Dear Faculty and Students:
The February-March ethics dilemma is based on situations depicted
in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play called Wit, written
by Margaret Edson. Wit is the story of Dr. Vivian Bearing
and her struggle with ovarian cancer. Gritty, funny and unsentimental,
the play explores Bearing's journey towards a greater understanding
of what it means to live with compassion and die with dignity.
This play will be presented from April 11 - May 6 at the Dallas
Theater Center. In conjunction with the play, Dallas Theater Center
will offer Project Discovery educational programs especially designed
for high school groups as well as discounted and free tickets
to some performances. For information about these activities,
faculty should contact Jennifer King, Director of Education &
Community Programs at Dallas Theater Center (214-252-3917 or Jennifer.King@DallasTheaterCenter.org).
Because Wit contains nudity, parental and faculty
discretion is advised.
Interactive
Case for February-March 2001
You are an oncologist (a physician who treats patients with
cancer). One of your patients, a 40-year-old woman with a common but usually
fatal form of cancer, has agreed to be the first subject in your new experimental
treatment program. If your new treatment method causes her type of tumor to
regress (get smaller), then you may be able to save many lives. Your patient
has advanced cancer at the time treatment begins. Almost immediately the tumor
begins to regress. Your patient's overall health deteriorates, however, and
you decide to admit her to the hospital. Shortly after arriving at the hospital,
she suffers cardiac arrest (her heart stops). The hospital staff saves her life,
but she is unconscious and requires machine life-support. When she entered the
hospital, she prepared a "living will," which states that she wants
all machines turned off after ten days should she become unconscious and requires
life-support. Her tumor continues to regress in response to the experimental
treatment even though her overall condition does not improve. Ten days pass.
Should you turn off the life supporting machines and allow her to die, or should
you continue life support long enough to learn if the experimental therapy can
completely destroy her tumor? What are the ethical issues involved?
Dear Students,
Thank you for your responses to the ethics discussion case for February/March,
2001. We received 258 responses representing 21 schools. As always, your answers
were very thoughtful, and you covered all of the important points about the
situation.
About two thirds of you (166 responses) would remove the patient from life
support. Another large group felt that given the potential importance of the
research, either the patient should be continued on life support (24 responses)
or the family should be consulted about the possibility of overriding the living
will so as to continue the research (17 responses). Finally, there was a group
of students (51) who did not take a firm stand in either direction, but discussed
the balance between the patient having agreed to take part in the experiment
on one hand and having implemented a living will on the other that would in
effect end her participation in the experiment.
Keep reading and you will find faculty comments regarding this case.
Professional Response #1
Any research subject should be able to quit the research program any time.
This patient is not competent to tell us whether she wants to quit the research,
but she has a living will. Because the living will was executed when she was
admitted to the hospital (i.e., after enrolling in the research), there really
is no room for doubt that she would want to "leave" the research program under
these circumstances by having her life-sustaining treatment withdrawn.
There is something to be said for the proposition that refusing to honor her
advance directive would be arguably appropriate. Some have written that there's
no particular reason to honor advance directives in the first place. When, as
here, there are good reasons not to (e.g., the advancement of scientific knowledge),
and those reasons are consistent with the patient's decision to enroll in the
first place, you could argue, on the basis of benefits and burdens, that continuing
life support is actually in her best interests.
But I don't agree with the position that you should be able to ignore advance
directives with impunity. It is totally inappropriate to maintain an unconscious
patient on life-support, against her express and contemporaneous wishes, for
an unspecified period of time (the only end-point mentioned is when we know
that the treatment did or did not wipe out the tumor: how long will that take?)
in order to gather research data. This flies in the face of Kant's categorical
imperative by treating the patient solely as a means to another's ends. Without
her consent to such a scenario, it shouldn't be allowed.
Professional Response #2
There are a number of international guidelines that have established ethical
principles of human research. One of the most important is the Declaration
of Helsinki, which you can read at: http://www.faseb.org/arvo/helsinki.htm.
Principle A.5 of the Declaration states that
In medical research on human subjects, considerations related to the well-being
of the human subject should take precedence over the interests of science and
society.
This principle is central to our ethics dilemma. No matter how important the
information that could be derived from the research, the well-being of the patient
must always takes precedence. Now research, by its very nature, is for the benefit
of science and society and future patients. That is why informed consent
by a patient is necessary and critical for her to become a research subject.
Informed consent means that she agrees to be a research subject even though
she realizes that the research might not benefit her condition and could even
cause her harms not all of which can be anticipated in advance. (That is also
part of "research." You do not know precisely what will happen.) Informed consent
is always tentative. That is, at any time, for any reason, the person can withdraw
her permission to be a subject.
Our patient agreed to be a subject, which made it permissible for the oncologist
to try the new therapy. If the patient had remained conscious, then the experimental
therapy could have been continued as long as she did not revoke her consent.
Once she became unconscious, her condition could only be guided by her living
will, which meant ending life support and consequently ending her participation
in the experiment as well. Continuing the experiment would have meant putting
the interests of science and society above those of the individual.
Student Comments:
3/22/01
This is a very complex ethics issue. However, I believe that the life support
should be turned off. Human life is something that is highly valuable and if
anyone deserves the right to choose life or death, it is that individual, not
a doctor. The doctor is serving the patient, not the other way around, so the
doctor should serve the patient by respecting the final wishes the patient has
entrusted the doctor with. She made the living will after she began the treatment
so this shows what her priority is. Her priority is to die on her own terms
rather than serve the medical community. The treatment for cancer obviously
was showing signs of promise so it would be feasible for the doctor to take
another patient into the experimental treatment. The doctor should also try
to determine the cause of the woman's cardiac arrest to find out if the treatment
was possibly at fault. The implications of the research do not null a person's
rights to free will. Her rights must be respected and she should be taken off
of the life support as soon as the ten day period is up.
G.R.
Garland High School
3/21/01
This woman has obviously made a very tough choice, but she made it in good conscience.
I would think that before she entered a new experimental treatment, that she might
have been required to sign a contract. And I believe that the first thing to do
would be to explore if her 'living will' over rides her agreement with the experimental
drug company. If the living will does in fact take precedence over any previous
contract then it only logical to honor her wishes. I believe that her 'living
will' should be honored, but also for the doctors to find out as much as they
can from this woman and the treatment she has undergone. If it was the drug that
caused her final complication and not her cancer, then this drug should not be
tested further. If it is concluded that the new drug is not to blame for her death,
then unfortunately there will be many other patients that would volunteer for
a new treatment. I think that we should always consider someone's personal wishes,
before the success of a treatment or a drug. This woman was a person just like
you and me and I know that I would want my doctor to honor my wishes. This woman
is the first test subject of this new drug. There will be many more like her.
And she is a person not just a test subject.
R.G.
MacArthur H.S.
3/20/01
I think that the doctors should have used that 10 day period to find out what
caused this woman's cardiac arrest, because if it was the experimental drug
that caused this condition then it should not be experimented with on other
patients and if it is not the cause then it can be used on other people. Doctors
would not want to put more innocent lives at risk by experimenting with a drug
that might have killed a person. Plus, I think if the doctors could not find
the cause of this cardiac arrest then the patient's family should be consulted,
because I beleive that if the woman was willing to put her life at risk to help
find a potential cure for cancer then she would be willing to be on the machines
for at least a few more days so that they can see if the medician was the cause
of her worsened condition or if the medician was a cure. Also, I as a future
medical person think that if the medician was not the cause of this woman's
condition, then the woman should be kept alive for the period of time it would
take to see if the medician would completely get rid of the cancer. I also beleive
that if this were a real experiment, then the doctor or doctors in charge should
have consitered the possibility of this woman's death and should have already
made an agreement of some form with her in case of this situation. Although,
if the patients family thought that the patient would not want to wait then
I beleive that they should have to take her off the machines not only to respect
the families wishes but also to prevent any legal problems that might be precented
to the hostpital.
HB
Nimitz High School
3/18/01
ouch- what a tuff decision. this lady's wish was obviously to not exist in
a vegetable state wired up according to the living will. if she prepared this
living will when she was admitted to the hospital, then she knew from my tests
that her tumor was regressing. even with this knowledge, she still made the
choice to be unplugged after ten days of unconsciousness on life-support. being
a good oncologist, i stressed to the woman the results that could happen if
the tumor regressed to a manageable size. yes, by keeping the woman on life
support for a bit longer, she could come back and possibly live a normal life.
by choosing to keep her on support, i might get the privilege of saving a life.
but if this woman by some chance comes back with brain damage and will no longer
be able to function in this world, have i really done the woman a favor. i do
not wish to accept this kind of responsibility especially with the woman's family.
there would be a legal
rb
macarthur high school
3/8/01
I think that hey should take her off life support. 1) because if it was in her
written will and she was in sound-mind when she wrote the will, then I think legally
you have to do what it says - which is to take her off after 10 days. And 2) because
if the side-effects of the treatment will do that to one person, then it probably
won't change for other. So the scientist should figure out a way of avoiding those
side effects (with an autopsy or something) rather than sending another already
suffering patient into the hands of a life-support machine.
C.M.
Mansfield High School
3/8/01
One ethical issue is whether or not to go against the woman's wishes even though
the experimental treatment is going well. I would take her off life support because
she specified that in her will. The experimental therapy could be tried out on
other patients; the outcome of their treatment could be observed.
C.R.
3/8/01
If it was the patient's wish to be taken off life support, then that should be
done. No doctor should have the right to force a patient to live. Others would
likely volunteer for the treatment, so the experiment could still be continued.
Also, if the patient is kept on life support against her will, that could seriously
damage the reputation of the doctor, and by association the treatment.
JAM
Fossil Ridge High School
3/7/01
Because the woman had made a firm, non-arguable statement in her "living will"
to stop euthanasia after the 10 day period, there is no doubt that the hospital
should comply. It isn't only the woman's right to choose, but the hospital would
have to worry about law suits and problems aroused by this one decision. If the
hospital didn't follow the directions left in the will, what be the point in writing
a will.
PWC
MacArthur
3/7/01
I think that the woman should be taken off the life support because that is what
she wrote in her will and you could always get another volunteer to test the treatment
J.C.
SHHS
3/6/01
This is a controversial issue, but I think that in this case the woman's wishes
should be adhered to. When she agreed to participate in the experiment, I am sure
she was aware of the consequences, some of which she knew might be fatal or harmful.
When she was put on life support, the doctors were able to determine that the
treatment was working, that it was causing the tumor to regress. At the end of
ten days, however, I think the woman's wishes should be honored and she should
be taken off life support. Those were the terms agreed to in the beginning, and
should be followed in the end. The doctors should use the information learned
from the experiment with the woman at that point and take it from there with other
patients or methods that would enable them to learn more.
A.H.
MacArthur High School
3/6/01
A man, or a woman, has the power and right to determine their own life or death.
Should this scenario in actuality come about, I feel that it is the hospital's
duty and the oncologist's duty to remove the patient from life support? The patient
has plainly stated that should she have to receive life support in an unconscious
state for more than ten days, she would like to be terminated. This patient, hypothetically,
has been receiving life support for ten days and should be removed from life support.
