We have a moral right to a peaceful and dignified death, free from terminal pain, and in comfort, and this right is compromised by some forms of end-of-life healthcare interventions.
We have constitutional rights consistent with this moral right to a peaceful and dignified death.
Any treatment (including artificial nutrition and hydration) in opposition to the will of the patient, or the patient’s substitute decision maker, is ethically and legally unjustified since we have a right to refuse – contemporaneously or through an advance directive – any treatment, including potentially life-prolonging treatment, and others have a duty to withhold or withdraw treatment that is refused.
Since resources to prolong life are limited, they should be used responsibly rather than for a medically futile end, especially if it deprives others in the same risk pool of medical care.
Medical technology should not be utilised to prolong life in a manner that is futile in respect of making possible a meaningful life, since it might cause additional suffering and deny all dignity to the patient.
Not even close family members are ethically justified to extend a dying family member’s life if it would override the patient’s previous (competent) wishes.
The death bed is not the place for the family to extend life simply to be afforded an opportunity to make amends for earlier neglect or indiscretions if prolonging life is futile, or against the dying person’s previous (competent) wishes.
* Correct spelling: Dormonoct
* According to the online Medical Dictionary http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/suicide
* Craig erroneously thought Pravda meant “freedom”. When translated from the Russian, it means “truth” or “justice”.
* On Friday, 28 August, Craig telephoned Dignitas and was informed that he had not been given the “green light” as the paediatrician to whom his case had been referred had suggested that NF1 “does not cause death”. Craig was asked to resubmit his application with further medical motivation, a task he thought was “futile”.
* The following night Craig successfully took his own life.
* New York Times, 21 March 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/opinion/21iht-edsokol.4978393.html?_r=2
* http://www.health-e.org.za/cancer/news/article.php?uid=20033584
* Oregon Public Health Division - http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Documents/year14.pdf
* Press Release Nr 0353-1202-90 Federal Statistical Office/Federal Department of Home Affairs/Swiss Confederation.
