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With names like Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Terri Schiavo making international headlines during the past few years, the complicated subject of euthanasia remains on everyone's mind. But when considering the plight of the terminally ill and their potential suffering, is "pulling the plug" a matter of dying with dignity or tragically playing God?
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Artificial Life
In this case, not so artificial
I also believe, as you have said, that people who are still showing brain function and therefore life, should be kept alive. I didn’t mean to sound like I believed that everyone that is on a machine should be taken off. There are people who need machines to do certain functions for them, yet they are otherwise functioning on their own. In these cases, as you have also said, it is the doctor’s job to keep them alive and as free of pain as possible, while it is the family’s job to spend time with their family member and care for them like only a family can.
I do not believe that we should go around taking everyone off machines because they are bound to die eventually, because in fact, everyone is bound to die. We need to enjoy the time we have. I just feel that if one has no mental function that their life has already dimmed, and machines are only keeping the body alive, not the person. And in this case it is cruel to keep them alive this way. But the choice to keep them alive really comes down to their will, and if they do not have one, to their family. And I know that it is a hard decision, I would not want to make it, but it is one that people are faced with everyday, and one that faces great opposition.
Actually, in some cases, there is a written will where a patient has stated that they do not want to be kept alive by a machine, yet their family will fight it, trying to keep them alive. While this is all done because they love their family member and cannot bear to let them go, the ultimate choice should be left up to the patient, it is their life after all, and their decision should be honored.
- bloggernumber1
February 16, 2009 8:02PM
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