Another Media Failure to Get Basic Terms Right
The Italian Supreme Court is going to hear a case about whether a patient should have the right to refuse unwanted life-sustaining medical treatment (a matter already settled in the United States). This isn't euthanasia, as currently understood, which involves the active mercy killing of patients. Yet, several news outlets described the Italian case as being about euthanasia. This can only sow confusion.
Proper ethical analysis requires a clear understanding of the issues involved, which in turn, requires the proper use of language and accurate definitions. Yet, whether it is about issues involving end of life concerns, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, or other such issues, the media repeatedly and blatantly fail society in fulfilling this important, yet basic, task.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 10:17 AM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
There's something I don't understand: It says he wants, after the respirator is turned off, to be given pain killers to ease his pain until he dies. What's that all about? If he really needs the respirator, how long of a death could we be talking about? What pain? How will taking him off the respirator cause him pain?
That's made me wonder if they are really talking about also disconnecting his feeding tube (mentioned in the article) and if he will be able to breathe on his own until he slowly dies of dehydration, which _is_ painful.
When someone is weaned from a ventilator, it can cause pronounced discomfort for a period of time, and palliative medications are indicated.
If he doesn't die from the removal of the respirator, it would take about 12 days to die of dehydration.
Yeah, I know it takes about that long. That's why I'm a bit uneasy as to exactly what they're planning to remove and what the reference to pain medications means. Let me put it this way: Is it likely that someone in that situation is going to die relatively quickly after the respirator is removed? Is it clear whether, if he turned out to be able to breathe on his own, they would simply dehydrate him to death and medicate him to alleviate the pain?
I can't at all tell from the stories. Perhaps he really needs the ventilator and that's all there is to it--death within a few minutes to a couple of days if it's just a matter of gradually reduced oxygen rates.
But I have to admit that I see the reference to pain medications as a little disturbing, because it just doesn't sound like he or his caregivers expect him to die imminently when "life support" (the ventilator) is removed. This could be a bad precedent in Italy after all.
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