Essay Quiz


1		A good friend has approached you with a difficult decision--his father is in the last stages of a terminal illness and the medication he is on is not controlling the excruciating pain he experiences. Your friend tells you that his father has asked for help in dying, and your friend is torn between the anguish of watching his father suffer and his own moral reluctance to help his father die. He asks for your help in deciding what he should do. Take a totally objective perspective on this, based on what you have read in the chapter on euthanasia--discuss under what circumstances a person in the medical profession might consider terminating a patient's life, and when it would not be appropriate to do so. Include in your answer a discussion of when a person is considered "dead" from a clinical perspective, and how you might advise your friend under those circumstances. Finally, take a stand on the issue of euthanasia and support your position.



2		You have just learned from your mother that your favorite aunt is dying. Having no children of her own she has always been extremely close to you, even more so than any of her other nieces or nephews, although she considers all of you to be like her own children. Your mother says the doctor, a young oncologist, has not yet told your aunt of her diagnosis, wanting to discuss it with the family first. To achieve the best possible outcome for your aunt and for the family who love her, what should be done? Should she be told? If so, why; if not, why not? How should the rest of the family be told? How should family members deal with her and with each other? How would you expect your aunt and other members of the family to react during and after her death? Would you recommend hospice care? Explain the reasons for your answer.

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