DISCUSSION 1. How often do you engage with or witness death in your work? How has this experience or the lack of it shaped your view of death? Has it gotten easier or harder for you to accept the fact of death? As you explain, include your clinical specialty.
DISCUSSION 2. Reflect on the analysis of the sin of suicide and, thus, euthanasia from the topic readings. Do you agree? Why or why not? Refer to the lecture and topic readings in your response.
CASE STUDY: The practice of health care providers at all levels brings you into contact with people from a variety of faiths. This calls for knowledge and understanding of a diversity of faith expressions; for the purpose of this course, the focus will be on the Christian worldview.
Based on “Case Study: End of Life Decisions,” the Christian worldview, and the worldview questions presented in the required topic Resources you will complete an ethical analysis of George’s situation and his decision from the perspective of the Christian worldview.
Provide a 1,500-2,000-word ethical analysis while answering the following questions:
Case Study: End of Life Decisions
George is a successful attorney in his mid-fifties. He is also a legal scholar, holding a teaching
post at the local university law school in Oregon. George is also actively involved in his teenage
son’s basketball league, coaching regularly for their team. Recently, George has experienced
muscle weakness and unresponsive muscle coordination. He was forced to seek medical
attention after he fell and injured his hip. After an examination at the local hospital following his
fall, the attending physician suspected that George may be showing early symptoms for
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease affecting the nerve cells in the brain
and spinal cord. The week following the initial examination, further testing revealed a positive
diagnosis of ALS.
ALS is progressive and gradually causes motor neuron deterioration and muscle atrophy to the
point of complete muscle control loss. There is currently no cure for ALS, and the median life
expectancy is between 3 and 4 years, though it is not uncommon for some to live 10 or more
years. The progressive muscle atrophy and deterioration of motor neurons leads to the loss of the
ability to speak, move, eat, and breathe. However, sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell are not
affected. Patients will be wheelchair bound and eventually need permanent ventilator support to
assist with breathing.
George and his family are devastated by the diagnosis. George knows that treatment options only
attempt to slow down the degeneration, but the symptoms will eventually come. He will
eventually be wheelchair bound and be unable to move, eat, speak, or even breathe on his own.
In contemplating his future life with ALS, George begins to dread the prospect of losing his
mobility and even speech. He imagines his life in complete dependence upon others for basic
everyday functions and perceives the possibility of eventually degenerating to the point at which
he is a prisoner in his own body. Would he be willing to undergo such torture, such loss of his
own dignity and power? George thus begins inquiring about the possibility of voluntary
euthanasia.
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