Consent to terminate care

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RESPONSE:

1. Discuss the ethical implications of the Terri Schiavo case. Be sure to identify and discuss competing rights and interests as well as applicable ethical theories and principles. Also, discuss the right of the husband versus her parents in the context of consent to terminate care.

There were several ethical issues. One issue was concerning the right to die with dignity and whether it applies without a written advanced directive (Terry did not have her wishes in writing, but her husband claims that she had verbally directed him that she would not want to live like that, so this is considered consent to termination of care), did the husband or parents have the right to make the final decision about removing the feeding tube or not removing the feeding tube. There were competing rights and interests in this case: Terry's right to live or right to die with dignity (based on her husband's testimony that Terry had verbally expressed her wishes if something like this happened "I would not want to live like that"); the parents rights to make decisions upholding the values she had been raised with (The right to live vs. the right to die), as removing the feeding tube is murder). The parents and family did not believe that Terry had actually verbally informed her husband to remove the feeding tube if something like this happened. They accused him of lying so he could get on with his new life with his new family.

The feeding tube is both an ethical and moral issue and controversial as some argue that removing the feeding tube is both ethically and morally wrong, while others argue the exact opposite. On one side was Terry's parents and family, who believed that removing the feeding tube is considered wrong because Terry was living on her own, and food and water is sustenance and it thereof considered suicide or murder to ...