All About Artificial Life Support Presentation

ARTIFICIAL LIFE SUPPORT

What is it?

A variety of therapies and/or techniques used to sustain life after one or more organs in the body fail

When It’s Used

When the patient experiences trauma, injury, cancer, heart attacks, or other ailments that leave the patient with some kind of organ failure

Forms of Life Support

Not all forms of life support means being hooked up to a ventilator, IV drips, wires, and machines. There are people who carry out their lives while on life support
Examples of life support:
Feeding tube
Mechanical ventilation
heart or lung bypass
Urinary catheterization
Dialysis
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Defibrillation
Artificial pacemaker

Most Basic Form

CPR—when there is cardiac arrest one would initiate the ABCs to restore homeostasis in the body

IV tubes (catheters) are inserted to put liquids and medication into the patient’s blood stream
They will be monitored very closely

Risks

Emotional
the patient’s family will go through a lot of emotional states through out the process of making life or death decisions
There are no guarantees for a positive outcome which can be very slow
Physical
Extreme pain
Skin ulcers
Brain, kidney, or other organ damage from lack of oxygen circulation
Economical
One day of life support can potentially cost thousands of dollars

Who May Decide To “Pull The Plug”

According to The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics, “A competent, adult patient, may, in advance, formulate and provide a valid consent to the withholding and withdrawing of life-support systems in the event that injury or illness renders that individual incompetent to make such a decision.“
Basically this means that a mentally stable adult may decide in advance what he/she wants if they ever become rendered unable to function mentally and physically.

Legal Documentation For Proof

Advanced Healthcare Directive (Declaration To Physician) - Written or verbal instructions for one’s care made ahead of time for use if he/she is unable to make decisions due to illness or injury.
Living Will - Allows one to make his/her wishes known about the care he/she would like to receive at the end of life.
Includes - medical procedures one would want to receive, procedures one would like to avoid, life support, being kept alive versus comfort care only

What If These Documents Are Incomplete?

According to NYS law, If a decision regarding designating a surrogate decision maker isn’t made in advance, the choice whether to withhold or withdraw life support is in the hands of the next family member.

When to Stop Life Support?

Life support can keep a body functioning—via machines– indefinitely but to what point is it considered living?
Our opinion: An educated and well-thought-out decision must be made in each given situation.
Life support is an amazing and useful technology but should only be used when a reasonable amount of hope for recovery is available.

Tips For Making A Good Decision

Consider your own feelings
Remember and weigh the known wishes of the patient
Weigh the benefits and risks of each decision
Consider gathering all family members with the patient’s best interests in mind and decide together
Each side of the argument (if there is one) may have to give a little because a unanimous decision results in the least animosity.

Dealing With The Decision

Anxiety and guilt will be felt often times after making a decision.
Dealing with the feelings experienced should be done as soon as possible because confronting one’s own feelings is the best way to get over something.
Stowing away feelings almost never has a positive result
Go to a counselor, a role model, a friend, or a family member to discuss the decision with

If It Was Me On Life Support (Person 1)

Many, but not all, Christians share a unique opinion on life support. I’m one of the Christians who has this unique opinion.
That is… if I were on artificial life support for an extended period of time and was not making any recovery progress then I’d much rather take the one way ticket to heaven because I would believe that was God’s will.

Other Viewpoints

Do not allow any form of life support for any reason
Leave people on life support as long as they survive
If someone is in a vegetative state, they should not be kept alive
If someone is in a vegetative state, they should be kept alive because they still know what’s going on

Terri Schiavo

Most famous case of the decision regarding continuing or discontinuing life support.
Collapsed due to a “heart attack from bulimia” and fell into a PVS (Persistent Vegetative State) for 11 years until she was taken off the feeding tube that kept her alive.
Husband wanted to take her off of life support and parents wanted to keep her on life support.
Terri’s parents claimed new medical treatment could restore her enough so she could tell what she wanted.
Basically every motion the parents made in court were denied because Terri was determined to be in a PVS numerous times by numerous doctors.
Final autopsy could not conclude a cause of death

Sources

Discussion Questions

1. What would you want done if you had to be on artificial life support?
2. Should the doctor’s be the one to make the decision to take the guilt off family members?
3. Is artificial life support even ethical in the first place? Should we let nature take its course with each individual?
4. What is your opinion on Terri Schiavo? Do you believe the right decision was made?
5. If one is religious, does it play a significant role in the decision making process?
6. Do you think we’re helping people live to long at the expense of their own comfort and dignity?
7. If we don’t use artificial means to support life, are we denying them the chance to live longer or recover fully?
8. What if a miracle happens while they are on life support and they are cured?
9. What if we take them off life support and they find a cure shortly after they die?

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