: actions driven by a compassionate response
: to a dying patient's pain are the result of
: choosing to relieve the suffering person's
: pain. That the additional dosage ends the
: patient's suffering earlier, than later may
: well be a matter of semantics when the
: observer presumes to know the action of the
: physician, or nurse is not the result of a
: compassionate response to a dying person's
: pain.
Yes Alex, determining where 'intent' moves from the relief of suffering to the taking of life, is, so often, not easy.
Loved ones -- some of whom have legal responsibility for the person who is dying -- come to the situation with very different 'baggage' and very different experiences of death and dying and very different views about where to draw the line.
Added to that, loved ones are often in a state where making a coherent, well-considered decision and engaging in a constructive dialogue with others, is very difficult.
Responses
« Back to index | View thread »