Terminal wean ( Legal and consent must be obtained from health care proxy or specified in living will)
n. the intentional reduction of medical life-support, especially mechanical or supplemental respiration, that permits a patient to die
Palliative sedation (also known as terminal sedation, continuous deep sedation, or sedation for intractable distress in the dying/of a dying patient) (Legal and consent must be obtained from health care proxy or specified in living will)
is the palliative practice of relieving distress in a terminally ill person in the last hours or days of a dying patient's life, usually by means of a continuous intravenous or subcutaneous infusion of a sedative drug.
Physician-assisted suicide (Illegal)
: The voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide is the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life.
Euthanasia (Illegal)
noun
1. Also called mercy killing. the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition.
2. painless death.
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All those medically termed definitions in my opinion have one thing in common; they all “permit” a person to die.
When all else fails and the family has reached their end point of an emotional battle dealing with the critical state of a family member they gather together and decide what is best for their loved one.
The decision to " pull the plug" or terminally wean a loved one may indeed be one of the most heart breaking decisions a family has to make , especially when it is an unexpected circumstance.
What are the determining factors that lead up to this decision? All that can be done has been done and still -the outcome will not be a positive one? That the reality is there is no cure or the damage is irreversible? The persons quality if life will be minimal next to none? How about the embedded guilt that you don't want to see that person suffer anymore.... that they wouldn't want to be dependent on a respirator for breathing, tubes for feeding and an entire staff of people dressing, bathing and ambulating them.
Some may look at it as giving up yet others see it as a state of peace and relief. Now if someone can choose to put another out of suffering why can we choose to do the same for ourselves. Do people look forward to the road of endless test, procedures, pain, and deterioration? Probably not. When the future is guaranteed and it's not the way you'd expect it to turn out, why not be able to depart on your own terms where people can remember you before the suffering sets in?
For this once aspiring fashion major my 9-5 job isn't set in this lavish building off of 5th ave in NYC, but in an Intensive care unit where death and sadness surrounds me. My belief in the legalization of Physician assisted suicide and Euthanasia is an acquired interest. I see the families making the decisions for their loved ones and i wish i could say everyone always agrees but the reality is the mixture of emotions between strong willed people don't always make it an easy decision.
I see families fight and cry....then fight and cry some more, yet once the decision is made and palliative care is administered some families sit around the patient and fill the room with laughter and talk about memories overflowing with love. Granted death results from the underlying medical condition but the way they exit is made by a single choice.
If that patient knew that their future would include days or even weeks on life support at the peak of their illness, before getting to that point where the decision gets put on everyone other then the patient,would it be that bad if we were given the option of a physician assisted suicide?
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=32841
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palliative_sedation -yeah I know not the best be I like the definition.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/euthanasia
Ever wonder how you’re going to spend your final days on earth? What if you had the opportunity to plan out your very own perfect passing? Now, what if you had absolutely no choice? One thing that I’m certain of is that the day when I get to use my E-ZPass and head toward the white light at the end of the tunnel, and I don’t mean the Midtown, I’d like to know I left this place with dignity.. What if we celebrated the choice to die surrounded by the people we love , heck why not throw a huge party and remember all the good times, pop open that bottle of champagne and toast to a great life and even better afterlife where the party never stops!
For the most part, we as humans have the opportunity to pick certain paths we want our lives to head towards. Lifelong partners, friends, family (the ones we can tolerate, of course), which pair of socks we want to wear in the morning, and what car we drive, are all things we have the natural born right to include in our daily life decisions. On the other hand, cancer, disease, and illness, whether acquired or born with, are not things we look forward to living with. Imagine if you were born or diagnosed with a terminal illness that promised nothing but agony and intractable pain every waking moment of your life. If the opportunity was presented, would you choose to leave this world on your own time or let it be taken from you without warning; it’d be so sudden that you may never get to say those final words to your loved ones or look into their eyes and smile one last time.
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide pose a threat to our modern-day society and the legalization of this practice has been a topic of debate for years. For some reason, people have an issue with the ultimate liberty and the right to die in a strategically planned setting. What if that terminal patient was promised certainty, . . . a promise that they wouldn’t have to suffer anymore, their loved ones wouldn’t see them in a state of constant emotional and physical distress, or possibly avoiding it all and choosing death sooner than later and never experiencing the deterioration of their life?
This blog wasn’t put together with the intention to offend any kind of higher power that could be believed to bring us into this world and take us out, but rather to surface the question: In the state of a grueling medical condition or birth disability, if given the right, would you choose when you wanted to die with the assistance of a trained medical professional?
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide pose a threat to our modern-day society and the legalization of this practice has been a topic of debate for years. For some reason, people have an issue with the ultimate liberty and the right to die in a strategically planned setting. What if that terminal patient was promised certainty, . . . a promise that they wouldn’t have to suffer anymore, their loved ones wouldn’t see them in a state of constant emotional and physical distress, or possibly avoiding it all and choosing death sooner than later and never experiencing the deterioration of their life?
This blog wasn’t put together with the intention to offend any kind of higher power that could be believed to bring us into this world and take us out, but rather to surface the question: In the state of a grueling medical condition or birth disability, if given the right, would you choose when you wanted to die with the assistance of a trained medical professional?
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