Should the hospital decide to keep her on life support, a large suit could possibly
be taken against them from the patient's family? I do realize that critical medical
research would be lost, but the desires and will of a living human being are far
more important aspects to acknowledge than that experiment.
G. S.
MacArthur High School
3/5/01
I think that the oncologist should respect the patient's wishes. If he really
wanted to test on this patient he should have informed her, or better yet ask
her if he may continue to test her. In realistic terms, it would be illegal to
go against a patient's wishes, even when she prepared a "living will." Anyway
their are many more people with cancer that the oncologist can experiment on.
B.O.
MacArthur High School
3/5/01
By making a living will, the patient chose to practice her "right to die." After
the Cruzan v. Missouri Health Department case, living wills became important and
widespread. Although she is kept alive by life-support, she still has certain
inherent rights, one of which is her wish to remove the life-sustaining devices
after 10 days. No matter how much success I, as an oncologist, might gain, I must
respect her right.
S.M.
MacArthur High School
3/4/01
Although new knowledge might be gained from prolonging the life of the patient,
the doctor must respect the rights of the patient and end life support. Because
each individual has the freedom to make his/her own decisions, the doctor must
respect the will of the patient or he would be treating her as nothing more than
a lab rat. Even if the doctor decided not to discontinue life support and the
tumor was eradicated, questions about the relationship between the patient's heart
failure and the treatment would arise and more experiments would be needed to
verify that the treatment can successfully cure cancer.
MMB
MacArthur High School
2/27/01
I think that this ethics discussion is rather basic. I know of the ethical consideration
of trying to further the study and produce an outcome of whether or not the experimental
drug worked. However, I believe that it is the moral responsibility of the doctor
to adhere to the living will of the patient and take her off of life support after
ten days. In order to further his research, he should instead find another patient
and see if the experimental drug works on them as well. His tests on that patient
probably would not be valid because she went into cardiac arrest, and therefore
they are uncertain of what truly caused the regression. If I was the doctor, i
do not believe that I would go against the wishes of the patient.
M.F.
Garland High School
2/26/01
If I were put in this situation, it would be very difficult to make the right
dicision. However, I believe the right thing to do would be to obey the woman's
disires and shut the machine off. That is the ethical thing to do. I could always
start the experiment on a new patient that has'nt gotten as far in the cancer
as the previous patient. It's her life and her dicision to be taken off life-support.
Her " living will" is her last known wishes and should be followed even though
she chose to do this experiment, she never changed her will.
2/26/01
I would continue life support long enough to know if the experimental therapy
can completely destroy the cancer. Granted, she wanted to be take off life support
after 10 days, but if she knew she could help others, she would not mind staying
on. Didn't she start the treatment so she could help others, or possibly find
a cure for cancer? Yes she wanted only to be on for 10 days but would you want
to lose all this research and progress? I wouldn't. Also you could help more people
and refine it so it would work better, she would want that. Plus she would not
know if she was still on it or not, she probably chose 10 days to keep her family
from having a large medical bill, and your research company would take care of
the bill so I see no problem leaving her on life support. So yes, you should leave
her on and watch the full effects of the treatment.
N.T.
2/25/01
If you leave the woman on life support then you will get the benefits of seeing
if the tumor deteriorates and goes away, the results will be beneficial for future
science references. On the other hand if you do as the living will states then
you are respecting her rights, but you won't find the results about the tumor.
I think that you should leave the woman on life support and find out the results
because she wont know anyway since she is unconscious. The outcome of the woman
will be the same and also you will benefit for the future patients with the same
disease.
I.A.
Argyle HS
2/25/01
If I were an oncologist in this specific situation I would continue the use of
life support and allow her to finish the treatment. Under this circumstance the
will should be voided so that a cure for this type of cancer could possibly be
found. Also, I do not agree that she would want to be taken off life support under
this condition due to the fact that she went into cardiac arrest. She was most
likely referring to her going into life threatening states caused by the cancerous
tumor. She would have wanted to continue the treatment so that I might be able
to save other lives. This would lead me to the decision of allowing her to stay
on life support and possibly wait out the unconsciousness.
2/25/01
If I was in that predicament and had to make that choice I would go ahead and
leave the machines on after I made sure it was okay with her relatives to override
her wishes. If they said no I would turn off the machines and find another patient
who would stick with me the entire way until I was finished with my studies. Some
of the ethical issues involved is you could go to a judge and explain what your
reasons are why the machines should not be shut off or you could just find another
patient who would stick with you.
S.C.
Argyle High School
2/25/01
The woman should be taken off life support. She was in her right state of mind
when she signed the living will so I believe the doctor should obey her wishes,
even though it would benefit others. It is morally right to obey all of her final
wishes. I can see where people on the other side of the issue are coming from.
I mean it might save peoples lives in the future, but there will always be another
time to test this treatment. Legally her family cannot override her living will
decision so why should the doctor? Overall the doctor should obey her wishes.
N.K.
Argyle H.S.
2/25/01
I believe in this situation that I would wait and see if the tumor got any smaller
and I would not take her of life support. I would go against her will because
you could save a lot off people's lives by making this decision. I think the lady
would want it that way to if she knew the situation of all this. If the tumor
got bigger again then I would not try anything further and I would take her off
life support like her will would want her to. Mainly I would just do it so that
I could try to help other people fight cancer and I believe she would want that
too.
T.W.
Argyle HS
2/25/01
If I were to ask a doctor to take me of life support machines I hope he would
respect my wishes and do as I asked. I know she agreed to be a subject in the
experiment but her condition and her right as a human being surpasses her oral
agreement with the doctor in this type of situation. If you were able to be put
to rest at a peaceful, unpainful stage of your dying life I know you would want
to be respected enough where the doctors would do that for you and forget about
the experiment enough to respect you as person.
J.M.
Argyle H. S.
2/25/01
There are many ethical issues involved in this case. For one, a common issue is
whether to take a person off life support. This creates many arguments and it
is up to the person involved or family members to decide the right way of action.
In this case, if the dying person signs a DNR (do not recessitate) then it is
in no contest that the patient is taken off life support. If a DNR is not signed
then it is up to family members to decide the outcome. I believe, in this case,
keeping life support on may allow the advancement of new cancer treatments at
the expense of 1 life. In other words, its one life or the growing number of lives
cancer takes every year. The only problem with this is that the decision goes
against the will of the patient. I believe that the patient's requests should
be granted and that the life support machines should be turned off and the experimental
treatment be started over with another patient.
J.M.B.
Argyle High School
2/25/01
As an oncologist, or any doctor for that matter, I would have to follow the patients
orders. It doesn't matter that I could be saving other lives because my patient
obviously wanted to die if she was put on life support. I would take her off the
life support and then try and find another subject to try my new treatment. A
doctor must always have the patients best interest in mind no matter the situation.
She had prepared a living will stating she no longer wanted to live and that I
would have to take her off life support. Her tumor may be regressing but her overall
health is stll deteriorating. So my treatment may be helping the tumor but it
isn't necessarily helping her to live. I would have to follow her wishes and let
her die. Then I would most definately find another terminal cancer patient and
ask for their help in agreeing to try my treatment. Then I could find out for
sure whether my treatment really could save lives.
W.H.
Argyle High School
2/25/01
I believe that the oncologist should have taken the woman off the life-supporting
machine, and allow her to die like she wanted. First of all she had stated in
her "Living Will" that she wanted the hospital to turn off all the machines after
ten days. Denying her that right would be going against what she wanted. Also
if you kept her on the machines after ten days, the doctor would be breaking a
contract (her Will). Second of all, the doctor could still easily test the experimental
treatment by finding another cancer patient. So the doctor could let that woman
pass away, and then treat another willing patient and he would have the same results
as continuing to treat the woman. Finding another patient would bypass the moral
and legal obligations of breaking the women's will. Thus once again the doctor
should definitely take her off life support.
K.D.
Argyle H.S.
2/25/01
If I was the oncologist it would be my duty to turn of the life support since
her will says that. Although if we left it one we could maybe know how to get
rid of brain tumors and help milions of people everywhere that have brain tumors.
We can't just use her as a ginney pig she still has rights even though she is
unconcious. We have to do what she says so I would turn off the life support.
It isn't right to keep her alive so we can see the experiments effects on the
tumor. It is unethical to not do as her will says and would be going against the
Code of Ethics.
J.C.
Argyle High School
2/25/01
In my opinion, keeping the woman on life support seems like a good idea to see
if the tumor continues to regress. One reason would be so I could help out those
with cancer because I would have known what it would be like to have cancer, and
if there is any way to help you should help. Another reason would be if there
is any possible chance for a cure it should be attempted. and even if she did
die from therapy there is always another chance on someone else.
L.M.
Argyle HS
2/25/01
The doctor should not be allowed to keep the women on the machine. Her living
will clearly states that she does not want to be kept alive after ten days. There
are no exceptions to this in her will so accordingly there should be no acceptation
in her life. Doctor's ethics clearly state they should obey the rights of all
patients. She has a right to die if she wants to. The doctor has no right to disobey
this wish. If the doctor still wants to conduct tests he has more proof of the
treatment working and more people are going to be influenced to participate. So
he doesn't need her any more.
M.H.
Argyle HS
2/24/01
In the case presented, the physician has a duty to be responsible for anything
that should happen to the patient with the testing. However, the patient's will
should be placed first. In this one person, I think her wish should be granted,
and your test should yield no results. However, further testing is necessary,
and should be conducted on other patients similar to the previous one, to see
if the eventual coma state was caused by other reasons besides the testing. Testing
is a long and tedious process, but should still be performed if beneficial results
are in sight.
A.J.
Azle High School
2/24/01
In this case it would be difficult for me to chose sides. On one hand I would
have the wish of a know unconscious patient and the other a potential cure for
a form of cancer. Although it would be hard for me to miss this chance to see
if the new treatment would totally deteriorate the tumor, I think I would have
to go with her living will and take her off her life-support. The only way I would
keep her in comatose is if her family has given me permission to do so. Although
it would be tough I think my patient is my utmost concern and not whether or not
the treatment will work. With experimental drugs the doctor would have to have
more then on case the drug worked in so this women is not a necessity to furthering
the drug. There would be something to learn from this case though, the women's
health started deteriorating around the time the tumor started to deteriorate.
So not only would I take the women off life-support as she requested I would also
reevaluate whether the medication I put her on is the reason her health deteriorated.
B.R.
Azle High School
2/24/01
To begin the woman already created a document that was self explanatory in itself.
After ten days the life support systems were to be removed, that was and should
be exactly what happens regardless of the study. It was her own decision, not
the doctors doing the research.
CJMQ
Azle High School
2/23/01
Although both decisions require taking the woman off life support, I believe that
the answer to this can be quite simple. The woman has signed a living will, acknowledging
her decision to discontinue life support after ten days regardless of the results.
