Imagine you are part of a nine-member ethics committee at the local hospital. At

Question

Imagine you are part of a nine-member ethics committee at the local hospital. At your committee meeting, the committee is presented with the issue of a patient who has been on life support for the past six months and has not shown any signs of improvement or the ability to survive without life support. The patient has appointed two healthcare surrogates who have opposing opinions on whether to withdraw life support. Answer the following questions: What are the major ethical issues in this case? What laws, if any, are applicable to the decision? How should the ethics committee render a decision in this case? If there are differences of opinion among committee members, how should the committee deal with the differences?

Explanation / Answer

Major ethical issues

This is the case of major ethical issue in which we have to decide wether to withdraw our life support or not. See patient is on life support for about 6 months is not a joke and if he is conscious then definitely he will say to leave this world because it is very painful to rely on someone.

Laws

Laws say written consent required from patient or his relatives to withdraw life support or atlist video of patient saying I am giving permission to withdraw support.

Ethical committee decision

Ethical committee first make well document evidence about patient and history saying that it is against the natural law to withdraw support because patient getting more pain day by day and also show the history of other patient. A detail communication must be done to present full proof document.

Here differences is in thinking and as a professional behaviour hospital authority is correct and saying to withdrawn life support but opposite to them there is a surrogate authority who are rendering this , may be they are getting bunch of money for this from patient side because 6 month life support cost is too much.

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