Persistent Vegetative State - Essay Example

Persistent vegetative Introduction If one takes a look at the world, one can not help noticing that it consists of aconsiderable number of dualities. Indeed, there is light and darkness, man and woman, day and night. However, there is one particular duality that has always been a true mystery to the people: life and death. From the very beginning of the society, people tried to define the acceptable boundaries of life and death. This has been manifested in numerous actions. For example, several thousand years ago capital punishment and blood revenge was common place. In spite of the fact that nowadays death sentence is still practiced in several countries, the majority of the countries dismissed it, claiming that this practice violate basic human rights. Euthanasia has become another subject of debate concerning life and death. This paper will prove that from the point of view that is taken by the Catholic Church, euthanasia should be found as an action that should be forbidden, unless it brings more good to the person than absence of it. In order to argue this position, several major ethical theories will be discussed, including Utilitarianism, Deontological Ethics as well as Virtue Ethics. Afterwards, the position of the Catholic Church will be articulated, paying particular attention to the following aspects: the concept of image of God in a human being; omnipotence of God and lack of such characteristic in the doctors; conditions under which bringing death to a person may be justified. The Utilitarian perspective The first ethical theory that will be engaged is called Utilitarianism. As one can easily see from the very name, it puts a great emphasis on the idea of utility. That is why it is rather clear that people who adhere to this point of view would think that keeping a person in persistent vegetative state is nothing but a waste of valuable resources (Cohen, 1986, p. 23). Indeed, in order to keep one’s body alive, the hospital should use various medications on a daily basis. These substances are used to help a person that has almost no chance of recovery. As a result, they are practically wasted as they could have been used to help other people who chances of recovery are higher. Of course, it does not mean that people in persistent vegetative state are bad: their well being is simply regarded as well beneficial for the society that well being of other, non terminal patients. Furthermore, the Utilitarian approach would also note that keeping person in such state is unethical and this should be put to an end as death of an individual is actually able to help other. This means that one’s death may be more advantageous than one’s life (Hausman, 2015, p. 62). Indeed, it may be the case that a perfectly healthy person is found in a persistent vegetative state after a car accident. There is no chance of recovery. Moreover, there are several organs that are healthy and some patients in the same hospital or in a hospital within short distance need those organs. Under such conditions Utilitarianism would argue that putting a person to death would be a moral thing to do. In other words, keep one in the above mentioned state will be regarded as immoral. The Deontological perspective Deontological Ethics received its name from a Greek word that means duty. That is why it is rather understandable that this approach would focus on the duty that a person has with regard to other people (Herman, 1993, p. 225). One would make no mistake suggesting that it is a universal rule that a person should not hurt other people. This means that no one should be allowed to make any actions that cause damage to others, directly or indirectly. With this is mind, it becomes clear that ending persistent vegetative state would be regarded as immoral as it will cause death of a person. As a result, the Deontological perspective would argue that if a person is found in this state, one should be kept in it as long as it takes since it is an imperative not to hurt other regardless of consequences and conditions (Mizzoni, 2010, p. 117). While some people might think that such an approach should be regarded as rather rigorous, it surely provides people with clear cut answers to various controversial issues. Indeed, if hospitals all over the country follow this advice, the umber of people who are kept in persistent vegetative state will increase dramatically whish is likely to have a negative financial influence. However, Deontological Ethics would point out that these difficulties should not be seen as proper justification for taking person out of this state. The Virtue Ethics perspective The point of view that is advocated by Virtue Ethics is a rather interesting one. This approach is often called Character based Ethics and argues that people should have a moral ideal in their head and judge every their action according to this ideal in terms of whether it makes them closer to it or vice versa (Tavani, 2004, p. 65).This means that the decision regarded persistent vegetative state should be make on individual basis. For example, a particular hospital may want to appear as caring and refuse to end one’s support despite the fact that there is absolutely no hope of recovery. On the other hand, another hospital might find such behavior inconsistent with its ideals and refuse to do so. In any case, the most important thing to do is to find the Golden mean. The latter refers to the situation when while make a decision a person was able to avoid too extremes, usually excess and deficiency of a characteristic, and find the right balance between it. Considering the situation in question, the issue of continuing persistent vegetative state might be subject to excess of control over one’s body or lack of desire to support one’s life. That is why it is important to find the Golden mean in each individual case. The Catholic perspective A man as an image of God While ethical theories that were described above are largely influenced by various philosophical considerations, one might note that the Catholic perspective will heavily rely on the Christian faith. That is why it would not be uncommon for it to borrow ideas from its spiritual teaching. Indeed, the Catholic perspective on the issue in question would employ the concept of image of God (Sherwin, 1990, p. 54). The Bible teaches that “God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them” (Genesis 1:27). This means that every person regardless of the state of physical body should be seen as the living image of God. In other words, despite the fact that one might be in persistent vegetative state, one’s life is still extremely valuable. With this in mind, it is beyond any doubt that no one should be allowed to destroy the image of God since that would be something that go against God’s will. Furthermore, one also might refer to one of the Ten Commandments, suggesting that “Thou shall not kill” includes every situation where life of a person depends on the decision of another person. It is understandable that when the Ten Commandments were revealed to Moses, neither the latter nor the people surrounding him knew about such medical condition as persistent vegetative state. That is why people did not have to worry about this issue. