HW # 30 - Illness & Dying - Culminating Experiential Project

Euthanasia is an ancient Greek word meaning “the good death,” with “eu” meaning good
and “thanatos” meaning death. It was first used by Francis Bacon, the English philosopher who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries and who developed the scientific method, to describe a way to die peacefully and well. The scientific method is a way of investigating anything being observed based on measurable evidence that will lead to a hypothesis that can be tested. It seems to me that observing a dying person who is in physical or mental pain or is in a coma with no hope of coming out of it or whose mind has gone would lead to thinking that giving a lethal injection from a doctor to end suffering is a good thing.

I became interested in euthanasia as a subject to explore when the sick person I had gone to see as an assignment for this course died recently. Gloria was our neighbor and an extremely kind person who bought rocks I painted when I was three and kept them in her room. A week after my visit she went into the hospital because of lung failure. Her daughter told me that she had a Living Will, which said that she did not want to be resuscitated if her heart stopped or if she stopped breathing and put on life support. Gloria was in pain, and the painkillers had bad side effects. She had also been told that she was going to die. She wanted the doctor to stop treating her so that she would die quickly. Her daughter was a Catholic, who believed that any form of unnatural death was a sin.

According to Euthanasiaprocon.org, the reasons that people who are terminally ill like Gloria request physician-assisted death are in three categories:

Illness related, which includes pain, the side effects of painkillers, loss of bodily functions, and exhaustion with pain or discomfort

Loss of sense of self, which includes desire for control over life and body functions and beliefs held for a long time about a good way to die

Fear about the future, which includes fear about the quality of life if dying will take a long period of time, fear of being a burden to family members and friends, and fear of knowing about other negative experiences of dying.

There are several forms of euthanasia: There is active euthanasia when a patient requests that a doctor end his or her life with a lethal injection; there is physician-assisted suicide when a doctor gives a patient drugs to enable the patient to end his or her life; there is passive euthanasia when life support treatment is ended or when drugs or other treatments are no longer given; and there is non-voluntary euthanasia when patients are incapable of expressing a view about having their life ended because they are in a coma, to young (a baby, for example), severely brain damaged, senile or mentally retarded; or severely mentally ill (Euthanasia.com).

At this time euthanasia is illegal in the United States. There are three states that have legalized physician-assisted euthanasia, and they are Oregon, Washington, and Montana. The patient must be the one to administer the lethal drug. The Netherlands and Belgium are the only two countries in the world where euthanasia is legal. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Albania and Luxembourg. In Switzerland doctors are not punished for assisting with suicide even though euthanasia is illegal (Religioustolerance.org)

Most religions are against euthanasia. In addition to the Catholic Church, the Jewish religion, Islam, and Hinduism are against active euthanasia and physician-assisted euthanasia. They consider active euthanasia to be murder and physician-assisted euthanasia to be suicide with the doctor committing an act of murder. Hindus consider fasting acceptable in extreme cases to be accompanied by spiritual practices that help self-awareness and give strength to help the dying person have a dignified death. In general, they are against euthanasia because it could interfere with reincarnation and hold up the process of the person’s next birth. Buddhists are more lenient than Hindus, but they are also concerned that active or passive euthanasia means that the patient is not in
a good mental place and could be reborn in another state of despair. Buddhist monks who committed suicide to protest the Viet Nam war were not at risk in the next life because they were dying in an enlightened state. In Christian religions most are against euthanasia except for the Methodists and Unitarians, who support physician-assisted euthanasia and are against prosecution of the doctors. In more liberal Episcopal and Presbyterian churches and in Quaker churches, physican-assisted euthanasia can be acceptable if it is the patient’s choice (Euthanasiaprocon.org).

