aaronjw Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/03/report-dr-jack-kevorkian-dead/?hpt=hp_t1 Anyone care to discuss his cause and their feelings on it? In one of the video segments in the link he says Dr's are cowards. Do you agree that most are cowards and afraid to stand up for what they believe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 No, but I will make the bold statement of saying that the medical school application process biases towards people who tow the line and tend not to question the regimented hierarchy, bureaucracy, and practice model currently in place. If anyone is interested about what I mean check Dr. Louis Francescutti, out of all the doctors I've met in my life, he's definitely the most I respect as a person: http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/medicinematters/archive/2011/02/01/doctors-too-self-interested-to-put-patients-first-royal-college-president.aspx Most doctor's I find are far to afraid of ruining their careers or reputations to stand up and say something when they see something wrong, not all of them, I've certainly met a few who have been amazing, but they're a rare breed, most just fall so into the system that they begin to lose perspective. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/03/report-dr-jack-kevorkian-dead/?hpt=hp_t1 Anyone care to discuss his cause and their feelings on it? In one of the video segments in the link he says Dr's are cowards. Do you agree that most are cowards and afraid to stand up for what they believe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamer Posted June 4, 2011 Report Share Posted June 4, 2011 I'll start the discussion... I think that the medical community has certainly lost a strong, dissenting voice who sincerely thought what he was doing was reduce the amount of suffering and pain experienced by a patient. Shouldn't that be what medicine is about? Yes, I would say he was on the border or perhaps even crossing the Hippocratic oath, "Do no harm", but is the Hippocratic oath perhaps a relic of medicine in the ancient world? Perhaps we should be looking at the role of physicians in a different perspective, rather than adhere to rigid statements of professional conduct? I think truly ethical decision making would require us to reexamine what we merely perceive to be appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD2015 Posted June 4, 2011 Report Share Posted June 4, 2011 In Switzerland, they recently had votes related to assisted suicide, of which they approve; it also involved medical tourism for assisted suicide b/c many from other countries turn up there to die. It seems that societies/countries deal with this issue, that won't go away, differently; there is no one ethical solution for all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange123 Posted June 4, 2011 Report Share Posted June 4, 2011 yeah.. you know what? I honestly don't understand the brou-haha over assisted suicide. what dr. K did wasn't wrong in my mind. If a person has the ability to take their own life (say by pulling their own plug) then why is it so taboo for them to request from a physician, aid in putting themself to sleep-- for good? I honestly don't understand it. It seems so counterintuitive that if person A wants to die, but is able to pull their own plug, that's okay. But if person B wishes to die peacefully, but doesn't have the capacity to pull their own plug (say cos they're a quadriplegic), then a doctor acting on pt B's request is a no-no. Can someone pls pls pls explain this whole idea of a "slippery slope" - that the opponents claim will eventually blur the line between real requests and family members's requests? danke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted June 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2011 Some argue that you're playing god with assisted suicide but what many fail to realize it is that, like it or not, Doctors play god. They circumvent natural events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma15 Posted June 4, 2011 Report Share Posted June 4, 2011 I'm sitting in an ethics class so I thought I would weigh in on this. Docs may be playing God. The truth is that in a lot of instances they intervene for the better. Should one allow nature to take its course where there are simple remedies for an ailment? With regards to Dr. K, my understanding is that a lot of the patients have specifically requested to be allowed to end their life. How would patient autonomy play into this? Should we be concerned over an action itself or over its consequences or both??? Just throwing out some ideas for discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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