Death and Dying: Intensive Care, Euthanasia, and Ethical Dilemmas

This report analyzes the ethical and practical considerations surrounding death and dying, drawing insights from Peter Saul's perspective on intensive care and euthanasia. It explores the increasing trend of individuals preferring to die in intensive care units due to advanced medical technologies, and the associated financial and emotional stress on families. The report examines the legal and ethical implications of euthanasia, advocating for patient rights and a peaceful end-of-life experience. It references studies on death-related stress and the Kubler-Ross theory to support the argument for legalizing euthanasia, allowing individuals to make informed decisions about their end-of-life care. The report highlights the importance of ethical considerations in end-of-life care, emphasizing the need for compassionate and patient-centered approaches.

Running head: DEATH AND DYING
Death and Dying
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1DEATH AND DYING
Speakers Point of View
The Physician of the Australian Intensive Care, Peter Saul talks about the process
of dying in the twenty-first century and the increase in the number of people dying in the
Intensive Care. According to him, majority of the people who are suffering from chronic
diseases that have no proper treatment prefers dying in the Intensive Care Unit tan dying at
home. As per the recent study, it has been shown that one ten people prefers dying in the
intensive care, where in the United States, the number is one in five and three in five in
Miami (Saul, 2018). He further explained that when a person dies in the intensive care, the
stress levels of the families are greater than that of people dying somewhere else, because of
high cost of the advanced machines. Peter Saul also explained four types of death that
includes sudden death, terminal illness, organ failure and frailty and stated that death
related to organ failure is associated with more stress than in any other kind of deaths.
Ethical Issues and Reasoning
In case of ethical issues Peter Saul talked about legalising Euthanasia, as he firmly
supports Euthanasia, as it provides power to the individuals over how they prefer dying.
Furthermore, he also stated that Euthanasia should be legal, so that people get the right to die.
In Australia, the law related to Euthanasia lies in between terminal sedation and the double
effect that is in order to kill the person for the benefit of that person, sometimes opiates and
sedation are being used in order to end the life of the hospitalised person (Anaf, 2017). This
has been accepted in the law of Australia, as this does not come under the crime of killing.
Therefore, to give people the chances for right to die, Saul firmly supports Euthanasia.

2DEATH AND DYING
Personal Thought
As per the Saul’s point of view, I supported the speaker point of view as, in the recent
day’s people prefers to die in the intensive care than at home, this increases the stress of the
family members because of the high cost of the advanced machines (Belgrave & Charmaz,
2014). According to me, supporting Euthanasia would provide chances to the patients the
right to die and they can die peacefully. As per the ethics and the Kubler- Ross theory, when
patients are being aware of their critical illness, they pass through various stages and
sometimes prefers to death in a peaceful, natural and loving way. Therefore, Euthanasia
should be legalised so that the ill person can receive a peaceful death as per their right.

3DEATH AND DYING
References
Anaf, J. M. (2017). Voluntary euthanasia laws in Australia: are we really better off
dead?. The Medical journal of Australia, 206(8), 369-369.
Belgrave, L. L., & Charmaz, K. (2014). Studying Illness and Dying through Constructivist
Grounded Theory. In The Social Construction of Death (pp. 34-51). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
Saul, P. (2018). Let's talk about dying. Ted.com. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from
https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_saul_lets_talk_about_dying