Exam 2 Flashcards
(74 cards)
What are the differences between active and passive euthanasia?
- Active Euthanasia: actively taking steps to end another person’s life. Illegal – injecting.
- Passive Euthanasia: withholding or withdrawing treatment.
What is VSED?
- Voluntary stopping of eating and drinking
- Legal for competent and terminally ill.
- Die by dehydration.
What is Double effect?
• Death from treatment is allowed if harm not intended, and if it is a side effect of beneficial action.
o E.g. up doses of meds for pain management but causes breathing problems and patient dies
What is Terminal Sedation?
- Alternative selected by physicians who are committed to relieving a dying patient’s distress without resorting to active euthanasia.
- Medications keeps the patient in deep sedation or coma until death.
- Used most often when the patient is suffering severe pain, agitation, or dyspnea.
What is Assisted death?
• When a person with a terminal illness ends his/her life with a lethal prescription from a doctor.
Where in the U.S. is Assisted death legal?
• Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Washington D.C., Montana, Vermont, Hawaii
How old was my very calm, white cat
In what countries is assisted death legal?
o Netherlands
o Switzerland
o Canada
o Germany
In what countries is euthanasia legal?
o Netherlands
o Belgium
o Canada
In what countries can children use euthanasia and assisted death?
o Netherlands (12-17 years) o Belgium (no age limit)
In which country is assisted death legally open to foreigners?
o Switzerland – DIGNITAS
What are the arguments for and against assisted death regarding autonomy
people should make their own decisions
What are the arguments for and against assisted death regarding kindness
o For: It’s a kind thing to give someone the chance to end their own life with a sense of control.
o Against: not kind, you are abandoning them.
What are the arguments for and against assisted death regarding professional integrity
o For: Doctors are there to relieve suffering.
o Against: against oath to do no harm, violates ethics
What are the arguments for and against assisted death regarding societal consequences?
o Against: slippery slope – risk to opening it to a lot more people or make them feel vulnerable and forced (mental illness and older people)
• Risk of broadening law.
• Risk feeling like a burden/finances.
What is the slippery slope argument?
- slippery slope – risk to opening it to a lot more people or make them feel vulnerable and forced (mental illness and older people).
- Contribute to widespread abuse.
- Pressure people to use it to avoid being a burden or because of health care costs; vulnerable groups can be pressured into it.
What happened in the case “It’s over, Debbie?”
- A young physician gave Debbie a dose of morphine sulfate that let her die.
- The woman was suffering from ovarian cancer. She did not respond to chemotherapy and hadn’t eaten or slept in 2 days.
- She said to the physician, “let’s get this over with.”
What is an orbitoria?
• centers that have assisted death upon request but also biomedical research on dying and death
Who is Dr. Kevorkian?
- Retired pathologist who gave a lethal injection to Thomas Youk.
- Convicted of second degree murder.
- Described his services as assisted suicide.
- Agenda included the establishment of centers in communities across the nation in which people could not only have assisted deaths upon their request, but also in which biomedical research could be done on dying and death – orbitoria.
Be familiar with:
Diagnosis of people Dr. Kevorkian worked with
Most of the people were not terminally ill.
Gender bias among his clientele
• Encouraged increased suicidality among women.
Dr. Kevorkian’s attempts to treat his client’s depression?
Failure to diagnose or treat their depression.
Overlap between Dr. Kevorkian’s clients and the profile of suicide attempters
• Those assisted by Kevorkian fit the general profile of suicide attempters rather than terminally ill people.
• They have high incidence of depression and dependency and low incidence of the conditions that are the most common causes of death in the US.
What happened in the story of Diane?
- 45 year old leukemia sufferer treated by Dr. Timothy Quill for several years.
- Given a 25% change of survival if she did a painful routine of chemo, radiation, and bone-marrow transplant. She refused treatment.
- She wanted to end her life at the right time before the disease had a chance to destroy her body completely and wanted Dr. Quill to help her.
- He prescribed Diane a lethal dose of barbiturates along with the instructions on how to take them for the desired effect.
- She had to repeat her understanding of the treatment, the odds, and what to expect if there was no treatment.
What are the eligibility and procedural requirements for the Oregon Death with Dignity Act?
- 18 or older
- Resident of Oregon
- Capable of making and communicating health care decisions for oneself.
- Diagnosed with terminal illness that will lead to death within 6 months.
What is the most mentioned reason for using the Oregon Death with Dignity Act?
• Fear of losing autonomy
What did Maria Nagy find in her study on children’s comprehension of death?
• She found that three age-related stages could be established.