Physician Assisted Suicide Case study :: essays research papers

Diane A Case of atomic number 101 Assisted SuicideDiane was a patient of Dr. Timothy Quill, who was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Diane overcame tipsiness and had vaginal cancer in her youth. She had been under his care for a issue of 8 years, during which an intimate doctor-patient bond had been established. It was Dr. Quills observation that she was an unbelievably clear, at convictions brutally honest, thinker and communicator. This observation became especially rotund after Diane heard of her diagnosis. Dr. Quill informed her of the diagnosis, and of the possible treatments. This series of treatments entailed threefold chemotherapy sessions, followed by a bone marrow transplant, accompanied by an depart of ancillary treatments. At the end of this series of treatments, the survival rate was 25%, and it was further complicated in Dianes lineament by the absence of a closely matched bone-marrow donor. Diane chose not to receive treatment, desiring to spen d whatever beat she had left outside of the hospital. Dr. Quill met with her several times to ensure that she didnt change her mind, and he had Diane meet with a psychologist with whom she had met before. Then Diane complicated the case by informing Dr. Quill that she be able to control the time of her death, avoiding the loss of dignity and discomfort which would precede her death. Dr. Quinn informed her of the Hemlock Society, and in brief afterwards, Diane called Dr. Quinn with a request for barbiturates, complaining of insomnia. Dr. Quinn gave her the prescription and informed her how to use them to sleep, and the summation necessary to commit suicide. Diane called all of her friends to say goodbye, including Dr. Quinn, and took her life two geezerhood after they met.This is a fascinating case because it presents the distinction between a patients right to spurn treatment and a physicians assistance with suicide. Legally, Diane possessed the right to refuse treatment, but s he would live with faced a debilitating, painful death, so the issue of treatment would be a moot point. It would be moot in the sense that Diane seemed to refuse treatment because the odds were low, even if she survived she would spend significant periods of time in the hospital and in pain, and if she didnt survive she would spend her last geezerhood in the hospital. If Diane were to merely refuse treatment and nothing else (as the law prescribes) than she would not have been able to avoid the death which she so dearly treasured to avoid.