A living will is usually not taken lightly and I assume that she has consulted
her family and other professional doctors. A serious malpractice lawsuit could
arise from using the body to perform experiments and then honoring the patient's
wish in her will. The will specifically states that life support will end ten
days after unconsiousness and life support. The oncologist's responsibilities
are directed towards the patient's wishes and he must obey in order to produce
ethical results. Although the results could help in the development of cancer
treatment, the patient should be aware of this sort of situation and can write
a clause into their will at the hospital-the patient's wishes are must come before
the doctor's wishes. However, since this woman has signed her living will, the
doctors should follow her requests and amend their methods for the future.
J.L.
Azle High School
2/23/01
Being a doctor you have the ethical duty to respect the patient's wishes, but
in this case being that it might be able to save millions of other peoples' lives
I think you should make an exception. I believe that I would ask the patients
family if I could finish the experiment, if they agreed i would continue. If the
patients family disagreed I would feel obligated to respect their wishes.
H.M.
Azle High School
2/23/01
This situation brings about many questions that require personal decisions. Are
you capable to decide weather a person should live, or not? Should you sacrifice
the experiment? I believe since she has prepared a living will, her wishes should
be respected. You at least now have a basis to continue your work and you would
not be "playing God." These issues involve a lot of thought and any decision made,
should not be hasty.
C.
Azle High School
2/23/01
I feel that you should turn of the life support. If she had enough concern to
take the time to write a living will, then she means it. When she said ten days
that is what she meant. There are plenty of other people who have cancer. After
death, proceed to have an autopsy for further research. Ethically, she is a human
being not just the experiment. She volunteered to be under this experiment but
not to violate her, her rights, her ethics, nor her will. She choose to die in
dignity.
S.
Azle High School
2/23/01
In the situation presented to me, I would not turn off the patients machine. Even
though it goes against the patients wishes, I feel the outcome maybe positive
if she stays on life support longer. One reason is, if her health is deteriorating
because of the treatment, then I would like to know what factors might improve
the treatment. By improving the treatment, maybe I could help her and other patients.
I also feel if I am able to bring the patient's life back to her, which is what
was trained to do, she and her family will be grateful to me; and I will be happy
with my self knowing I was able to help a human being.
P.N.
Elkins High School
2/23/01
I would take her off life support because the drug seems to be making her health
deteriorate. So it seems like, regardless of their effort, they're going to lose
her. Plus, she said it was her will and you should be able to go along with the
patient's wishes.
M.G.
Elkins High School
2/23/01
I think that they should take her off the life support because she told them before
that was her will. They should just look for another volunteer to give the drug
to after they prove her cardiac arrest was not related to the experimental drug.
M.J.
Elkins High School
2/22/01
As an honorable doctor, I would respect the wishes of my patient. The patient
deserves to die in the way that she wishes; she obviously does not want to be
hooked up to machines in order to prolong her life. Also, it is the legal responsibility
of the doctor to obey the terms of the patient's living will.
B.P.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
i believe that the "living will" should be followed and the life?support turned
off after the ten days. Though it would appear that this experimental process
is proving effective, the doctor does not have the right to violate the final
wishes of a woman who knew her death would soon occur. Other cancer patients will
be willing to participate in this doctor's study, perhaps even more people than
before once the doctor establishes his/her reputation as an ethical and empathetic
individual
A.M.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
Despite the fact that the research is important, the patient's wishes should come
first. It would be wrong for the doctor to ignore the patient's wishes for their
own gain. The doctor could find a different patient to try the experimental therapy
on, and discuss the complications with them before hand to prevent this problem
from happening again.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
I think that I would take her off life?support since that is what she asked for
before she went into the treatment. And, if her failure is not the cause of her
downfall, then I think you could try it on someone else.
N.L.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
I think that she should be taken offline support. She had a living will that states
"all machines turned off after 10 days should she become unconscious and requires
life?support". This is what that women wanted and that should be respected.
E.W.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
I think that, though it would be a huge break through to discover a way to cure
cancer, it is the patient's right to have the plug pulled. If your treatment worked
this well on that lady, you should have no trouble finding another person.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
I think it is very obvious that the women should be taken off the life support
machine, since that was her wish, and she made out a "Living Will". I think it
would be unethical if she was living against her will just to see if an experimental
drug works.
AN
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
Disconnect her from the support. It would be selfish of me to not obey her will
because of my experiment.
K.A.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
As a person of ethics, I think she should turn off the machine because of the
women's living will. In another light, she is trying to help other other women
around the world with her type of cancer.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
I believe the patient's wishes should be honored. The doctor did get some progress
done and I think that the ethical thing to do would be to take the patient offthe
machines and continue to use the treatment on other patients with cancer who are
eager to help in the cure. It is important to know that the patient did contribute
a lot even though she died before the cancer was completely regressed and her
help is probably a good incentive for others to also take a part in the treatment.
M.C.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
Without a doubt, the woman should be taken off life support. Those were her wishes
and her rights. The ethical issue is should a patient who is getting better from
the original illness be kept alive even though there are other complications.
To keep her alive against her will would be morally wrong even though it could
have the possibility of making the experience a success. The experiment can wait
for another patient who is willing.
H.M.
Cedar Park H.S.
2/22/01
Although it may be possible for me to learn if the expiremental thereapy works
which would save many lives if it does, I would turn off the life supporting machines
and allow her to die. When the patient was in a reasonable state of mind, she
had requested in the form of a living will that she wanted all machines shut off
after ten days of rerquiring life support. As a professional doctor I feel it
would be my duty to honor the will of my expiremental therapy patient. Should
I have considered the other route and continued my expiriment the patient would
have likely ended up dying anyway, after factoring in her already advanced cancer
and her health continuing to fail. If by chance the patient had become cured and
awoken by the treatment she surely would be delighted but would feel a sense of
mistrust in my not honoring her will.
T.C.
Argyle HS
2/21/01
Looked at from a strictly ethical standpoint, this question becomes very simple.
Do you or do you not violate this woman's rights provided to her by the government
for her safety, security, and general welfare? As a strong advocate of civil rights,
I believe that the only thing to do would be to respect her wishes - if not for
her sake personally, than for the binding document that she signed before her
death. Does someone's new idea cease to make that document binding? I don't believe
so. Also, the long term benefits of possible continuation of treatment are only
hoped to help the medicine field and advance research in cancer treatment. But
they are not guaranteed. This does not seem to be a fair reason to violate someone's
rights. Research, lawfully, is restricted to consenting participants only. This
is the only humane thing to do. With the astounding number of people in the country
today suffering from cancer, why pick on the lady who did not give consent? Her
ten days is up, the only moral and ethical thing to do would be to pull the plug.
2/20/01
The case concerning the experimentally treated woman brings about many ethical
questions. Do you, the doctor, have the choice of life or death over a person?
Can you go against a person's wishes? Can you risk the chance of losing a hopefully
profitable experiment that may save the lives of many other people? In this particular
case, if I were the doctor, I would first consult the patient's family. They may
be able to shed some light on the issue, and may help in the decision making process.
Even though the decision would risk saving others' lives, I would respect her
wishes, and let her rest in peace. At least now we know the experimental drugs
may kill the cancer, and we could build from there. This problem is definitely
complicated, and should take some thought, no matter what you decide.
A.H.
Azle High School
2/20/01
It is my belief that the individual is more important than experiments and research.
It is true that the experimental therapy could possibly destroy her tumor and
continue to help other patients with similar conditions, but the woman specifically
said that she wanted all machines turned off after ten days. If she were conscious,
it would be a different story; however, she gave a "living will" for a reason,
and I think it is only ethical to honor her request. Besides, there will most
likely be other patients diagnosed with this type of cancer. If so, it would be
wise to discuss the experimental therapy with these patients in extreme detail
beforehand. This way, if anything should go wrong, you will know exactly what
each patient wants to do and if he or she wishes to continue life support for
further research.
J.B.
Mansfield High School
2/20/01
This would be a dificult decision for any doctor, but I think I would have to
leave the patient on life support. Even though her living will said otherwise.
The possibility of saving millions of lives is enough to disregard the patients
bill of rights.
J.C.
Sulphur Springs High School
2/20/01
I believe that they should take the lady off of the lofe support machines because
that was here last wishes and they should honor that. They should find a different
subject for their experiment that is willing to stick with the experiment.
L.S.
Sulphur Springs High School
2/20/01
I would turn the machine off. It is not my body and even though she is going to
die she still should have control over her ownbody and even though we might want
to know something does not give us the right to just take over her body
2/20/01
I would honor the patient's will and take her off the machines. It is not the
doctor's right to keep her on life support when she clearly stated that she wanted
to be taken off. The oncologist can always treat another patient with this experimental
treatment and see if the same effects take place.
A.R.
Sulphur Springs H.S.
2/18/01
In this case, the major ethical issue involved is, of course, the request of a
dying woman. I think it is quite clear that her request should be granted not
only on an ethical basis, but on a scientific basis as well. The tumor in her
body may be regressing, but continuing to perform scientific tests on someone
who is having other health problems may create incorrect results for the test.
Furthermore, the woman's cardiac problems may have resulted as a side effect from
the drug for the tumor itself. Whether or not this is true will not be known unless
other patients are also treated. Whenever scientific tests are done, more than
one subject is used, and so, if one of the subjects to be used originally is disregarded
from the results, the results from the test will not be affected too greatly.
Other than this, the ethical issues are clear. The request of a dying woman should
be granted if possible since there is no way she can force it to be granted. Therefore,
all these reasons considered, it is best that the life support the woman is on
be shut off in ten days according to her request, and other cancer patients willing
to be tested should be used for the experimentation.
S.C.
Dunbar HSEP
2/17/01
In this case, it is tough to decide whether or not to take her off life support.
She did request to be taken off after ten days if there were no signs of progress,
but doing so would leave questions about how effective the treatment was. If I
was the doctor, I would want to keep her on life support, but I would consult
her family members for consent. By allowing her to stay on those machines, we
could find out how well this treatment works on her and whether or not her tumor
would regress completely.
A.B.
Azle High School
2/16/01
I don't think that you should keep her going. She wants for them to pull the plug
after ten days. If she lives, she could sue him, or never give them business again.
If she dies, the family could sue for pulling the plug, when they think everything
is getting better. If you keep on going, the tumor may disappear, but everything
else will get worse. Her health could get worse, and something worse than the
tumor could come up. What the doctor doing the experiment should do, is to investigate
what the experiment contains before the ten days are up. If you wait, your practically
obligated to pull the plug. You could change the chemicals, or medicines used
in this experiment.
J.B.
Mabank High School
2/16/01
So um I think the subject is pretty cool and all but this is really difficult.
cause well you could get sued possibly if you don't pull the plug but also you
could save allot of live if not the lady that was dying
2/16/01
Well as an octologist i would want to use the ill woman for the remainder of the
experiment, but it is completly unethical to go against a persons will for their
life and completely go againts their requests and keep them alive any longer than
they requested, even if it is in the best interest of themselves. This whole experiment
is based on hope and taken a chance that is will be successful. Lets say that
it does go well, and you do get your cure, will the person had you had to use
against their will allow you to use ther results and give you what you need to
spread your data. People are not slaves or just test subjects and should not be
use against their will even thought they are unable to be concience to stop you.
J.S.S.G.
