I2—The Daily Collegian Friday, November 7, 1975 Euthanasia: murder or dignified death? By DAVE MORRIS Collegian Staff Writer At the age of 42, Betty Rogers was a hard-working, cheerful American housewife. She baked from scratch, washed dishes without the aid -of an electric dishwasher and helped her three teen-age children with their homework. She was active in church and community affairs and served as a volunteer at the local hospital Bet ty Rogers - never made it to her next birthday. On the way home from a club meeting. she was involved in an automobile accident which left her paral fed and unable to speak. After se% oral months of costly hospital care, it became apparent that she would never mii C again A~ the medical costs mounted, her husband had to take a second job to pay the bills Three days before her 43rd htrthda~, Betty painfully scrawled her tlu , ,bcind a note doctors said it must have taken her hours to write begging to let her die because she couldn't enjoy lite and didn't vi ant to he a burden to the All er readini; and discussing the note. Bell s husband. the doctor and the cler* man decided to let Betty die peacelull The plug on the iron lung which kept her alive was pulled, and se\ erallmurs later Betty was dead. At the time of her death Betty was a ‘egetable Her heart was beating and her brain vv as I uncl liming, but she could liot speak or n o ne The decision to let her die was a difficult one for all in volved, but it ended her suffering. Betty Rogers chose euthanasia: to die with dignity and by choice. A similar case now rests in the hands of a Neu Jersey judge. Karen Ann Quinlan. 21. has been in a coma for six months. apparently after taking a combination of drugs and alcohol. Doctors working on the case say Karen has suffered irreparable brain damage, and doctors have offered no hope that ,he can recover. She is in a persistent vegetative Dr. Julius Korein testified in court last week. "I don't believe she can think in any of the senses we talk of. She can't calculate, can't reason. In my opinion she has no awareness, no con sciousness Karen's parents asked doctors at St. Clare's Hospital to remove the respirator which keeps her breathing. The pMsicians refused and the ensuing court battle has thrust the plight of the Qum'ails into the national spotlight. "I didn't want her to die," Joseph Quinlan told the court. -"I just wanted to put her back in her natural state and lea e her to the Lord. If the Lord wants her to live in a natural state, she'll live. It he %%ants her to die, she'll die." Judge Robert Muir Jr. is expected to reach a decision in the next week, a deci!,ion vduch will likely set a legal precedent. Muir must decide if pulling the plug on Karen's respirator would be ,m act of mercy or homocide. Euthanasia has been practiced widely by veterinarians for years, but the idea oi allowing a human being to die no matter how hopelessly ill or injured appalls many people. Catholics in particular, which the Quitilans are, are opposed to mercy Archbishop of New York Cardinal ('nuke opposed euthanasia before the American Health Congress in 1972. "I First come, first served Collegian living the daily contrary to nature and against the law of God." he said. "I also believe that to deprive the deformed, the mentally ill and those who suffer from an incurable disease, of their lives, as though these people are somehow inferior in value and in dignity, is a crime which offends all humanity." Those clergymen, doctors, lawyers and others who oppose euthanasia have taken cases to court to press the issue, but no legal precedents have yet been established. The first known euthanasia case took place in New Hampshire in 1950, when Dr Herman Sander was charged with murdering a cancer-stricken patient. According to his testimony, the patient was in extreme pain and would have died in a few days. She begged the doctor to end her misery, so he injected 10 cubic cen timeters of air into her blood four times and she was dead within 10 minutes. The doctor even listed the injections on the patient's record. After a long court battle, Sander was placed on probation. Because of the legal questions it raises, euthanasia is a touchy question with doctors. Many of the arguments offered by those who oppose euthanasia question when a doctor can declare a person dead or when he should stop or start treatment which results in death. In a medical sense, death occurs when the heart and lungs stop functioning and the brain is deprived of oxygen. If resuscitation isn't started after this "clinical death," the brain dies. It is possible. however, to revive a person to the point of life -t- where the heart and lungs resume working— but the brain, if starved too long, remains inactive. If a person's brain is destroyed but basic body for are maintained artificially for some time, when does the person actually die? This is the question asked most by euthanasia supporters. Many terminally ill patients and others who - realize the potential burden upon the family have no desire to be "plugged in" and kept alive after all reasonable hope for survival is gone. Such persons have joined the Euthanasia Society of America, whose membership has grown in four years from 600 to 50,000, and have filled out a "Living Will" distributed by the Society. In part the will states: "If there is no reasonable expectation of my recovery from physical, mental or spiritual disability, I request that I be allowed to die and not be kept alive by artificial or heroic means." The will, although it is not binding and has no legal standing, does allow friends, family, clergy, doctors and lawyers to know a person's intent. One of the problems facing physicians is the interpretation of such a document. Before a Senate Special Committee on the Aging in 1972, Dr. Laurence V. Foye Jr., director of educational services for the Veterans Administration, testified fur clarification of the will: "Suppose you are unconscious after an