to deny medical treatment if you so choose. I also thought about the needs of the patient who is dying and maybe suffering, and the fact that they are suffering with no hope of getting better. Is it right to let a persons finale months, weeks, days, hours, be filled with pain and suffering? I have mixed feelings related to this scenario.