2/16/01
If I were an oncologist and i were in this situation, i would probably go ahead
and just pull that plug. After all there are more people out there with the very
same disease and they would do just about anything to get rid of it. And plus
, she wrote a "living will" saying that she didnt want to suffer on a life machine
so I would consider that. the thing that i would worry about the most would be
that the symtoms of cardiac arrest, deteriorating health, and having to go to
the hospital that often could be side effects of the new medicine that you have
given her. first test them on animals, and if all goes well try on humans. if
side effects occur, take it off humans and go back to the analysis and study of
this medicine and see what the problem is and try to fix it. and most importantly,
its more that likely really important to the family of this woman to do what she
says on her will. If she wanted to die on a computer she would have wrote that
on her will.
J.H.
MABANK HIGH SCHOOL
2/16/01
My veiw on the ethics case that we have written in my science class is to induce
a form of brain deadness to the patient, so you can administer all tests and make
sure the cancer is going away, meanwhile fulfilling the patients needs for pulling
the plug.
M.P.
Mabank High School
2/16/01
The ethical issues of this particular case include the patient's rights versus
the advancement of medical discoveries. If the patient's wishes are carried out,
then medical advancement could be delayed for the betterment and cure of every
person after that patient's death. However, if the patient's wish to be cut off
of life support after ten days is not honored, then the patient is being abused
by the medical community, leaving both the doctor and the hospital in question
susecptible to substantial malpractice charges. It must be emphasized that the
patient employs the doctor, and the doctor is to service the patient according
to her wishes. Therefore, for the doctor to ignore the patient's specific request
would be not only unethical, but morally wrong. The patient has left the fate
of her life in the doctor's hands. She made a conscious decision when she signed
the living will requesting to be cut off of life support after ten days, and she
undoubtedly expected that this wish be honored. Therefore, it is only ethically
and morally sound for the doctor to turn off the life support machines and allow
her to die, for this is her documented request. If the doctor were to continue
life support long enough to determine the effectiveness of the experimental drug,
then the doctor has usurped his power and responsibility and turned the patient
into an unsuspecting guinea pig who has donated her life to science unknowingly.
The wishes of the doctor and medical community do not make the rights of the patient
null and void. Her rights must be respected and honored in the context of this
medical situation
K.M.
Garland High School
2/16/01
My decision would be to turn off the life support machines because it is the patient's
wish. If the patient were to ask the doctor to unplug the life support, the doctor,
no matter whether or not it is for the patients own good, should acknowledge their
wishes. Even though the research may provide a new treatment for cancer, it would
be best to let the woman pass away and continue to experiment with animals to
perfect the technique. The ethical issues are whether or not the doctor should
turn off the life support, and, if the doctor were to unplug the machines, he
would be going against his oath to prolong a patients life as long as possible.
Euthanaisa is a very controversial subject. It deals with many differnt areas
such as religion, morals, and even the love for the patients. However, if it were
up to me, I would have to go along with the woman's wishes and turn off the life
support.
M.N.
Sam Houston High School
2/16/01
If I were her doctor, I would leave it up to the family to decide. I know that
is what she wants in her will, but if i wait an extra two days and she gets better?
I believe its worth the wait. She's not sufferng anything because she is unconsious
right? But if its past a month or so and she is still in the same condition then
I well take her off life support. It is also up to the family to decide.
T.C.
Sam Houston HS
2/16/01
You will have to ask yourself whether you are pro-life or pro-personal request.
It is similar to the question about abortion. I am pro-life in any situation.
She is doing what I believe to be suicide. She would also be helping thousands
of other people with may be cures to the cancer. By enduring a little difficulty,
she will be helping so many people.
2/16/01
To me I would turn off her life support because it's her last wish. As far as
the study goes I would find more patients to continue on with the study. The cancer
is a common form. There are many others patients that have this kind of cancer
and we can do study with new patients. She has experience the pain and her will
to live is gone.
2/16/01
I believe that if the patient had full knowledge of the possibility of the experimental
drug being successful, she would have liked to contribute to the successful outcome.
After all, she wanted to help advance science by offering herself to research.
Would her desire change after 10 days? I believe that she probably signed the
paper with the belief that ten days on life support would coincide with her demise...
not the regression of her tumor and possible recovery from cancer. I say, wait
and see what happens, then after some conclusive results about the therapy are
gathered... let her go.
A.B.L
Sam Houston High School
2/16/01
I think that he should not turn off the machine because it could save her and
that he might find the cure for the disease.Even though it is her will to turn
off the machine, it is more important to save her life.
N.N.
SHHS
2/16/01
I think yall should pull the plug on her. she wanted it in her will because she
doesnt want to go through with it any longer. it's her life so yall should respect
it. it was her last wish so respect it and do everything nescessary to to give
her what she wants. that is my opinion.
T.N.
2/16/01
Well first and foremost, I would not stop the experiments. Yes, it is great that
the tumor is regressing, but even though she was hospitalized, KEEP HER ALIVE!!!
When and hopefully when she gets better, analyze the findings and get ready to
receive your Nobel Prize! Now, she did say to turn off all life supporting machines,
but, we don't know what kind of cancer she had or what stage of the advanced cancer
she is in that could have led to the hospitalization by itself. Maybe, because
of the cancer, that is why she had cardiac arrest. Another thing to definitely
do is to conduct this experiment on many other patients who are in the early stages
of the tumor. Then should the same effect occur that leaves the patient hospitalized,
either terminate the project, or suspend it for a period of time until you can
find out what exactly should be done to cure the tumor without these hazardous
effects.
S.
Sam Houston
2/16/01
When the woman agreed to be the first test in your experiment the doctor must
of been aware of the woman's living will. If the doctor was aware of her living
will, that means he agreed that all machines would be turned off. In this case
you would have to respect the woman's wish. If you don't turn off the machines
and the woman lives, I think she would be very thankful but angry at the same
time. She would be angry that you didn't do what she told you to do. The doctor
could then get into trouble with the court if she sew him, so if I was the doctor
I would find another patient and say good-bye to the woman.
EG,Jr
SAM HOUSTON HIGH SCHOOL
2/15/01
Since one of my ultimate goal in life is to become an oncologist, I believe this
'pretend' situation could make me begin to think about choices in life. To practice
euthanasia, or not to practice euthanasia...that is the ultimate question. Right
now it is naive of me to answer this question with the ultimate truths since my
lack of experience with patients. I will answer with the best of my judgement
and knowledge. I belive I should consider all aspects of my action since there
is no turning back. I will interview the family, and see their relation with the
patient and their opinion on euthanasia. If there is a chance where I am able
to revive her, I will give the family a statistic, if not I will be truthful.
Another prospect to consider is what and how the patient requested while asking
for the procedure. Basically, my considerations are chance for patient to revival,
opinion of family, and also patient's words. In the future as I get into the Medical
Field, I will put more thoughts into this issue. In the end I know that God will
give me a clear mind to make the unregretable correct decision.
LC
JJ Pearce
2/15/01
I believe that the life supporting machines should be turned off. I believe this
because it was her will. The will of the patient must always be considered before
a doctor can perform a certain act. Even if one cane learn a vast amount from
the experimental therapy given to the woman, her will must come first. According
to law, patients have the personal right to decide whether to institute, continue
or terminate such treatment. As long as a patient is mentally competent, he or
she can be consulted about desired treatment. When a patient has lost the capacity
to communicate, however, the situation is different. But in this case the patient
cleary stated her choice, therefore the physician must take her off life support.
In the state of New York, there is a law that requires clear and convincing evidence
of what the patient would want. The woman in this issue wrote out a "living will,"
which is very clear on what she wants. The life support must be turned off.
J.F.
2/15/01
Euthanasia is one of the most difficult issue being debated in our time. Mercy
killing questions our ethical and moral beliefs- one in which not everyone can
agree upon. In this case, the 40 year old woman should have the right to die.
If it were her will that the health care workers unplug all machines after ten
days of unconsciousness, then so be it. I am, however, against euthanasia. I feel
it is morally wrong for any health care providers to let their patients die while
under their care. Even though religion should be left out in this debate, I strongly
feel that a person's life should only be taken away by God and no one else. Also,
if the woman was willing enough to risk her life for the experiment, then I feel
that she should allow the experiment to finish before unplugging the machines.
2/15/01
The main ethical issue is that the lady specifically stated that she did not want
to live off of life support , therefore the machines should be turned off because
a living will is a legal document and should be followed as written.
A.R.
SHHS
2/15/01
in this case i believe that the switch for life support should be cut off. this
is because it would take many more human "guinea pigs" so this one person would
just be a drop in the bucket of further research neede. plus this person mase
a conciouse deciscion to have the switch cut off after 10 days.
g.c.
lake highlands freshman center
2/15/01
If I were the oncologist in this situation, I would turn off the machine. The
patient requested that if she was unconscious after 10 days and on life support,
that she be taken off. If she were to stay on life support and come back to being
conscious, she could be upset that you didn't go with her wishes and take her
off. It is a hard situtation to be put in for any doctor. I would respect her
wishes even though it was making the tumor decrease, but what happens if she wakes
up after 11 days amd suffers another cardiac arrest and has to go through this
cycle again. It would be best to take her off and obey her wishes then to go along
with the experimental drug and let it eat away at her body. I think it is or should
be against the law to go against someone's dying wishes when they wrote it out
for a doctor to follow their speific directions. The patient trusts the doctor
to turn off the machine. If and when the patient wakes up, her health will probably
not improve. I would definatley take the paient off life support, following her
wishes and remembering that the drug deteriorated her overall health, and it probably
won't get any better.
S.F.
Argyle HS.
2/15/01
You should turn off the life supporting machines and allow her to die. Using an
individual as a means to continue experimental research does not justify ignoring
the patient's rights and especially their last request. The heart problems could
even have been caused by the experimental drug; an aspect that could be investigated
post-mortem. If the patient is or is not taken off life support, beneficial information
has already been gathered, so why not respect that individual's choice. An ethical
issue involved concerns the "living will" itself. Does the patient have the choice
to refuse treatment after incapacitation occurs or is the doctor's disconnecting
of life support tantamount to assisted suicide? I believe the choice of life when
the patient is facing death should be left to that individual. No one know the
emotional and physical pain the patient is having to deal with as a result of
living. Even without the sympathetic aspect, the question of not disconnecting
is an irresponsible policy because it could leave hundreds alive (but comatose)
for years. This fate is truly repugnant to both the family and the patient. The
experimental value of the treatment is still in question and can be tested at
a latter date, but the respect that a dying person deserves is absolute. The individual
should be allowed to die peacefully. Too often, we get caught up in the sterile
experimental system which necessarily excludes human emotion. By framing this
question in terms of "physician" and "patient" (rhetoric that shapes a neutral,
non-emotional relationship) I believe the same bias has already been imposed on
this question. We should not let that get the best of us, though, by allowing
an illegal and, from post the ten days, immoral experiment to continue.
2/15/01
First of all, the family should be consulted. If the family says it is okay to
keep her on life support, then it is my responsibility as a physician to abide
by the family's wishes. However, if there is no family, the physician must abide
by the patient's wishes and take her off life support.
S.F.
