Pro-euthanasia people typically portray euthanasia as a case.
If a person decides that he wants to.
die, perhaps you or I do not think this is a good decision,.
but what right do we have to tell him that he cannot do.
this? .
They usually describe a situation like this: A person.
has some terrible, deadly disease. He is trapped in a.
hospital bed, with all sorts of medical equipment connected.
to him, unable to move or do much of anything except exist.
He is in terrible pain. He begs to have these machines.
disconnected, so he can go home and live out whatever life.
he has left and die in peace. But the doctors refuse,.
because to turn off the machines would surely result in his.
death, and they have an ideological bias against doing a.
thing like this. .
In a real life case, this happened to a 78 year old.
Massachusetts man. Earle Spring is confined to a wheelchair.
with almost no communication to the outside world. "For.
more than two years, since his physical and then mental.
health began to detoriate, Earle Spring has been kept alive.
by spending five hours on a kidney dialysis machine three.
times a week. Since January 1979, his family has pleaded to.
have him removed from the life-support system." (Goodman). .
A judge ruled to allow him to be removed from the life.
support systems. "But then , in a sudden revelation , an.
outside nurse and doctor visited Earle Springa and testified.
that he was alert enough to make a weak expression of his.
desire to live. And so the treatments were resumed.".
(Goodman). No judge tried to speak with Early and no.
psychiatrist ever testified in a court of law. Where does.
this leave Earle and his family? Eventually Spring was.
taken off the machine because the judge felt the family knew.
what he would have wanted. This case is a perfect example.
of a man who is labled "incompetent" and is not in the.
condition to make decisions. There is the possibility of a.
Living Will. "A Living Will is a document by which a person.