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church teaches that killing should not be allowed in any form. The omnipotence of God Another point that is extremely important when it comes to the discussion of the issue in question is one of the major characteristics of God. Thus, He is thought to be omnipotent which means that is able to perform any action (Clark, 1994, p. 54). This means that the argument about the lack of chance for recovery of a patient should be dismissed. Indeed, the doctors in the hospital might state that a person has a zero chance of recovery, basing their assumption on the data that they have available. However, according to the Catholic Church, it is absolutely in God’s power to make that person healthy again. In other words, since God is able to do so, the doctors should not make their judgment final. Indeed, there is absolutely no chance that every person that is currently in persistent vegetative state will be miraculously returned to normal life perfectly healthy. However, this is a possibility that should be taken into account if the doctors want to achieve the objectivity of their judgment. All this results in the understanding that the doctors are not able to tell for sure if vegetative state is persistent or not. Furthermore, there are scientifically proven example when people were able to recover from such states such as in the case of Jesse Ramirez. So, one of disadvantages of the desire to end persistent vegetative state of a person is the lack of faith and hope for a positive outcome. Conditions when persistent vegetative state is not acceptable Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to think that Catholic Church is strictly against ending life of a person. As it has been noted earlier, the position that this group advocated is grounded on the principle that others should never be harmed (Wennberg, 1989, p. 61). However, there might be situations when keeping a person in persistent vegetative state will actually have a worse effect on the well being of a person if compared to putting one to death. Of course, this does not mean that this should be used as justification in every particular sense. Catholic Church urges people to conduct a careful analysis of the situation and make sure that this is the only way that would help the person. Furthermore, from this perspective, it is essential to provide a person in any state with the necessary care that other patient receive. In other words, there should be equality among the patients regardless of their state. This means that the desire to end persistent vegetative state may be seen as a desire that make another person a less valuable individual. Christianity has always been a proponent of equality since it shows that all people are the same because they were created in the image of God. That is why doctors should always help their patient. If this help takes a form of putting one to death, it may be so, but such decision should be justified and supported by clear evidence. In other words, in this case ending one’s life will be for the greater good and not out of despair. Conclusion Having exampled all the points that were mentioned in the paragraphs above, one is able to come to the following conclusion: there are many ethical theories that look at the issue in question at different angles. For example, Utilitarianism would argue the persistent vegetative state that a person experience urges other people to waste valuable resources that otherwise could have been used to help others. On the other hand Deontology would note that there are no conditions under which one person should be allowed to harm others. That is why it is moral to keep a person in persistent vegetative state as long as it takes. Finally, Virtue Ethics would note that there is no definite answer to the issue in question and the decision should be made in each particular level. The perspective that is advocated by Catholic Church notes that it is immoral to kill such a patient since the latter represents the image of God, regardless of the state that one is in. That is why the doctors should do their best to restore the image and not destroy it. In addition to that, only God is able to know everything and be able to perform any action. That is why the statement about lack of chance of recovery should be dismissed as the doctors are not able to know for sure what will happen to their patient. References Clark, D. (1994). Readings in Christian ethics. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. Cohen, R. (1986). Justice: Views from the social sciences. New York, NY: Plenum Press. Hausman, D. (2015). Valuing health: Well-being, freedom, and suffering. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Herman, B. (1993). The practice of moral judgment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univsrsity Press. Mizzoni, J. (2010). Ethics: The basics. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Sherwin, B. (1990). In partnership with God: Contemporary Jewish law and ethics. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. Tavani, H. (2004). Ethics and technology: Ethical issues in an age of information and communication technology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Wennberg, R. (1989). Terminal choices: Euthanasia, suicide, and the right to die. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Read More