Writing Homework Help

Consider your answers in the first discussion question.

Would it make a difference if Will was on life support?

Would it make a difference if Will was not terminally ill?

 ( LISTED BELOW IS THE ANSWER IN THE FIRST DISCUSSION QUESTION) USE THE ANSWER BELOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION LISTED ABOVE

Is Will’s request to
reprogram the morphine machine justified by an ethical right to decide the
course of his own death?

With Will dying from liver cancer,
a request for less pain by him is acceptable and responsible for the medical
staff to perform. Nothing in any culture says that you must accept pain more
than you can bear just to die. In fact, this would be one of the usual steps
taken by a hospice if they were to take over and allow Will to die at his own
rate instead of preserving his life indefinitely with machines.

In fact, using some combination of
medications, counseling and therapies, most patients can attain a level of
comfort they consider acceptable. Pain free but alert is the best choice you
can get, since you can get responses for medical staff and realize the patient
just is not feeling the pain from the disease that is killing them. This would
provide the best situation for everyone.

What are the ethical
implications of Will’s request that his physicians reprogram his morphine
machine?

Given the stage and inoperability
of the cancer, Will’s request has no real ethical implications. He will not
become addicted to morphine then turned loose on the streets to survive
without, he is, in essence, in the hospital to die. You are neither hastening
his death, nor are you doing anything but providing the things Will needs
during the dying process. This would include some friendship, attention, and
pastoral care along with the medications to stop pain.

This is the situation where hospice
care is a benefit to hospitals in that their staff is trained to handle all of
those needs and to watch for what is happening. If it turns out that the
patient is recovering, they can take them off of hospice and place them back
into general treatment programs until there is a definite opinion that death
will be the next phase of the patient’s life.