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Life Support Ethical Issues

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Life Support Ethical Issues
Legal/Ethical issue 1 Life support, a 72 year old woman, was admitted to the Neurological Intensive Care Unit following a cerebral hemorrhage that left her with severe brain damage and ventilator.1 The husband disregarded the patients’ rights by refusing to abide by his wife’s wishes as stated in her living will The patient’s living will specified that she did not want to be on a ventilator support or other artificial life support in the event of a permanent unconscious condition or terminal condition.1 The doctors told the husband, who is the next of kin and surrogate decision-making authority, that his wife had suffered, “A cerebral hemorrhage that left her with severe brain damage and ventilator dependent”1. This represents a legal/ethical issue because the husband is not acting in the wife’s best interest and honoring her living will. His plan is to keep her on life support because he does not consider her situation as imminently terminal. The living will is a valid document. This …show more content…
The husband still believes she can miraculously recover from this state of unconscious condition, “the living will states she does not want artificial support to live.”1 Sometime during a life crisis we tend to focus more on selective hearing, only hearing the things that we want to hear. Even in the scenario in the face of adversity when he is confronted about the condition of his wife, he has a hard time grasping about the condition of the “living will” it is hard for him to make the adjustment. When the living will is discussed with him, he insisted that the patient had not intended for the document to be used in a situation like the present situation.”1 Not only that she is on a ventilator that is breathing for her, as well as she cannot breathe on her own, she is also a permanent unconscious condition due to severe brain damage, cause by a cerebral
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