Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatments, Term Paper Example

The article talks about the legal and moral justification for the withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments. The author asserts that withdrawing or withholding of an already established treatment is a form of limitation on the therapeutic effort. Since the application of the life-saving medical treatment is not limited to any form of treatment, then a good clinical practice would apply it indiscriminately to the patients deserving it. The paper argues that the legal foundations on which a decision of withdrawal of treatments is based should not prevent a health worker from initiating appropriate treatment. She concludes that the healthcare workers have an ethical obligation to give assistance in any circumstance to prevent the sick from any form of suffering.

The article lays emphasis on the ethics of Medicare rather than the law. The major role of a health care worker is to promote and maintain health. He /she should care for people with ill health and assist in their recovery as well as maintain the quality of life (Blais et al. 89). These roles can be played by any health worker who has embraced the ethical foundations of the practice (Jonhson, Siegler and Winsalade 61). The article urges the medical workers to consider initiating a treatment that has been deemed right for a patient, rather than not initiating the treatment in the fear of later withdrawal. It is kind of unfair to fail to start treatment for a needy patient because the law prohibits withholding after initiation. This article should be used to help review the laws related to these issues so that they can be beneficial to the patient.

The author has argued out his point well, basing the arguments from an ethical perspective to show the need to revise the legal framework under which withdrawal and withholding of treatment are undertaken. The author, Borsellino Patrizia is a professor of Philosophy of Law and Bioethics at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan Italy. Her article has been published in the Multidisciplinary Respiratory Medicine, which is a reputable journal in the broad field of health and medicine. These factors, together with the fact that the author is a professional in that field, make the article credible and valid.

Works Cited

Blais, K, Hayes, S, Kozier, B, & Erb, G. Professional Nursing Practice: Concepts and Perspectives (5^th Ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. Print

Borsellino, Patrizia. “Limitation of the therapeutic effort: Ethical and Legal Justification for Withholding and/or Withdrawing Life Sustaining Treatments.” Journal of Multidisciplinary Respiratory Medicine 10, 5 (2015): 1-5.

Jonhson, R, Siegler, M, & Winsalade, W. Clinical Ethics: A practical approach to Clinical decisions in Clinical Medicine.(6^th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.