Is it ethical to remove life support?
Life-sustaining treatment may include, but is not limited to, mechanical ventilation, renal dialysis, chemotherapy, antibiotics, and artificial nutrition and hydration. There is no ethical distinction between withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment.
Is withdrawal of life support legal?
In the United States, the withholding and withdrawal of life support is legally justified primarily by the principles of informed consent and informed refusal, both of which have strong roots in the common law.
Under what conditions is termination of life support morally acceptable Why?
Such interventions, including life-sustaining medical treatments, are ethically justified only if both of the following necessary conditions have been met: (1) the treatment must be medically indicated; and (2) there must be a consent for the indicated treatment.
What are the ethical issues in end of life care?
During EOL care, ethical dilemmas may arise from situations such as communication breakdowns, patient autonomy being compromised, ineffective symptom management, non-beneficial care, and shared decision making.
Is withdrawing life support euthanasia?
Is withdrawal or withholding of treatment equivalent to euthanasia? No. There is a strong general consensus that withdrawal or withholding of treatment is a decision that allows the disease to progress on its natural course. It is not a decision to seek death and end life.
Is withdrawal of treatment considered euthanasia?
No. A health professional does not perform euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide by withholding or withdrawing treatment even if that treatment is needed to keep the person alive.
What happens when life support is withdrawn?
Choosing to remove life support usually means that the person will die within hours or days. The timing depends on what treatment is stopped. People tend to stop breathing and die soon after a ventilator shuts off, though some do start breathing again on their own.
What happens after you take someone off life support?
After turning off life support, a person who’s brain-dead will die within minutes, because they won’t be able to breathe on their own. If a person is in a permanent vegetative state but not brain-dead, their life support likely consists of fluids and nutrition.
Is there an ethical difference between withholding vs withdrawing feedings?
Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 5.3 While there may be an emotional difference between not initiating an intervention at all and discontinuing it later in the course of care, there is no ethical difference between withholding and withdrawing treatment.
Is withdrawing life support ethical?
There is no ethical distinction between withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment. A competent, adult patient may, in advance, formulate and provide a valid consent to the withholding or withdrawal of life-support systems in the event that injury or illness renders that individual incompetent to make such a decision.
What is the end of life ethics?
End-of-Life Ethics: A Case Study Approach. This DVD program examines, using a case study approach, the ethical issues and dilemmas that emerge at the end-of-life, the principles of ethical decision-making and the effects of these decisions on patients, families and staff.
What is withholding life support?
withholding life support. Removal of or no further administration of medical intervention during end-of-life care, with the expectation that the patient will die as a result.
What is withdrawing life support?
The Court held that the withdrawal of life support involves “a series of acts that serve health-related purposes” and therefore requires consent the same as any other treatment and that this finding was supported by the express objectives of the HCCA.