Artificial Life Or Death

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It is also one of the more common cases
where euthanasia is requested. Brain death is when all brain activities cease.
The lines are fairly well drawn in the law about patients who are
suffering but are still compotent, but when the law is asked to determine the
fate of a lingering, comatose, incompotent patient the lines begin to blur. In
many cases the courts turned to the patient's family, but what if there are not
any or they disagree? In such cases who decides? In a controversial decision a
Massachusetts court allowed that it would invoke its own "substitute judgement"
on behalf of a mentally ill woman. In a second case mentioned in the January 7
issue of Newsweek, a Minnesota Surpreme court turned to three hospital ethics
committees to review a dying loner's case, followed their collected wisdom and
ordered him off the respirator so that he could have a dignified death. "It is
the first time ethics committees played a significant role in the court" says Dr.
Ronald E. ...

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terms of our technological
miricals that we do not impose life on people who, in fact, are suffering beyond
our ability to help."
In Christianity Today January, 1990 there is a statement that I think is
the epitome of all that advocates of euthanasia say and believe, "In todays
society, where technological advances have given us the power to prolong the
quantity of life long beyond what many believe is life with any dignity or
degree of quality, pulling the plug or removing the tube should not be
considered a sin of commission, murder, or suicide ; but a humble
acknowledgement of our finitude." (6)
Should we ever give up on our friends and family, isn't there always a
chance of normal ...

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