HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1990-02-28, Page 3Ladraew Sew d, Wallemadays Yelonwry 311, 111011—Page 3
Health care workers wrestle with issue of ethics
o from le I
mine the sea of an unborn ehihd, to perp
farm lin reshble.suirgical .
"We ,have all of this surgical_
h tech MOP
meet and ineney its being poured auto
health care We have the eapabilities and
we feel that we have todo everything
that we ean," l fs, Downie said.
She salted the audience to consider the
premature ,baby who .can be kept alive,
through highly sophisticated meami m a ,
hospital neonatal intensive ere unit.
Tremendous strides have been • made in
this field to keep smaller and smaller
babies alive. Sonne babies survive,others
die and.stiil others grow to suffer a wide
range of Medical Complications. The
means to keep younger- babies alive,
bears a heavy cost; burden and causes
great moral: and ethical debates.
DETERMINING VALUES
"It all boils down to fundamental
values," Ms. Downie suggested.
Some people will debate that health
care dollars should be given to. those pro-.
grams •where the most people will
benefit. Others support iindivtdual needs
and argue that money is well spent on
costly medical programs. .
Some argue. that life should be preserv-
ed at all costs, , others believe that all
means of artificial intervention through
medicine is wrong. One• faction: believes'.,
that there is a quality and value that can
be placed on a human life and.. it can be
determined when that life should .end.
Others believe, that we have no right to •
"play God".
Moral dilemmas of this sort arise when
there are legitimate moral reasonsfor
pursuing two different courses of action.
Do we save lives at all costa? Do we
follow a patient's request for the cessa-
tion of life sustaining treatment? Do we
respect the patient's freedom of choice to
course their Own chart in life and death?
"There are some things that are
unresolvable," noted' Ms. Downie.:"There
are others that can be sorted out., There
may not be best answers, but there are
better and worst answers. We're looking
for the better answers." She suggested
that answers can be found by redefining
values and looking to other options in
health care. Reallocation of funding and
re-examination of health care priorities
are two such options that need to be
studied, she noted.
"We are now realizing that we are
spending millions of dollars on programs
that may benefit a few individuals. We
have to stop and redefine our values."
World Day
of Prader
• from page 1
through the International Committee of
the World Day of Prayer, is printed and
distributed by Women's Inter -Church
Council of Canada. Ecumenical groups
across the country meet to organize local
services. Proceeds from the annual offer-
ing go to provide study and worship
resources for women's groups and others,
to cover costs of distributing the World
Day of Prayer service, and to support
ecumenical projects in Canada and
abroad.
Everyone is invited to share in this 103
year old tradition of Christians .uniting for
prayer and guidance in struggling with.
major issues facing us today.
The service in this area will be held at
2.00 p.m. on Friday, March 2 in Lucknow
Presbyterian Church. (In case of incle-
ment weather will be held one week
later.)
Temporary
• from page 1
Horses - 11, 20, 9, 9, 12
Hogs - 45,485, 51,402, 44,635, 44,115,
45,699
Sows - 1,131, 1,154, 928, 1,037, 1,161
AT Tit LOCAL LEVEL
Such morel debated are not solely wk.
tide to the confines of major hospital con-
tree, The repercussions are felt in outly-
ing areas and on. a local level,
communi-
ty health care agencies face their share
of ethical dilemmas.
Audience members were particularly
interested in dismission regirding patient
eonfidentiiality, health care limitations °
and living wills.
'Patient confidentiality was stressed to
have utmost importance in a small com-
munity where people are well known to
one another and information can easily
become common knowledge, not
necessarily through malice,but through
thoughtlessness.
Health care facilities may also face
moral dilemmas because of their 'batta-
lions
baita-tions to treat people. A hospital with a
limited number of beds and limited fun-
ding may be . forced to make decisions
aboutproviding beds:for chronic care or
active care patients.
"It's an issue of balancing resources
and priorities," Ms.. Downie noted. "High
tech has been winning in thepast
because it's very exciting and It's a vase
of who has been holding the purse
strings.:
LIVING WILLS
Local hospitals may be faced with Iv-
ing wills sus they become more popular in
statusCanada. While 1n this c wills have no legal
more
people are choosing to sign such
In Cauda, the Society for the Right to
Die 13 lobbying to have living wills
legalized as a means for people to snake
their own choices not to be trapped m
medical .technology when at some point
they may be physically unable to make
such decisions.
Opponents firmly believe that living
wills stand for a meam of shortening life,
of . killing another human being. Sup-
porters say that living wills stand for
death with dignity, for passive euthanasia
by cutting off artificial means of life sup-
port or medication. It comes down to a
u dammital choice about the value of
life.
While living wills are not legal in
Canada, they may still be used as a
document of intent that family and
medical personnel may act upon. While it.
is deemed illegal to stop or withhold life
sustaining treatment, passive euthanasia
is being quietly practiced throughout
Cana
"If we just alt the blanket state -
meat that life is of vie, we are forced
o and WM frost," Mc Downie
further, to noted.she suggeoted that the public must go
t determine the value of life.
She make
choices the we � inrootion
that will work tower* finding solutions
to these great ethical debates.
"We can't just say that there are tough
questions, we have to start coining up
with the answers"
Ms. Downie stressed that the public
musttake an active role in this decision
making.."It'.s the community *eying that
these are our valises and this is what we
want. •
"The politicians don't want to keep this.
one in their court. It will cootiedown. to
the grassroots level and the government
is. already moving to change things."
CANCER
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