Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/50586
Title: Life-sustaining treatment : ethical considerations
Authors: O'Connell, Laurence J.
Keywords: Life support systems (Critical care)
Critical care medicine -- Moral and ethical aspects
Persistent vegetative state -- Moral and ethical aspects
Issue Date: 1989
Publisher: Ministry for Social Policy
Citation: O'Connell, L. J. (1989). Life-sustaining treatment : ethical considerations. National Dialogue, Malta, 51-57.
Abstract: Undoubtedly, there are differences between medical practice and healthcare delivery in Malta and the United States. Since this evening's program is billed as a dialogue, I hope that the richness of both perspectives will come to the fore. Thus, my brief introductory remarks are designed to initiate a general discussion and exchange of ideas, rather than provide answers to specific questions. As a point of departure for our dialogue, I have been asked to address ethical issues surrounding life-sustaining procedures. I propose to focus on a single aspect of the problem, namely, the complex set of issues surrounding the termination of life- sustaining treatment. I believe the termination of treatment is one of the most ethically charged and personally challenging issues for healthcare professionals like yourselves. Two factors have made the termination of treatment a key issue in clinical practice - and therefore in bioethics. They are modern medical ·technology, on the one hand, and increasing recognition and appreciation of the patient's ultimate authority in medical decision making, on the other hand. Recent advances in medical technology- respirators, heart/lung machines, artificial organs, and renal dialysis, for example - enable us to control the circumstances and timing of death; they also prompt questions: whether and under what circumstances medical interventions should cease and a patient be permitted to die. Quite simply, when is enough, enough? And who says so?
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/50586
Appears in Collections:Bioethics : responsibilities and norms for those involved in health care

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