Hooligan's View
The Terry Schaivo death has created quite a national debate over how the terminally ill die. I will not comment on it because I do not want to contribute to the glut of rhetoric. It does, however, make me think about the way we die today. I think I have figured out that in the absence of a living will the physician, Hospice, and the family generally attempt to make the terminal patient as comfortable as possible, obviously in accordance with the patient’s desires if conscious, and in doing so reasonably keep them from pain even if it may hasten the ultimate end. Is this the right thing to do? I think so because the sentient have the obligation to treat the unconscious patient as they would want to be treated if they could let us know or, in the absence of knowing, doing what is best for the dignity of the terminally ill. Dignity of the dieing is paramount not the conscience of the caretaker who must exhaust all means to extend life due to moral convictions. Our moral obligation is to give dignity to life by administering to the terminally ill in a way they would want and, in the absence of knowing, the way we would want to be treated. To specify how the end would come in a situation like Terry’s, thereby relieving the family of the terrible burden of deciding, one must execute a living will. I’m going to do that this week end.