automobile accident and if I bring you back to consciousness you will end up with a stiff knee for the rest of Your life. Does that mean since, after all, a stiff knee is a physical . disability that I should let you die?" Foye and others who spoke at the hearings agreed that legislation should he carefully defined to avoid im plications. Dr. Arthur E. Morgan, former president of Antioch College, LIBRARY SPACE IS AT A PREMIUM these days, so unless you enjoy sitting on the floor, it•s a wise bet to get there early. says, "Legislation bearing upon the right to live should be as effective in protecting life, where circumstances indicate that course as desirable, as in providing for the ending of life where that conclusion is called for." A recent bill passed by the Florida Legislature states that if two licensed physicians declare a person terminally ill, the patient may, at any time order that life-prolonging medical treatment be stopped. The bill, the first of its kind in the nation, was proposed by Dr. Walter W. Sackett, a member fo the Florida House of Representatives. He told the Senate committee that he has allowed "hun dreds of patients to die" and says 75 per cent of all doctors have. Those in favor of outright euthanasia legislation claim that allowing a "hopeless" person to die will remove serious emotional and physical burdens from the family. Many times a family member has to take a second job to meet medical expenses, all the while enduring the suffering of a dying relative. Sometimes that endurance doesn't last. In 1967, for example, a 23-year-old college student shot and killed his mother, who was suffering from leukemia and had only several days to live. She had been, according to doctors, in extreme pain and three days earlier had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. She begged her son to kill her, and eventually he complied. In January 1969, the man was found not guilty by reason of insanity, ruled no longer insane and was released. For other families the endurance of suffering lasts longer than many people deem necessary. One such family is that of Elaine Esposito, who is 40 years old but doesn't know it. At age six, Elaine underwent an ordinary appendectomy and never regained consciousness. After a year of expert medical care didn't help, her parents, now in their mid-60s, took her home and have cared for her ever since. Elaine. who has grown to full adult height but still has the face of a child, has been in a coma for 34 years. Her parents feed her with tubes, change her position in bed and give her love love she can't return. "Is it fair to the child? Is it fair to the parents?," asks the Rev. J. Marlyn Rimert, a United Methodist minister in State College. "When Elaine dies, the whole of her parent's existence will be gone. The father won't need the three jobs he maintains to pay the bills. The mother won't have anyone to turn in bed. When she is gone they will probably experience severe emotional problems, more severe than if she were allowed to die in the beginning." As a clergyman, Rev. Rimert has dealt first-hand with death and euthanasia. He tells of one middle-aged mother in his congregation who was terminally ill with cancer. While able, she taught her children, ages 10 and 12, how to be in dependent. "She knew what was coming," Rev. Rimert recalls, "and she was prepared by preparing her children to get along. "When she was no longer conscious, her husband and I talked about pulling the plug, and I presume this is what hap pened in this case." At a meeting of United Methodist clergy last spring in Philipsburg, Rev. Rimert and other ministers were ad dressed by Bruce Hilton, director of the my, my Ahysician, my laac,ye?, my (le tyyman .47, any medical facibily in ramie can , Aahiren le • :Yid any inalirciactai acha may 4ctnne teVeem.lif:le fee my health, feefiale ne Veal!, is as mach a watily (74 11/1 1 / 1 vcarth, matatity and ad aye it is Me one cellainty Ve. .C/ the time comes when , ran no kmyee fake /at/ in eleeilions At my own iithe?e, ht this statement stand as an- exfiwssion oi my wishes, white .0 am .stifirlsoand mine/. f: tat 1/fttaliew 41'cm/el alise in ar/Weir Men , is 116 eeasfietaele e.rfteetatif,n el ' my eeef , geey indm Allysiral fie mental a l isedilify, eeltaest Mal ( , e nM:fre(/fe , eke awe liff 1:4 9 )(eft/ (1111:e y aefilielal means rye heme ' e ?FS. eleaM fisei/ (IS mach as Me ina l ignifies r/ a l eleter , eatiedee, a l ejtemlenee ana l hejleless /rain.. 9 fleeeeAee ash Mai neeelicaileml / r y fe, me to alleviate sal7 , ein9 , ere,/ flmasrh ads ma, inisten Me moment death. ?elates/ is made aftee eaafit/ ecn.sieleadie,n. /mite yca raw , A? me fe:fl/ Ael ate,tally &rola Ile, Alif:fr maaalal e. .g . eveedynire Mat firi4 altfieete..t /dare a /term/ tPslto)tSr~i iffy filif%ll y6ll, it is with Me latentie,a ee/lering y6a e/Jarh aari et Alacrity rthe.ly mysel/ia areeitelemee for// Juy .11a.,a 5 reiaric/ir.41.1. Ma/ Mfli.ifatemeal is made. state WilitesJ )titne.l.i iht:l ieffteeJi hare /wen 'leen National Center of Biotics in Leonia, N.J. Hilton predicts that by the end of the century, because of the advances in medical technology, 80 per cent of all deaths will be elective. That is, a person will be able to decide whether or not to prolong his life artificially. Dr. Foye, who spent nine years treating terminal cancer cases, says a person should be allowed to make that decision now and doctors should comply. "I think the patient has a perfect right to say: 'I am going home, I am leaving the hospital, I am discharging you from the case, I am refusing the next form of treatment you offer.' " But Foye says he does not think a doc tor should make the decision of when to pull the plug. He says, "I think the re sponsibility of the physician to his pa tient is that he do everything he can for that patient's welfare, that patient's comfort, that patient's life. And when death defeats him, so be it, but I don't think he should give the game away