The Different Ethics and Practices in End of Life Care - Dissertation Example

The ethical dilemmas and other end-of-life hospital practices are becoming more complex and intriguing yet; ethics consultations and policies remain ill-defined and poor all over the developing and not so developed countries. Islam has the flexibility to respond to new biomedical advances and practices. Islamic bioethics emphasizes prevention and teaches that the patient must be treated with respect and compassion. Palliative care an essential aspect of End-of-life (EOL) hospital policies, nevertheless, is not uniformly practiced across the world.

There are legislations and federal court rulings in the USA with regards to EOL care and is quite defined and developed.According to the WHO(2011), “Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illness through prevention and relief from suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, and physical, psychosocial, and spiritual care”.

A large number of the people who die each year, of terminal disease and, old age, do not have access to End-of-Life (EOL) care or policies that could ease their suffering during the final days of life particularly in developing and not so developed countries. The importance of addressing the needs of dying persons has been felt for decades (Kubler-Ross, 1973). Dying persons encounter unique emotional and physical challenges that are associated with the dying process, support of loved ones is considered irreplaceable, however, EOL care/policy is an important public obligation ( Wilson and Ross Kerr 1998).

Clinical ethical dilemmas have become quite difficult due to advances in life-sustaining interventions, an aging society, cultural diversity, and other commercial issues.According to Jonsen et al (2002), clinical ethical dilemmas should be reviewed by considering: (1) medical indications, (2) patient preferences, (3) quality of life, and (4) contextual features.End of Care Issues and Policies