…OLST form) and followed by care when not in cardiac arrest (Box B, comfort care, limited care, or full treatment). These selections on the POLST form represent the focus of the present study. . . . Reporting on the agreement between POLST documents and treatment by emergency services in Oregon, Richardson et al (2014) reported that 84% of those who wanted CPR were resuscitated and 78% of those with DNR did not receive resuscitation. Their data sug…
…nd the families who love and care for them? The Role of Doctors and Health Care Professionals The health care system and health professionals in general, and doctors in particular, have important roles to play. The ancient professions developed as repositories of specialized expertise and services to members of society. From antiquity, the medical profession was developed to protect, save or sustain life, and to enhance quality of life, including…
…ons upon health care resources precipitate increased “rationing” of health care services and health care financing. People with disabilities are among society’s most likely candidates for ending their lives, as society has frequently made it clear that it believes they would be better off dead, or better that they had not been born. The experience in the Netherlands demonstrates that legalizing assisted suicide generates strong pressures upon indi…
…7. The Guidelines also recognize that the triage policy “may deter chronic care patients from going to an acute care facility for fear of losing access to their ventilator” and that “if the ventilator is removed from a person known to depend upon it, s/he will not survive, regardless of the reason requiring hospitalization.” Id. at 41-42. 48. The Guidelines further conclude that “[r]esource limitations may require that ventilation therapy be withh…
…individuals with disabilities have been created and act as the default in care. Sufficient care in the community is extremely difficult to obtain. People with disabilities have been forced to go to federal court to vindicate their civil rights in order to obtain health care in New York. Given this pervasive discrimination, I do not see how one can consider assisted suicide. Efforts are lacking or at best meager to include a focus on people with d…