by default. I think death should be the failure point, not the goal." Foye and Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, auther of the book "On Death and Dying," argued before the Senate committee that death should be a family matter and, where possible, take place at home. They said statistics show that ~~:fi4~~:3x T .I,' ' A weekly look at life in the University community a .Y4ting, olfia 80 per cent of all deaths now occur in hospitals or nursing homes, where doctors and staff members battle to prolong life without caring for the patients well-being. "He may cry for rest, peace and dignity, but he will get infusions, trans fusions, a heart machine or tracheotomy if necessary," Ross says. "He may want one single person to stop for one single minute so that he can ask one single question, but he will get a dozen people around the clock, all busily preoccupied with his heart rate, pulse, electrocardiogram or pulmonary func tions, his secretions and excretions, but not with him as a human being." If dying at home is not feasible, Ross proposes a "hospice" such as St. Christopher's in London. "Basically, St. Christopher's is a hospital for dying patients," she says. "But the at mosphere there is one of love, care and acceptance, so it is a beautiful place to be." Several hospices are now open in the U.S. and many others are in various stages of planning. As one doctor told the Senate committee, "Soon it will be humane to die again." While the arguments for and against euthanasia continue, many individuals are choosing sides. Each side has valid Library seats Be JOANNE NICLAUGILLIN Collegian Staff Writer Walk into Pattee on any week night toward the end of the term, and people are everywhere. There are people in the reading rooms. in the Undergraduate Library, in the stacks, sometimes even on the floor. The library is jammed, and seats are almost impossible to find. Pattee is becoming more and more crowded throughout the term in addition to the usual rush right before finals, ac cording to Charles H. Ness, Pattee's assistant dean for public services. "This term we have been more aware of crowded conditions in all areas of the library," Ness said. "In the life sciences and reference departments and in the Undergraduate Library, we are almost always near capacity, if not at full capacity." Ness said attendance at Pattee in 1975 is six to seven per cent greater than it was during the same period last year. More people are using the library's facilities for research, frequently filling Pattee's 1700 seats. Moreover, more people are coming to Pattee just to study. It is this point that Ness feels should receive consideration. "This year I have been more im pressed than ever before with the need for more adequate study space on cam pus," Ness said. "I feel the University could bengit from a study of potential areas that might be used as study space." Ness said Pattee's crowding problem and the need for more study space are not issues that will disappear as time passes. He predicted that the trend toward increased use of Pattee for studying will continue during the next three years. •' 2 'T T 3;44.4 Photo by Ira Joffe "There are few commuter students 9 '. • Wiled Get 'em while they're hot arguments, but perhaps the best point made during the Senate hearings was taken from an essay written by Dr. Morgan's late wife. Lucy. The article, included in the Congressional record, is entitled "On Drinking the Hemlock." In part it reads: "My father and mother both died on the farm 'at about 60. Until their last illnesses, they were active and vigorous, and life seemed good to them in spite of the lack of modern sanitation of lighting in the house. All of their brothers and sisters went to the city, lived in modern houses and openly pitied my mother's lot as farmer's wife. "In their protective environments, they have gone on living until their average age is 80. One is blind, one is terribly crippled with rheumatism the keen mind of another is entirely faded, and the oldest, though he lives as a cherished possession in his son's beautiful home. is cared for by a paid attendent. With his contemporaries all scattered. I hardly . f onder that he longs to die "They still say to me. If only your mother could have led an easier life. she might be with us still ' But there has never been any question in my mind that her fate was kinder " here." Ness said. "There are no other libraries of any real size for the students to use. This puts pressure on Pattee " Ness said that the problem is not unique to Pattee. Overcrowding is a problem at any large university library located in a rural area. "I don't want to discourage people from coming to the library to study," Ness said. "But it might be more con venient for everyone if study space was available near the dorms." Ness said the branch libraries on cam pus, including undergraduate branches in East and Pollock Halls, are being used more extensively, but they are not a solution to relieving the pressure on Pa t •tee. "There's no real spillover from Pattee into the study areas of these libraries," Ness said Ness pointed out several advantages in using existing facilities on campus for study space. "It is often difficult to keep Pattee quiet with so many students there," Ness said. "Study areas could be organized and monitored so the students could be assured of quiet." Ness said facilities for group studies, which can be provided only ocfasionally in Pattee because of limited space, might be more easily obtained in these study areas. In addition, these study areas might be kept open around the clock, according to Ness, but the present budget precludes extending library hours on a regular basis. Ness said possibilities for expanding study space in the library are being'in vestigated. In the meantime, he said he thinks there are areas on campus that might be used as study space if the situation were looked into.
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