Elkins High School
2/15/01
Students in my Health Science Technology class have agreed that the lady should
be kept on life support to complete the experiement. She agreed in the begining
to the experiement. If the drugs are sucessful then they will help alot of people.
The doctor could possibly find another patient, but he would have to start all
over again. That could take time. The drug could all ready have been on the market
to save other patients. Leave her on the machines.
1st Block Health Science Technology Class
United High School
2/14/01
I think that the only situation in which it might be necessary to turn off the
machines would be if her deteriorating health was caused by the treatment. Otherwise,
it would be important to know the results of the treatment. Even though she made
out her will, she also signed something saying that she wanted to participate
in the experimental program. I think that the biggest ethical question involved
is whether or not anyone has the right to decide if someone else is going to live
or die. Some could also argue on whether or not experimental treatments should
be done on humans at all.
E.T.
Garland High School
2/14/01
If I were a physician, my duty would be to my patient, but as a researcher, I
would want to know the results of my experiment. As I weigh out my options and
responsibilities to my patient and to my research, I believe I would take her
off the life-support machines. Even though leaving her on the machines might prolong
her life long enough for me to find out if my experiment succeeded or not, she
had already made her choice clear in her "living will". It's not my place to play
God and decide whether a person should live or die. There're always more chances
later on for testing out my experiments when I get more volunteers, and maybe
it'll be more successful the next time around.
T.D.H.
Sam Houston HS
2/14/01
I would turn off the machine. this person wanted to die after the aloted time
so i would hold to my promises. any legal instances would be dealt with by the
family the point being that this person wanted this.
j.s.
pierce
2/14/01
I would let her live. She probably didn't know what the treatment would do when
she entered the hospital, plus could come back at any moment. I know it is going
against her wishes, but what if she changed her mind but couldn't tell anybody.
If it were me, I would want to stay on the treatment because you never know how
many lives could be saved with this new treatment. It is possible that she could
regain consciousness once the tumor is gone.
J.H.
Sam Houston HS
2/14/01
I think that they should not shut off the machines as long as they continue to
pay the hospital bill. They should ask the family what they think. It would be
beneficial to a lot of people if they didn't shut off the machines, because they
would discover a new treatment. So as long as the family is okay with the decision
to leave the life support on, then I think that is what they should do.
J.S.
Sam Houston High School
2/14/01
In this case, if I were the doctor, I would turn off the machine in ten days like
my patient requested. I would do that because her failing health could be a result
of a reaction to the medication even though her tumor regressed. It is too late
to put her through a number of tests to prove that because of the fatality of
this cancer. The reason for cardiac arrest is assumed to be unknown, therefore
her wishes should be carried. She may live once the machine is turned off. If
it is her time to die, she will, but because of her failing health, all experiments
should cease to prevent little or no damage to her body.
J.W.
Elkins High School
2/14/01
I think that the life suppport should be turned off and you should let the woman
die in peace because that is what she said in her will. Anyway, you could always
find someone else to try the treatment on.
Joey C.
SHHS
2/14/01
I believe that they should not go against her will since she already stated that
she wanted to be taken off the respirator. They can proceed with their experiment
only if they have the consent of the patient, and since they don't, I do not believe
they have the right to keep her alive just to do experiments on her.
M.C.
J.J. Pearce High School
2/14/01
I believe that the lady should be taken off life support if that was her wish.
In her will she clearly states her wishes. The doctors would have to get a written
consent of some sort in order to perform the experiment. So, if she wants to be
taken off life support after 10 days, then let her.
J.T.
Elkins High School
2/14/01
If I was the doctor, I would take her off life support. This is her request and
she will be out of all pain and sorrow.
R.W.
Elkins High School
2/14/01
Had I been such an oncologist, I believe I would obey the woman's wishes. It is
her life, and should she decide to end it, it's her right, especially if she is
in suffering, or in a comatose state. True, she probably wouldn't know if she
were kept alive, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself, knowing what I did/am
doing to this woman, who made it very clear what she wanted. Ethically, perhaps
some would justify keeping the woman alive, against her wishes, for "the greater
good." After all, she is a perfect test subject, and shows positive results. But
right then and there, by calling her a "test subject," a callousness is conveyed
I would neither expect nor desire in a doctor, who's sole purpose is to help or
comfort. Logically, and from a purely objective viewpoint, the woman may actually
have been harmed by the medication. Although the tumor regressed, her overall
health deteriorated. Aside from the dilemma of letting her die or continuing experiments,
the drug itself should be reexamined very carefully, for any side effects it may
have had on the woman. Had the drug been the cause of the woman's failing health,
the moral conflict would be much easier (in fact, nonexistent).
A.L.
J.J Pearce High School
2/14/01
I believe it is a doctor's duty to do everything he is capable of doing in order
to save a life. If the doctor thinks that the patient has a great opportunity
of recuperating quickly eventhough ten days have passed then the life-supporting
machines should not be turned off. I am certain that she will not be infuriated
on the contrary she will support the doctor for disregarding her "living will"
and saving her life.
S.R.
J.J Pearce High School
2/13/01
There is obviously only one clear solution to this case. While it may be true
that the research would certainly benefit from the prolonged observation of the
tumor, each patient, as a citizen with the right to determine their own end of
life issues through a living will, is the absolute authority on this matter. Some
may argue this stand a selfish decision, as the research would eventually help
prolong survival rates if not cure the actual disease. It is, however, above all,
the patient's decision, one that must be honored at all expenses. It is a travesty
that the research would be halted and it is seems a waste that such a successful
experiment will not have a chance to fully manifest itself, but, once again, it
is the patient, and the patient alone that has the right, ethically and legally,
to end their life.
M.M.
J.J. Pearce High School
2/13/01
The main ethical issue involved here is that you should respect a person's last
wishes. I don't think It is right to sacrifice the patients integrity, and use
unwilling patient as lab rat. In my opinion I believe the patients living will
should be respected. It would be heartless and cruel to let her suffer in order
to improve your knowledge on any specific thing.
R.
SHHS
2/13/01
There are many ethical questions brought up by the cancer patient and her situation.
The main moral concern is if any one individual posesses the right to control
a person's life, after they specifically determined their own futures. In our
situation, the 40-year old woman agreed to be treated. Our tests have reduced
the size of her tumor, but she has taken ill and now is transported to the hospital.
There at the hospital, she slips into a coma, but not before she could make a
specific request of being taken off all life support after ten days. The ten days
pass, but there is not a decision to be made if she should be taken off life support
or to keep her alive for the sake of further research. The determing factor is
that the patient made a specific demand relating her life, after she agreed to
the treatment, and every individual must respect that request. Once again, science
conisistently pushes the envolope of moral ethics, but we should never go so far
as taking control of a life that is not our own.
VAC
SamHouston HS
2/13/01
Since the patient had prepared a "living will", she was aware of the risk in taking
the experimental medicine in the first place and had anticipated for the worst.
It was her request for the life support machines to be turned off after ten days
had she become unconscious, which she did, therefore her request should be honored.
One of the ethical issues involved includes choosing whether or not to override
a patient's request for the benefit of medical research that could help other
patients with the same disease. Even with this considered, the doctor should respect
his patient's will and honor her request.
TNL
Sam Houston High School
2/13/01
I would take her off of life support because even though her tumor regressed,
her health got progressively worse and I would want to fulfill her "living will",
which requested that she be taken off after ten days. Keeping her on life support
would just delay the inevitable and for the sake of the patient and her family,
I would take her off. I would find another patient who would be willing to undergo
the same treatment and start over, hopefully finding out whether or not the treatment
works fully.
A.B.
2/13/01
I think the doctor should do as she requested. He should not have the power
or authority to do as he wishes with her body. She does, however, and since
she requested to be taken off life support after 10 days, then she should be
taken off. No questions.
T.D.
Azle High School
2/13/01
I think that the right thing to do is to respect the woman's wishes. There
is so much that you have to consider. This woman has a written will that legally
states what should happen in her life. I see it as if the woman lives, after
10 days (her wishes) and something goes wrong then the doctors or researchers
may face a lawsuit.
A.C.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
The ethical issues in this scenario involve the concerns of the patient interest
vs. medical research. Even though my research may be progressing, I must respect
my patient's decision to be withdrawn from life support after ten days. If I were
not to respect her decision, I would violate her rights to choose life or death.
The difference between using rats and humans in medical research is that humans
have a right to life.
E.H.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
I think that as an Oncologist I would have the responsibility of respecting the
woman's rights. I believe that this will not affect my research. In researching
a theory, one test is not enough; you need tens if not hundreds of tests before
your experiment can even be accepted much less proven. I would just let the lady
go because for all I know the lady may not be in life support because of the cancer;
it could be for another disease and I would be keeping her against her will
J.A.C.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
I would not stop treatment. I would wait to see what happens with the medicine.
I think that would be better because it could help her to live a better life.
They might find out that the medicine works and it can be used on other people.
H.R.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
Ethical Decisions always create controversy, but a living will is looked at
as a legal document. In my opinion the Oncologist should respect the "living
will and testimony". The woman clearly states that she does not want to
be on life support after 10 days, if she should become unconscious. This is
the last known written wish. Ethically her wish should be adhered to.
S.G.
Lawrence Elkins High School
2/13/01
I think you should cut-off her life support because it was her "living
will" to turn off the machine after ten days . Ethically it is not important
about the drug , but her "will" to or in this case not to live. Ethically
you must cut her off.
J.R.
Lawrence Elkins High School
2/13/01
I believe that a person's God given right is to live and to die. The one thing
she can do within her own right at this point is to decide which way she wants
to end her life. Though the drug may help destroy the tumors of cancer patients,
and it may save many lives in the years to come, her life is the most important
in this situation. She said specifically that after 10 days she would want to
be removed off of life support and her wishes should be respected.
T.T.
Lawrence Elkins High School
2/13/01
My stand on the case is that we should allow her to die. The patient have the
right to chose if she wants to live or die. The issue is the right to chose
vs. the welfare of the majority. the constitution upholds the liberty of the
individual and wars are fought over freedom of choice. But if we contradict
our actions and ignore this patient's will, then we'll be using her as a lab
rat.
V.G.
J.J. Pearce High School
2/13/01
I would like to start off by stating that before any doctor can begin their career
or profession and treat people they have to take an oath or vow to take care of
their patients and rescue them the most paramount way as possible in the time
of need. But if they are wished to discontinue their effort under the terms of
a living will, which is consider a legal document. Then evidentally the doctor
would have to go through with the procedure and their patient would have to die
as their wish.
TV
2/13/01
When a person goes through the process of writing a "living will" it
should be honored. Although keeping this patient on machines that will keep her
alive physically, and it may help other people, by law she should have her will
respected. If they are adamant the treatment will work, they should find another
patient who is will to stay on life support.
M.G.
Elkins
2/13/01
I honestly feel the doctor should fulfill the woman's last wishes and let her
die. I understand the doctors desires to see if the treatment worked on the tumor,
but they have to do what she asked, it's just the right thing to do.
K.S.
Elkins
2/13/01
The way I feel about the situation is that I feel that the doctors should take
her off life support. There may be a certain reason why she wants all machines
to be turned off. There is no reason why the doctors should try and be heroes.
