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Isabelle

Discussion Prompt 2:

Imagine that you are in the same situation as the current Dax. Would you, like Dax, regret that the doctors kept you alive when you were in pain? Or would you be glad they had overruled your wishes because you have a good life now? Why? State a premise in Dax’s argument that you agree or disagree with, or that you think would not apply to a different case. Cite specific page numbers in the reading.

After reading how much pain and misery Dax was in, I think I would also regret the doctors keeping me alive. Dax describes the pain as unbearable , saying, “For me, one hour was an eternity, with the pain I was going through” (Burt, 1998, p. 19). His words are incredibly powerful, illustrating clearly that the amount of pain he was in made  his quality of life little to none. I can relate to the fact that when you are in pain, time seems to stand nearly still. Now, I cannot say I have experienced Dax’s level of pain for that lengthy span of time, but if I imagine the worst pain I have ever been in, spanning over months or even years, the thought of wanting my life to end does not seem unreasonable. 

Another quote of Dax’s really resonated with me: “Until we are the ones who are feeling the pain, until we are the ones who are on the sick bed, we cannot fully appreciate what the other person is going through” (Burt, 1998, p. 16). I find this to be true some levels of pain defy comprehension, meaning it is just unimaginable unless you are the one experiencing it. It is one thing to see someone in an extraordinary amount of pain and tell them there is a light at the end of tunnel, and it is another thing entirely to endure that pain yourself. For the person not in pain and trying to provide comfort (with the best of intentions), you are able to think about other things and time passes by normally, so to you the time until the pain will pass for this person may seem reasonable. However, for the person in pain, they cannot think about anything else and time is moving slower, so the light at the end of the tunnel is 100 times further away. 

Now this is where the Principle of Autonomy is so important: it should be up to the person in pain to decide how much they are willing to bear. Of course, they must be fully informed on their prognosis in order to make such a decision.

That being said, I think this scenario it is not as simple when it comes to kids. In my opinion, everything seems like a bigger deal when you’re a kid because you have less experiences to put things into perspective. Their brains are still developing and have less capability to grasp the bigger picture. That is where it is important for them to have an advocate(s) with the kid’s best interest in mind. However, that is not to belittle the pain of kids, and that raises questions: When should a kid’s wishes overrule that of the advocate(s)? When does a kid become capable of controlling their own autonomy? 

 

Sources:

Burt, Robert A., “Confronting Death: Who Chooses? Who Controls? A Dialogue between Dax Cowart and Robert Burt” (1998). Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 706.

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