Abandon The Treatment Of Relevant Ethical And Legal Issues

The development of medicine and medical equipment has deeply impacted patients’ life. Depending on aggressive treatment, such as life-sustaining system, chemotherapeutic drug and surgery, death can be delayed. However, those dying patients are suffering from the pain caused by both illness and treatment. Under such a background, some people began to argue that people have the right to refuse treatment, and that patients need not to endure the suffering caused by illness or treatment. As the discussion going on for years, many countries introduced relevant laws to protect terminal patient’s right to refuse treatment and the right to choose natural death.Currently there is no particular regulation on end-of-life decision and natural death in China. However, the relevant topics, such as autonomy, best interest, substituted judgment and the construction of law, are hotly debated in academic field, and draw more and more attention from the public.This dissertation introduces the history of end-of-life decision and analyzes substantial ethical problems about end-of-life decision with deontological theories and consequentialist theories. The dissertation studies relevant procedural ethical problems in decision-making procedure and implementation procedure, such as the reasons for end-of-life decision and the right to make the decision, and makes suggestions about helping physicians and nurses be better prepared with these problems. The dissertation introduces the basic information, questions and situation of two types of advance directive,which are living will and durable power of attorney for health care. Based on the analysis of feasibility of promoting advance directive in China, the dissertation for the first time puts forward that "durable power of attorney for health care" can be a good method to protect Chinese patients’ autonomy. The dissertation then briefly analyzes other relevant problems, such as hospice care and death culture and death education. The last part of dissertation points out the importance of protecting patients’ autonomy, and makes a series of proposals to regulate and humanize end-of-life decision.