They may end up being a problem if they don't grant wishes.
M.K.
Elkins
2/13/01
I think that they should respect the woman's decision, but I can understand why
the doctors want to continue life support. Finding a cure for tumors is an ethical
thing, but they should do tests on other patients, rather then a patient that
does not wish to continue the life support.
S.C.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
I feel that the doctor should always respect the client's wishes. If the doctor
does not follow those wishes, the family will probably respond with legal force.
J.P.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
I believe that this particular patient should be kept on life support to be
able to see the results of the treatment. So far the tumor has reduced its size
gradually and doctors should keep up the treatment to record any significant
changes that may help others in the future.
A.R.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
I would take the women off life support because that what she asked. You can
always get another new subject to use the experimental treatment on. It would
not be right to keep her on life support for more than 10 days. If that's what
she asked for than so be it.
J.B.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
If I had a patient with advanced cancer I would not turn the life supporting machine
off. I would like to go through with the treatment that I am using. I would like
to see if it will succeed or fail so I would know how to improve this treatment
to make other patients well. I would like to save my patients lives before pulling
the plug.
J.B.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
If I were an oncologist, I would honor the rights of the patient and remove her
from life-support after ten days. If she made a living will before becoming unconscious,
it would be very unethical to ignore her wishes. After allowing her to die, I
would perform the experimental therapy on another cancer-stricken patient and
watch for progress. Should the next "test patient" undergo cardiac arrest
or deteriorating health, I would conclude that the experimental treatment is too
dangerous to be used on
humans.
T.H.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
I would keep her alive long enough to see if the cancer regressed fully. If in
this period of time she was to awaken, I would explain to her why I kept her on
life support. I would help her recover, but if she was to become unconscious,
I would let her die, if she asked me too.
J.G.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
If I was an oncologist and I received a patient who wanted to be the first
to help me with a new experimental treatment program, I would try to do my best
to help her so that I may also help many other people. While treating this patient
she begins to have a regression of the tumor. I send her to the hospital and
she suffers cardiac arrest. She is in need for life-support. The woman has prepared
a "living-will" and the ten days pass. I have decided that I would
like to continue life support long enough to learn if the experimental therapy
can completely destroy her tumor. Immediately, I would call the family and discuss
with them her situation. I would explain to them that if I continue life support
there may be a way to treat cancer. By her wishes, I would pull the plug, unless
the family decides otherwise and allows me to continue this experience.
R.S.
Elkins High School
2/13/01
I believe that since it was her dying "will" that she have the machine turned
off after 10 days...then the researchers should respect that. She has not only
put her life on the line by giving herself to this research, but has also made
an understandable, and reasonable, attempt to help save others as well. For
that very reason should be the reason that the doctors and researchers turn
off her machine after 10 days no matter what the circumstances.
M.H.
Nimitz High School
2/12/01
My stand on the case is that we should allow her to die. The
patient have the right to chose if she wants to live or die. The
issue is the right to chose vs. the welfare of the majority. the
constitution upholds the liberty of the individual and wars are
fought over freedom of choice. But if we contradict our actions
and ignore this patient's will, then we'll be using her as a lab
rat.
V.G.
J.J. Pearce High School
2/12/01
Would you pull the plug on someone that is about to die or
would you keep them on life support? I would pull the plug because
you wouldn't want to see one of your loved ones or you would want
yourself to suffer like that.
K.T.
Allen High School
2/12/01
I would like to start off by stating that before any doctor
can begin their career or profession and treat people they have
to take an oath or vow to take care of their patients and rescue
them the most paramount way as possible in the time of need. But
if they are wished to discontinue their effort under the terms
of a living will, which is consider a legal document. Then evidentally
the doctor would have to go through with the procedure and their
patient would have to die as their wish.
TV
2/12/01
I think no one person should have the right to decide when
and how a person should die. In medical aspects, a doctor could
continue the treatment and see if it worked but it would be against
the law. A living will is a legal contract that that person signed
and has to be obeyed. A doctor has no right to go against a patient
that stated she wanted to be disconnected ten days after being
on life support. I think keeping the machines on would be wrong
in many ways. One the other hand, the humane thing would be to
honor the patient's wishes. If I were a doctor, I would turn the
machines off, no questions asked. Just because that patient wanted
the machines turned off doesn't mean that another person will.
I'm sure some more people will come along and want to try the
same treatment, why risk doing something wrong when you can just
try it another time. The right thing to do is to turn the machines
off and respect that persons wishes.
K.
Sam Houston High School
2/12/01
There are many factors to consider in this case. But, perhaps
the most important is whether or not the patient's sudden deterioration
in health, and ultimately, cardiac arrest was caused by the experimental
drug? Let's say the drug did cause the patients sudden decline
in health. We already know that the drug caused her tumor to regress.
There is no dispute about that. But, is the regression really
worth the pain of physical deterioration, caused by the drug?
We must first take into consideration that this patient was already
in the advanced stages of a fatal cancer. Most of her body was
already weak from the spreading cancer and increasing treatments.
She came into this experiment looking for a last hope, one that
could still save her life. It really is no surprise that she went
into cardiac arrest, considering her initially frail disposition.
I think that the subject in this case is not the most "statistically
reliable." considering her previous conditions. Cancer at
such a late stage usually kills no matter what. Now, putting that
all aside, all this leads up to whether or not the doctor should
"pull the chord." There really isn't anything he can
do about it. Say, he were to wait until the tumor was completely
destroyed, which say, took 15 days. What would he do after that,
cut off all life support and risk a law suit? You see, the patient
has a living will that specifically says that she wants all life
support to be cutt off after 10 days. To me, if the doctor were
to keep her alive, it would seem as if he were using her situation
and ignoring her rights and opinions just to see his drug "go
through." The patient also has rights that must be respected.and
since this is a case where the patient herself has specifically
noted that she wants all life support to be cut, the only thing
the doctor can do is respect that wish. Now, if the patient had
gone into a comatose and had not been able to say anything before,
then the case would be very d I know that I would want to see
the patient recover from her tumor. And when it comes down to
wheter or not the doctor should "cut the chord" my opinion
is that he should wait. I know if I were his patient, I would
want a chance to live if the tumor was regressing. But looking
at this case from a strictly objective point of view, the frank
truth is that the doctor cannot do anything about it and must
cut off all life support in order to respect the patient's wishes.
A.V.
Dunbar High School
2/12/01
I think that as the doctor, I would not allow her to die, because
it is wrong that a person should choose to die. True, her conditions
aren't improving, but they haven't worsened, and her tumor is
continuing to regress. She might come to consciousness in 12 days,
or 2 weeks. Besides, from the medical standpoint, the experiment
is working. Would she want to terminate all the work that you
and other doctors have done just so she can die earlier? That
doesn't sound reasonable.
J.Z.
Pearce High School
2/12/01
The patient specifically requested a written "living will"
expressing her desire to discontinue life support after ten days.
We must all show considerations for her decision, even at the
expense of not being able to complete the experimental therapy.
There are several other cancer patients out there who are willing
to try new treatments. Why not use them and respect the wish of
a dying woman?
H.P.
Sam Houston HS
2/11/01
Technicly her will should be followed and the life support
systems be turned off. Personaly, the treatment could be the cause
of the unconcious state therefore the treament should be complete
and once discontinued monitor to see if there is a change in her
condition. If no change in her condition appears then discontinue
life support. Though the damage caused by the treatment could
be irreversable therefore the treatment should be discontinued
immediatly and see if her condition changes.
2/11/01
If I was the Oncologist in that situation, I will choose to
continue her life support long enough to learn if the experimental
therapy can completely destroy her tumor because if the experimental
therapy does work, then there would be an astonishing medical
breakthrough which can save many peoples lives. I understand that
the patient in the situation has already prepared a "living
will" to turn off all machines after 10 days, but if we do
continue to proceed with the experiment, there will be a great
possibility to find a cure to destroy tumors which can save many
other patients in the same situation.
C.W.
Sam Houston High School
2/11/01
The situation for me(the oncologist) is a simple yet difficult
one. It is simple in the fact that the will clearly states that
after the 10 days have passed, all machines should be turned off.
Yet I realize that if I wait a little longer, I can see if my
experiment has turned out to be a success. The ethical issue involved
is a big one. Clearly, this a matter of personal gain at the probable
sufferage of another. Thus it would be wrong if the machines would
still be going on after the limit my voluntary patient issued
upon me. Plus, just because the tumor would be gone doesnt mean
that the illness and problems the patient is suffering would be
gone as well. I cant betray a patient that trusted me to some
extent just for my own gain to see if my experiment turned out
well. Thus, I would respect my patient's wishes and turn the life-support
off and let her die. The fact that even though the tumor improves
but her overall health still remains terrible only supports my
opinion, because even though I feel I am getting somewhere, my
patient certainly doesn't feel the same. Additionally, it should
be noted that the decision for me to or not to turn off the life
support is not neccessarily mine. It may be the hospital's, relatives,
or the law's based on the living will. Then, the situation would
be out of my hands.
A.D.A.
P.L. Dunbar High
2/10/01
I would definitely do as the patient says since it is against
her wishes to not turn off all machines. What are the chances
she is gonna improve after 10 days of unconsciousness? If I waited
because her tumor was regressing and finally gets destroyed, chances
of her dying from something else was great because her overall
condition never improved. By all means, it is her life
and what she choose to do with it is up to her.
C.T.
Sam Houston HS
2/9/01
In this particular scenario, I am an oncologist treating a
woman with an experimental treatment program. My main objective
is to find a cure for her type of cancer, but my duty is to protect
the people, mind, body, heart and soul. If my treatment reduced
her health to where she wanted to be taken off of life support,
I would respect her wishes. For the woman, to have a treatment
for her cancer not work would be devestating and to have her doctor
not respect her decisions after she could no longer care for herself
would be even worse. My role as a doctor is to help the people,
even if it is just one. If the treatment shows that it can do
prospective good if it is modified a little bit then I can always
try it out on other willing volunteers. The ethical issues involved
are whether or not i continue the treatment or respect the patients
wishes. If I continue the treatment, I could find something that
would revolutioniz
A.J.
J.J. Pearce
2/9/01
Despite the desperate need for progression in health care,
a human life is too delicate to "toy" with. Dead or
alive, or on the verge of death, a patient's life is too significant
to ever be violated. Ethnical and moral values of the doctors
are especially important in the absence of the patients knowledge
or when a patient is too ill to speak for theirself. If the terms
of the contract did not thoroughly explain that she would be treated
at this stage of her illness, she should be taken off of life
support as soon as her condition gets worse. The patient's health
should be the main priority in this case, even though we are looking
for a cure to the cancer. The essence of a human life is too precious
to be sacrificed, even for a medical break through.
O.A.
Dale Jackson Career Center
2/9/01
I think that the woman's dying wish should be fulfilled. If
she wanted the machine cut off in ten days then it should be shut
off. There is no difference just because she isn't reponding.
She should still be respected as if she was alive and well. The
scientific experiment can be continued on someone else. There
are many people that have cancer and can be just as good patients
as she was. If she knew that the experiment was working she probably
wouldn't have said to cut life support off but she didn't know.
