Bioethics Discussion Blog: Would you dare to refuse to have the batteries replaced?

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Saturday, December 04, 2010

Would you dare to refuse to have the batteries replaced?

Here is a question that I posed on Medpedia, medical information and discussion site. I thought I would also challenge the visitors here. ..Maurice.


You are the son or daughter and legal surrogate of a very elderly mother, care for her at home, who has
severe Alzheimer's Disease and has a cardiac pacemaker whose batteries are now failing. Would you
dare to refuse to have the batteries replaced?

Would your decision be any different if she was being cared for in a nursing home institution? Would refusal to replace failing batteries be any different than making a request to the patient's doctor to have the pacemaker with functioning batteries to be turned off? In answering these questions let's assume your mother never had anticipated having the need for a cardiac pacemaker so had never discussed with you about replacing batteries or for what reasons to request that it be turned off.

4 Comments:

At Thursday, December 09, 2010 1:17:00 PM, Blogger Billy Rubin said...

I originally thought that you were going to ask whether you would dare to let the batteries go out and refuse to replace them if you were the doctor, which is a whole 'nother story.

Anyway, yes, I would let the batteries die, and no, I wouldn't begrudge anyone who chose the opposite for Mom. There is a difference, to me, between letting the batteries die (a passive strategy) and taking them out (an active one).

Though, truth be told, having just lived through my father's brutal and senseless 10-day stint in the ICU before his death despite clear-cut instructions to the contrary in his living will, I'd have happily ripped any electrical wiring out of his chest to stop his heart, passivity be damned.

 
At Sunday, December 12, 2010 6:37:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This may be taken as a useful continuation of the previous post on aid in dying. If we acknowledge that some conditions of life are so horrible that we will not undertake active measures to prolong them, is that ethically any different than taking active measures to hasten death? Does passivity change the moral character of the act?

In the specific instance, my actions would depend on what kind of Alzheimer's it was. Some people with Alzheimer's are relatively happy and goofy. Some are in hell, a prison of the mind, in fear of their surroundings, insomniacs, depressed, violent and despairing. I continue to believe that it is moral to have the same consideration for people that we do for pets . . . if there is nothing left in life but pain and degradation, physical and psychological both, let it end.

 
At Friday, December 17, 2010 2:10:00 PM, Blogger Last Remaining Light said...

I think it depends a lot on the mother's symptoms. If my mother were bordering on insanity and had no independence left, then I might refuse. On the other hand, if she could still hold a somewhat normal conversation and had a hobby, I wouldn't think of it.

There is a huge grey area and honestly I don't think I know exactly what I would do until I could experience the situation. But I do know that, if I felt she no longer had reason to live or enjoyment in life, I would not feel bad refusing to replace the batteries.

I don't really think there is any effectual difference between refusing to fix the batteries and actually taking the batteries out, but it's all a matter of intent; a failure to take positive action rarely seems as worthy of blame as a negative action...

 
At Friday, March 08, 2013 7:30:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

if you know anything about alzheimers , you would know that any type of anesthesia and or surgery causes a great decline in all patients who have it done. they never return to even the level of stability that they had before any procedure. it does depend on the quality of life for the patient. Dementia alone eventually and tortuously kills people .

 

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