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Addressing End-of-Life Issues

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

We are all going to die; I think we would all prefer to die with dignity.

Not too long ago, the country watched the anguish of family members of Terri Schiavo torn apart over prolonging her life or allowing her death. Their very public suffering was certainly not what any of us would want our relatives to face, nor would we want to find ourselves a grieving family member in a public spectacle such as that which surrounded this woman's death.

The courts are the last place such issues should be decided. Ideally, they should be decided by each individual for him- or herself. The right of competent adult Americans to refuse unwanted medical intervention is well established. The Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990 clearly put forth the right of every patient's control over end-of-life care, assuming that the choices would be fully informed.¹

One hopes that we, as health care . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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