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Dax Cowart Case Summary

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Dax Cowart Case Summary
Taylor Walters
Patient Rights
10/24/13
After watching the video and reading the case study on Dax Cowart, J.D. and doing some critical thinking on the subject, I think that in Dax’s case, he shouldn’t have been able to choose to die. My reason behind this is because even though he had to go through some really bad treatments and pain, he was able to be saved and also able to live a pretty normal life. At first I was apprehensive about whether or not Dax should have had his right to die. When Dax first realized he was burned and noticed the pain and agony he was in, he wanted to die to be put out of misery. At that point in time, I believe that the pain was so severe and it had Dax out of his mind and not thinking clearly; I’m sure that most anyone would have said the same thing.
Along with the pain of the burns and also the following 14 months of “pure hell” treatments Dax experienced, I see how most people may think that Dax should have been able to stop the treatments. It was hard to listen to him describe the treatments and ointment he received, so I can …show more content…
The top ethical issues in healthcare today include Principle of Beneficence, Principle of Toleration, and also the Principal of Respect for Autonomy . I think that each of these three issues was violated in their own way against Dax. A person can only tolerate so much pain before it starts to affect their mental and psychological abilities. Dax was first diagnosed as mentally unstable, but later was diagnosed as stable. I think the reason for this first misdiagnosis was because of the state of pain Dax was encountering. Dax was also not given respect when it came down to his autonomy for his choosing to die. Although there are physician-assisted suicide laws today, they didn’t have them 20-30 years ago so wanting to end treatment seemed obscure at this
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