Being An Alcoholic Argument Essay

Words: 861
Pages: 4

Everybody has an equal right to live, and every patient has an equal right to treatment. We are not in the position to decide who deserves a second chance and who doesn’t. In the generation where organ availability is limited, liver transplant for an alcoholic remains a controversy (Pageaux 301). However, an alcoholic is also in equal need of a liver transplant as other liver patients. It’s genuine that every alcoholic should have an equal right to get a liver transplant as other liver patients in a society which glamorizes alcohol consumption. An alcoholic’s inability of controlling his drinking habit doesn’t prove that he is weak or irresponsible. So, the fact that a person is alcoholic doesn’t define the patient’s whole story. And, it doesn’t …show more content…
An alcoholic can’t be judged for being responsible for the liver damage because being an alcoholic is sometimes genetic and beyond our control. Furthermore, a patient should not be judged on the basis of his background and personal choices. For a doctor, a patient is just a human being who has illness. A slogan of Modern Hippocratic Oath clearly includes,“I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick” (Bioethics). This Hippocratic oath not only tells that a doctor should treat patient equally, but also explains that the person’s family and economic condition is also their concern. So, a doctor doesn’t get to decide who deserves a transplant. It is a fact that an alcoholic is responsible for his own damage, but he can’t be judged as unworthy of the treatment and punished with an irreversible punishment - death. If a person gets in a car accident and injures his head because he didn’t put on his seatbelt, he is not treated differently than other patients. Then, why should an alcoholic be treated differently just because he is responsible for the