The scientist should have communicated with her. Therefore I say
that the woman should have her wish fulfilled and the life support
cut off. Just making the tumor disappear will not make the woman
live. The cancer is disapearing now and her condition is no better.
The scientist needs to find an experiment in which the tumor can
be destroyed while the patient gets better. I just don't see the
significance if he can't of his experiment. It needs to help her
not make a lab rat out of her.
2/9/01
I believe that if it was me that I would go against her orders
and keep her on the machines to further my tests. I say this because
if the tumor was getting smaller then if it goes away completely
then I would have a way to save a lot of others lives by this
testing. I would also keep her on the machines because she has
a fatal form of cancer and is going to die soon anyways. Even
though she would want us to turn off the machines, I think that
she would be happy beacause we are taking her body to do the testing
and if it works she would be very happy that she volunteered because
she helped us save others lives in this way.
Cvm
Sam Houston High School
2/9/01
In my opinion I think that you should futher your studies to
see how it is going to turn out. By doing this you you may have
a chance to save many others lives. In all good experiment you
have to use a Ginny Pig and this woman agreed to go through with
the proceedure. Even though she said she wanted to be taken off
the life support after 10 days, she agreed to help with the experiment.
Thats why i think you should keep on studying.
C.A.W
sam houston high
2/9/01
The two conflicting issues are whether to honor the patient's
wishes or defy her wants in the name of saving other lives. On
one hand, the woman might have strong beliefs, either moral, religious,
or otherwise, about not being kept on life-support. For whatever
reason it was obviously important enough for her to specifically
request to be taken off life-support. On the other hand, she is
basically already dead and keeping her on the machines will not
affect her (she's not going to know the difference). She never
gave a reason why she wants to be taken off the machines, and
when she made the request she may not have been aware of the importance
of the experiment's results. Plus, if the treatment works many
other lives could be saved. Yet, no matter how beneficial it would
be to the scientific community and other cancer sufferers, the
woman made the request and it should be honored. The scientist
should find another patient to test his drug on, one more willing
to put the lives of others before their dislike of life-support
machines.
K.S.
JJ Pearce High School
2/9/01
In my opinion, if she had a living will where she wanted to
turn the machines off after 10 days of her unconsciousness and
let her die...I think they should respect her and do what she
has requested so she can die happy and they wouldn't have to worry
about fulfilling her will if they just do what she says....even
though she might have wanted them to continue the research and
find the cure,she didn't state it in her living will that she
wanted them to continue the research. Therefore, they should try
the new experiment on another patient with a similar case of the
cancer who agrees to go through it because she might have not
even wanted to go through the treatment anymore after her death
because shes already gone through too much and she doesn't want
to go through anymore.
2/9/01
I would turn off the life supporting machine. Although, others
would disagree with it, it's what I would do. I'm sure the patient
would have wanted you to continue your study 'cuz she risked her
life for your experiment. But since that specific type of situation
had not been discussed, I think the right choice to make would
be to turn it off. 'Cuz it was her wishes and you should respect
them as a thank you for her contribution to your studies. You
shouldn't assume that she would have wanted you to continue with
it. Even though you really think you know what she would've wanted,
you shouldn't assume 'cuz all it does is reflect a selfish part
of you. I'm sure a new patient will be able to continue the experiment.
So, I would just do what they asked.
M.R.V.A.
Fossil Ridge High School
2/8/01
It seems to me that there are many questions concerned about
ethics. First of all, there was a will, asking for the machines
to be turned off. You should respect what the person has asked
for. They may feel as though living off machines is already death
in itself. Then againt the other side to this question is that
if she is kept alive and her progress is monitered the life of
many others could be saved from the act of one person. The ethics
behind such a case is hard to decide. Do you honor the will of
one or the will of many? I don't think that question can ever
fully be answered. After all many lives are at stake.
2/8/01
I believe the woman , in this scenario , should be kept on
life support , despite her wishing to be taken off. I feel , if
such a situation were to arise , the chance of a cancer treatment
being found is of upmost importance. She did agree to do the study
, and that would make a person infer that she deeply cared to
have a cure found. Dont get me wrong now , I respect the life
concerning decisions made by dieing people. And I know people
in these situations understand what is going on , but an unconcious
person is hardly aware of the miracles being worked by the treatment.
If they knew their cancer could be cured and be returned to full
physical health , it is more than likely that they would be willing
to endure a journey to recovery , no matter how interminable it
may be. The prudent decision would be save her life so the study
has the chance to save thousands , possibly millions of lives.
If scientists ever want to find a cure , they will have to give
experiments a chance to be lucrative , or forever head a forlorn
study. To deny this type of oppurtunity would even further exacerbate
the hopes of other cancer patients being cured. And I think (and
everyone else thinks) that it would take a complete misanthrope
to refuse the chance to save thousands of humans.
P
Fossil Ridge H.S
2/8/01
I think they should turn off the machine and let her die b/c
that is what she stated she wanted in the first place. There will
be other cases to try the expiriment and the dr. already has some
knowledge that the treatment can work. Let her die.
2/8/01
I believe that yes, it is in a way wrong to keep her on life
support when it is against her wishes, but there are more reasons
to keep her on life support than let her die. First of all, if
you could save her life while treating the cancer, she might possibly
be able to get off life support if she was cured and became conscious
again. Secondly, the woman already said she would allow experimentation
on her cancer, so the doctor should still be allowed to proceed
with his experiment. Thirdly, if they took her off life support,
she would die anyway, so why not try to find a cure for cancer,
and maybe be able to save millions of lives? If she was still
conscious and was able to make decisions, but knew she was going
to become unconscious and still have her tumor regress, she would
probably allow the experiment to continue. Therefore, I would
continue life support long enough to learn if the experiment therapy
can completely destroy her tumor. I would also check to make sure
that the treatment therapy was not what made her unconscious in
the first place.
E.W.
Argyle High School
2/8/01
In no way should you keep her on life support to see if the
treatment works. First of all it goes against all morals in the
fact that you are playin god in going against her wishes just
for your medical experiment. Thats great if you could of found
a cure if you kept her on life support, but its just wrong. Second
you are goign against her right to die when she wants to. She
goes ahead and signs this thing and yet she is kept alive. And
also in no way is she your property. It would go against all morals
of a human. If you did keep her alive against her will you wuold
be slaped by somemany laws suits it wouldn't be funny.
B.M.
Fossil Ridge High School
2/8/01
If I were in the situation proposed in the "Interactive
Case for February-March 2001", I would have a very difficult
decision to make. I believe that if I thought that it would be
possible for the patient to regain consciousness once her tumor
were destroyed, I would continue the treatment in that hope. If
it were clear to me that my patient would continue to need life-support
even if her tumor were destroyed, I would obey the patient's wishes
and turn off the machines. In other words, the only reason I would
disobey the patient's wishes, would be if I believe the patient
might regain conciousness with further treatment.
M.F.
J. J. Pearce High School.
2/8/01
The ethical issue that is raised by such a controversial case
is one of the quality of life of the woman versus the sanctity
of life of the potential beneficiaries of the experiment. The
life support machines ought to be turned off because the woman
was a coherent, competent, autonomous agent when she made her
decision. To deny her request, in fact mandate, to remove her
from life support would trivialize the concept of free will. Granted,
the medical break throughs have a potential benefit to the rest
of society, but there are several problems with this justification.
First, just as society is generally not allowed to tread on individual
rights when we are conscious, they ought not be allowed to when
we are unconscious. Next, other volunteers can be injected with
the medication and be studied, the woman in question is not the
end all be all of the study of cancer. Finally, there is a large
potential that the correlation between the administered drug and
the debilitation of the woman's physical state of affairs is very
high.
E.A.
Garland High School
2/7/01
I think this ethics case is very interesting. I do think that
this could actually have happened many times before. To me there
are many choices that you could choose to make. First I feel that
you should respect this woman's wishes by letting her go. This
is a major ethics problem because your heart tells you that this
is what she wanted but you think to yourself that if we waited
longer maybe you could save many others. Second, if you do let
her live on life support after the time she wanted to be taken
off you could save many like I said but you could also be able
to see where you went wrong if it didn't work. All the work you
had done would have gone down the drain. To let this woman die
would have you loose all chances of finding a cure until a later
date. Third, you might consult the family of this woman and see
how they would like you to handle it for they may swing either
of the two ways. Personally I think this would be a hard decision
for me to make for a life is in your hands and maybe even many
lives. I think I might consult those closest to her and see what
they think she would want done even though she said in the living
will she wanted to die. If I were the woman's kin I would suggest
that they continue with the process because this one life could
help many suffers like her. I don't know how i would really handle
that situation.
C.D.
Fossil Ridge High School
2/7/01
My response to this is as followed I believe as a human being
you should respect the patients wishes. But also you should try
to find out as much as you can about the project. This is a tough
decision to make. I would have to go ahead with the patients request.
You already have see progress in the treatment so I would take
what I had gathered and move on. The gift of life and people is
more important than any project.
J.J.
2/7/01
In the case of the forty year old woman with cancer, the oncologist
would have to heavily weigh whether to respect her wishes or to
keep her alive for science. If I was the oncologist performing
this research, I would feel obligated to respect her wishes and
let her go. Then I would go back to work and try to find the flaw
that caused her health to deteriorate. But then I would still
not know the new treatment's full capabilities. On the other hand
because of the millions it could save, if her family gave permission
to allow her to stay on life support until I saw the full effects
of the treatment on the tumor, I would be okay with keeping her
alive.
2/7/01
I think that if the woman's wishes were known that they should
be respected. If she did not want to be left on life support,
you should not leave her on it. If you wanted to continue tests
while she was on life support, you should have gotten her consent
to do so before she was in that position.
MHS
2/7/01
I think that I should follow the patient's wishes. She had
obviously thought that something could happen and had written
her living will. She said that she wanted to be taken off life
support after 10 days, and that's what should be done. It was
her decision, and it isn't our right to disregard it and do what
we want. If she had said that it was okay before she got sick
it would've been different, and continuing the experiment would've
been fine. As the situation is, though, I don't think that I have
the right to make a decision that goes against her will.
E.C.
MHS
2/7/01
As a physician I have the responsibility to do what is best
for my patients. My patient in this case agreed to be the first
subject in my new experimental treatment program. Before she began
the treatment her cancer was already advanced. The patient told
me if after ten days she becomes unconscious and requires life
support she wants all machines to be terminated. Since ten days
have passed, it would be ethical for me to disconnect all machines.
The next time I try this experiment, I will possibly try to find
someone whose cancer is not as advanced, so I can see if it completely
destroys the tumor.
N.J.
Elkins High School
2/7/01
In this dilemma, there are several factors to be considered.
The patient agreed to participate in the study knowing that there
is a possibility of various risks. It is undetermined though,
if the patient's deterioration is due to the experimental treatment,
her cancer, or other outside risk factors. Although the treatment
seems to be reducing the tumor, it could also be causing the patient's
health to decline. Since the patient made a living will that stated
she did not want to be on life support, it is ethically and lawfully
wrong to disobey her orders. Even though this treatment could
be a possible cure, it would be best to follow through with her
wishes and terminate life support. The oncologist could find another
patient to try the experimental treatment on, which would also
help determine if the treatment causes the complications seen
in the first patient.
