by Eli Chisholm

Created on: October 30, 2008

Dan Savage had just recently written an article on this very topic; a heart-wrenching personal story of his trials regarding his mother, and her passing. It was an article of rare quality, and emotion seldom seen today. I highly recommend anybody that stumbles upon this to read it before setting their own conclusions here.

My girlfriend (and by proxy I) just had a situation similar to this: her uncle had a stroke, was admitted to the hospital, and the doctors found an infected heart valve and 2 abscesses on his heart as well. He had a pacemaker installed, but the doctors told the family that it was only a temporary fix, and that the outlook was bleak. The head cardiologist told her uncle and their family that he would not do any surgery unless he consented to the possibility that he would wake up with a tube down his throat and on dialysis.

At this point, the family was divided: some people, knowing the possible outcomes for him, would rather have seen him die with dignity and grace; this was also his initial point of view. The other side of the family wanted to see him go through with the surgery, believing that any chance at living was worth the risks and consequences, no matter what. At this point, he was not terminal, only extremely unlikely. After much deliberation, he eventually decided to go ahead with the surgery instead of his initial decision, which turned out to be his last.

While in his surgery, an abscess opened after a successful graft and would not stop bleeding, despite repeated administrations of anti-coagulant. He was put into a medically induced coma with his heart still open (when the doctors tried to close him up, his heart immediately stopped), and died the next day.

From a strict look at the Hippocratic oath, the answer is quite clear: a doctor swears to never administer a lethal drug, even if the patient requests or demands it. However, another passage demands the physician always work towards the best interests of the patient, and to cause no undue suffering or pain. At which point, then, does the one outweigh the other from a moral standpoint and professional obligation?

For all their vaunted wisdom, sometimes the Greeks were really stupid. They viewed death of the body as transitional towards the longer portion of the soul's life after death (well, classically, before some of the great philosophers like Pythagoras), and yet designed a system to defeat fulfillment of the natural cycle by any means possible.

Life IS sacred in my opinion,

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