Argumentative Essay On Life Support

Words: 564
Pages: 3

One ethical issue is the concept of consent and benefits while on life support, and when the call should be made to turn it off. One side of the debate believes that it should be the patient’s closest form of consent, usually family, can decide when to turn off life support, or go against medical advice. Another, however, believes that the difference between death and being on life support call for some to have it ended based on their condition. They believe that brain death is death, and the end of life support is necessary. The concept of brain death in recent debates is muddled, being a blurred line between full death and a “half-death” that could be recoverable. It is considered different from a vegetative state or being comatose, and …show more content…
This parallels with the other case, which is a fight for the parents to keep her on life support under the hope that she improves, and has been on it for years. Those against keeping patients on life support, taking from a article on the misconceptions between death and brain death, say, “Brain death is death. It has nothing to do with being a coma. It does not refer to a permanent vegetative state. When it is pronounced using the standard tests and diagnostic procedures, a person is dead.” (Arthur Caplan Ph.D., Death, Brain Death, and Life Support). This is a common quote that the act of life support is just the preservation of a body without autonomy, as well as eventual deterioration of the body, and the end of life support should be a step in putting them to rest. Those for the act of keeping patients on life support say that there’s a chance of recovery and any chance of survival is worth extended stays. Some note that there is noticed growth on younger life-support patients, as well as some reaction (or at least movement) on them. The arguments mainly focus on the benefits and the futility of the procedure, and how the patient’s benefit is the main ethical focus in