J.M.
Elkins High School
2/7/01
This case causes a lot of issues to consider. Hopefully, the
tumor would disappear before her ten day period has ended. Knowing
that this is unlikely, choices have to be made. For the doctor,
the main ethical issue is the patient's desire to turn off the
life support after ten days. It is not the doctor's fault for
him or her wanting to wait and see the result of the tumor because
it is human nature for anyone to want to see their experiment
done to the fullest, especially when t is going well. However,
in this case it goes against the patient's desire, which deals
with the Code of Ethics. The Code of Ethics clearly states that
"a professional must respect the rights of each client."
Keeping all moral and ethical issues forward, the professional
should put his or her personal choices aside and do what the patient
requests, turn off the life support. Our world has a lot of disease
and cancer, and awaits the right treatments; however, every human
being has his or her own rights and society has plenty of time
for
experimentation and progress.
A.D.
Elkins High School
2/7/01
I would first examine my patient to see that, although the
tumor is shrinking, the treatment could be causing her physical
deterioration. If her deterioration is not caused by the treatment,
I would then look to see if my patient had a good chance of recovery
from life support and then weigh the consequences. The woman wanted
to be taken off of life support, I believe, in the case that she
would be a vegetable. If I see that she can recover, I would keep
her on life support and contact her family and hear their wishes.
If she is to be a vegetable, I would take her off life support.
R.W.
Elkins High School
2/7/01
Since the woman signed a will saying that after 10 days, if
she was connected to any machines that she would like them all
turned off, I think that her wish should be carried out. The tumor
has regressed but her health is still deteriorating. If she wanted
to change her will, she had 9 - 10 days to do it. Therefore, I
am assuming that regardless of what took place or have taken place,
she would still like to end her life if on life support.
Elkins High School
2/6/01
Since this is not a case about legal matters but a case of
ethical matters I am not concerned with the legal matters of living
wills and/or an appointment of a health care agent (the two main
choices in the U.S., 46 states including Texas, permit both).
The decision, for me would be heart wrenching. For as much as
I'd like to honor a dying woman's rights and wishes, I would also
like to think that she would understand the major role she plays
in this great development, no matter what the outcome may be she'd
be very instrumental to prove or disprove this. I would wait until
the experimental therapy can completely demolish the tumor. Before
that, perhaps to relieve some of the guilt off myself I would
contact the family and query them about their wishes and perhaps,
if needed, change their opinions by arguing my points. The points
being that, first off, she may save many lives and maybe even
her own. If she was willing to participate, it can be assumed
that she had a will to get better, not to die and that should
be the first priority. If the experiment did not work, then that
would save the trouble of getting some other patient to participate
and perhaps, in turn die because the treatment would also not
work for them. The first patient would be dying anyway, whether
it be at the 10 day mark or at the end of the treatment when results
are yielded. Since the patient is in a state of unconsciousness
she cannot suffer. But things done are easier said, for it is
easier to fight for principles than live up to them.
E.V.
2/6/01
In this particular case, there are two main issues involved.
First, does the oncologist respect the patients wish to be taken
off of life support? or does the oncologist continue this medical
research that could prove life-saving to many millions of people
around the world. If he goes with his patients wish, then revolutionary
research might end up as garbage. But should he choose to continue
his research, he is totally defying his patients wishes. I strongly
believe that in this situation, the doctor must respect the wishes
of his dying patient. Although a massive historic breakthrough
might be eminent, the oncologist has a moral obligation to
respect his/her patients decision...even if that wish be not being
revived. The Hippocratic oath taken by doctors states that they
will, to the best of their ability, make their patients comfortable
and it is this oath that this oncologist must abide by. On the
brighter side of things, there is bound to be other patients like
this 40 year old woman who would be more that happy to take place
in research like this.
N.A.A.
PL Dunbar HSEP
2/6/01
In my opinion I do think that the oncologist should pull the
plug on the woman's life support. I know it was her wish to have
the life- support turned off after only ten days, but if they
kept it on to see if the tumor recessed into nothing, they could
potentionally learn things that help so many millions of other
people. It is unethical to not do what she wanted though since
it was in her living-will. This one is a hard question to answer.
C.J.C.
FRHS
2/6/01
I think that they should keep the treatment going because if
it could get rid of the tumor completely then you could save tons
of lives. Yet if her condition gets worse then they should try
to save her life and if that's not possible, then remove the life
support and let her go like she said she wanted after 10 days.
K.J.
Fossil Ridge HS
2/6/01
The ethical issues simple, either respecting a women's written
wish or finishing medical research that may save 1,000's of lives
later on. If this were my desision wether or not to leave this
women on life support I would respect her wishes and take her
off life support. Still, with the information and data I have
recorded, restarte the experiment on a new willing human.
M.L.
Fossil Ridge High School
2/6/01
I believe that I would keep the woman alive to continue the
testing even though it was against her wishes. It could possibly
save many lives even though it couldn't save hers.
C.P.
J.J. pearce Highschool.
2/6/01
In my opinion I believe that we should continue life support,
because even though we lose one life, if the treatment works we
would be able to save many lives. Not only that we may even be
able to find out if it was the treatment that caused her heart
to stop, but after that if she gets better continue the life support
if not then cut it.
DN
Mansfield Highschool
2/6/01
I think that since the patient had a living will you as the
doctor should uphold that. Advancements should not be made at
the expense of the patient. If the patint incicated the she wanted
to be removed from life support after a certain time, then she
should be able to do so. Certain patients that want to take part
in the study would not sign a living will. As the doctor you should
have the knowledge and thinkfulness to respect those peoples wishes
and that of their family
A.K.
Alvin High School
2/5/01
I think that it is the doctors responsibility to honor the
patients wishes to have life support turned off after 10 days.
However the scientific data that would be recieved is priceless,
in my opinion the doctor should contact the family of the patient
and explain the situation that they are involved in. Then if given
the chance to procede with treatment, the family would know that
they helped hundreds of cancer patients live a happier life.
2/5/01
I think it is only fair to give the dying woman her last "wish."
She was obviously prepared to die, and didn't want to stick around
being supported by a machine. She was willing to have the treatment
done, but i really think that since she was allowing you (me)
to experiment with her, that we should take her off life support
as a "thank you" for her generosity.
T.A.
Fossil Ridge High School
2/5/01
I think you should do what she wanted you to do in her will.
You can already tell that the treatment works effectively, but
it kills the patient in the end. Therefore, I think that the doctor
should keep on trying to find the treatment that will cure the
cancer and keep the person's health well. But, before you do that,
i would test the original treatment once more so you can see if
it was just that patient that was dying on her own, or if the
treatment will kill all the patients in the end.
MH
Lake Highlands Freshmen Center
2/5/01
After ten days on life support, I would honor the patients
request to not continue the machines. Medical research for a cure
to cancer takes years of experimenting and hundreds of thousands
of cancer patients. To keep this lady alive for the start of a
long study against her will is wrong, and oncologists can find
numerous amounts of patients that are willing to stay alive and
sacrifice themselves for scientific research.
J.E.
Lake Highlands Freshmen Center
2/5/01
I totally think that the machines should be turned off. It
doesn't matter if the experiment is completed or not it was her
wish that she not be kept in a vegetative state. It does not do
any good for her even if her cancer is regressing. she will only
live by the machines. Not being able to enjoy life, or any of
the perks there to it. So do as she asks, turn off the machines.
You can try the experiment again. Don't prolong a life that will
have no value to it for and experiment that can be done again
on other people. People who can tell you how they feel when on
the medicine, rather that some that can't.
A.B.
Fossil Ridge H.S.
2/5/01
I believe that you should turn the machine off. Although the
regression of the tumor may have been related to the treatment,
there is no evidence that something else did not cause it. The
patient's last wishes should be respected, as should those of
her family. It would be awful for me to see my mother being worked
on as if she was some science project when she had requested the
machines be turned off. Human beings should never be treated as
a case, they should be treated as a person. Although she offered
herself to the study, she is still a person, and she still has
a family, and their grief would be enough without the added stress
of scientists poking and prodding at the person they love. It
is unethical to use a person's body for experiments after they
are dead. She never consented to have her body used for study,
so it should not be. Although the study could lead to a breakthrough,
it also proved that if the treatment was the cause, it deteriorated
the overall health of a person. She basically gave her life for
the experiment, and she should be respected in her death.
A. S.
Fossil Ridge High School
2/5/01
I feel that the right choice in this ethical question has a
simple answer. Take the woman off of life support. If the doctor
wants to experiment he should do it on a patient that knows what
is going on and who wishes experiments to be done on them. Furthermore,
if someone is going to blatantly disobey a persons will they should
have to same courtesy bestowed upon them. I hope the doctor does
take her off of the life support.
A.T.
Mansfield High
2/5/01
If I were treating this patient my overall decision would have
to depend on the patient's thoughts, the family's thoughts and
what the doctor thinks the best outcome for the patient would
be. In this case, since she went into cardiac arrest, I would
think that it did not have much to do with the cancer. Even though
her tumor regresses her heart and lungs seems like they are deteriorating.
I believe that her unconsciousness has nothing to do with the
tumor, it has more to do with her cardiac arrest. Her body is
tired
of holding on, even though the tumor is getting better, she is
not. If what she wanted was to be let off the machines after 10
days, I would respect her requests. I would talk to her family
and make sure her relatives and children are taken care of. I
would let her go unless the doctors knew for sure that they could
bring her out of unconsciousness.
D.C.
2/5/01
As a doctor, I believe my first job is to preserve life, no
matter what. My patient, the forty-year old woman, agreed to all
terms when she consented to the experiment. First of all, I would
begin looking for another patient within my care who would agree
to take part in the experimental treatment program in the woman’s
place. If I do not find another patient within a week or the woman
does not show adequate improvement, I will turn off the life machines
and allow her to die. I realize this seems to disregard her wishes
in her “living will,” but my duty above all
else is preserve and protect life.
T.T.B.L.
Garland High School
2/5/01
I would do as the patient ask and take her off the machines
after 10 days of being on them. As a doctor, I should respect
the patients wishes even though I am trying to find a cure for
the tumor. There will be other patients willing to help with research
who will be in better shape. The lady's family will probably want
me to respect their relatives will and I would not want to be
sued for malpractice or anything.
M.B.
Dobie High School
2/5/01
we think that you should take her off the machine to further
your study as to how to make the medicine work without the serious
side effects.
2/5/01
I think you should turn off the machines, because that is what
the patient requested. She has her rights, even though she is
unconscious she signed a legal socument stating her wishes. The
experiment could easily be resumed on another patient that is
not so far along in stages of the disease.
R.M.
Hudson High School, Lufkin
2/5/01
After being on life support for 10 days, I feel this woman
should be taken off because she had made a living will proir to
her death that stated her wishes. I can not understand why there
is even a question of what to do because since she had made an
advanced directive, it being a living