Although a survey by the Pew Research Council in 2002 showed that 87% of Americans
were religious, a 2005 Harris Poll showed that 72% of Americans were in favor of euthanasia for “dying patients in severe distress who wanted their lives ended.” From my research and a conversation with a doctor, I have learned that the discussion of euthanasia is a complicated one because people are so afraid that legalizing it could lead to abuse. For example, it could start to be used too frequently without careful enough checking about what the patient really wants in order to save money on expensive life-support systems. There is also a big moral argument about active and passive euthanasia for terminally ill patients who want to die. Some people believe that active euthanasia is an act of murder by the doctor, but that passive euthanasia where the doctor allows the patient to die from a lack of treatment is not. Other people believe that active euthanasia is a kinder alternative because an injection will end life quickly and stopping treatment can cause a much longer time of suffering. These people feel that withdrawing feeding tubes and starving patients can be crueler that giving a lethal injection or pill.

I decided to ask my grandmother who lives in an assisted living apartment building if she would give a questionnaire I created to people who lived in her building. The questionnaire asked about their feelings on the subject of euthanasia and Living Wills. Here are the results of the questionnaire which 22 people completed.



Quality of Dying Questionnaire completed by 20 people aged 75 and above

1. Do you have a Living Will?
Of the 20 people asked, 18 said yes and 2 said no.

2. If not, would you consider having one?
The 2 who did not have a Living Will said they had been meaning to get one.

3. Do you have a Health Care Power of Attorney?
Of the 20 people asked, 15 said yes.

4. If not, would you consider having one?
3 people said they were planning to get one.
2 people said they had to find out more about what it is.

5. Have you taken any other measures to help you have the end of life you would prefer? If so, what have you done?
9 people said no to the first question.
5 people said they had organ donor cards.
6 people said they had “Do not Resuscitate Bracelets.” These are issued by the state.

6. If you were terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or conscious with irreversible brain damage, and you lived in a state that has legalized active euthanasia, would you want a lethal injection by a doctor? What would be the main reason?
18 said yes (Of these 14 said they did not want to be a burden to their families and friends and 4 said they did not want money to keep being wasted on them.) (Of these 3 said they know of cases where a doctor had given a lethal injection at the patients request even though giving it was against the law.)
2 said they were unsure

7. If you were terminally ill, in pain or great discomfort, but fully conscious with all your mental faculties, and you lived in a state that has legalized physician-assisted suicide would you want your doctor to give you a lethal pill? What would be the main reason?
18 said yes (Of these 14 said again that they did not want to be a burden and 4 said they did not want money to be wasted on them.)
2 said maybe

8. In this country only three states have physician-assisted suicide: Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Would you be in favor of having all the states legalize physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients who have requested it?
15 said yes
5 said maybe

9. Would you be in favor of having all the states legalize active euthanasia (lethal injection by a doctor) for terminally ill patients who have requested it?
15 said yes
4 said maybe
1 said no “on religious grounds”

10. Do you have an organ donor card? Did you indicate in your Living Will if you have one that you would like to be an organ donor?
15 said no (of these 7 thought their organs were too old to be good)
5 said yes

From the questionnaire I learned that in my small study a surprisingly high percentage of the elderly people had Living Wills and would be in favor of legalized active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide because they did not want to be a burden on families or the government. It was also interesting to hear about the “Do not resuscitate bracelets” and the fact that some of them knew of doctors who had assisted illegally in suicides at the patient’s request). I forgot to ask about their religion in the questionnaire. My grandmother said that there are quite a few Catholics and several Jewish people and at least two Buddhists in the group. It was also interesting that quite a few thought their organs were too old to be useful to other people. I believe that my extremely small study goes along with the Harris Poll that showed that 72% of Americans were in favor of euthanasia for “dying patients in severe distress who wanted their lives ended.”

The significance of my findings could be that since people are living longer and longer, they are more interested in not dragging out a painful dying experience or a dying when they have lost control of body functions or their minds. They are more concerned with their quality of life at the end or “quality of dying”and do not want to be kept alive if they feel they are a burden and cannot have their dignity. Living Wills and Health Care Power of Attorney forms are important to fill out so that we can all keep control over the end of our lives.