AMBIENTUM BIOETHICA BIOLOGIA CHEMIA DIGITALIA DRAMATICA EDUCATIO ARTIS GYMNAST. ENGINEERING EPHEMERIDES EUROPAEA GEOGRAPHIA GEOLOGIA HISTORIA HISTORIA ARTIUM INFORMATICA IURISPRUDENTIA MATHEMATICA MUSICA NEGOTIA OECONOMICA PHILOLOGIA PHILOSOPHIA PHYSICA POLITICA PSYCHOLOGIA-PAEDAGOGIA SOCIOLOGIA THEOLOGIA CATHOLICA THEOLOGIA CATHOLICA LATIN THEOLOGIA GR.-CATH. VARAD THEOLOGIA ORTHODOXA THEOLOGIA REF. TRANSYLVAN
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Authors: ANDREEA-IULIA SOMEȘAN.
DOI: 10.24193/subbbioethica.2020.05
Published Online: 2020-12-30
Published Print: 2020-12-30
pp. 61-76
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ABSTRACT.
Advance planning aims at a time, considered specific for the life ending stages, when the patient will no longer be able to express his/her desire about the medical care performed on the own person. By the history of its introduction through the medical legislation, this document is closely related with the euthanasia concept or the right to put an end to the life that is no longer worth living. From a medical approach, this may suppose the withdrawal of the futile treatments. The patient has the possibility, by elaborating an advance directive, to mention his/her refusal for certain medical treatments and procedures. The purpose of its implementation in the clinical practice is to preserve the patient’s dignity and autonomy for the moment when he/she will no longer be able to express his/her will: this person can choose to end the suffering of an inhuman life. The patient will become, therefore, responsible for giving up to the futile medical care, limiting, in somehow, the actions of the medical staff. Thus, advance planning could be assimilated with the idea of medical non-compliance. The efforts of preserving the patient’s dignity will inevitably bring in our attention the concept of the human being’s value. Does an intrinsic value of the human being really exist or is it just built by the role played by the person in the social context? Is it fair to create moral pressure on someone to take a certain decision in that context? However, what if the advance directives were not at all associated with the idea of a Living will (Life testament – the Romanian name for this paper)? Even if the advance planning had the primary purpose to protect the healthcare professionals in their decision to withdraw the futile treatments, this document should be in favor of the patient and not against his/her deepest desires.
Keywords: advance planning, dignity, autonomy, human being value, quality of life, life without dignity.
