Life-sustaining treatment : ethical considerations

Abstract

In my short talk this evening I would like to address the following three questions. It is medically or morally permissible in any circumstances, to discontinue life support? If yes, should the decision to discontinue life support be taken by the doctor, the relatives, the courts or some other group? Do we in Malta have the mechanism to solve such a dilemma should it arise? In many peoples' minds the term 'life-sustaining procedures' suggests the intensive care support of a critically ill individual, in particular by a ventilator. In fact it is much more than this, and almost any treatment of a patient by a doctor could be classified as a life-sustaining procedure. In the last century the range of life- sustaining interventions available to doctors has increased from the provision of little more than the basic needs of food and water to the presently available advanced treatment of intensive care cardiopulmonary support.