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Persuasive Essay On Ethical Dilemmas

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In addition to the error of no defined standards that proof needed to meet, the state of Missouri and SCOTUS failed to see that PVS is an especially unique situation. Nancy, as an autonomous adult, is to be protected of her right to refuse treatment. Surrogate or proxy decision makers for those in PVS are to also be respected for they are representing that patient unable to do so. Justice Brennan, in his dissenting opinion, accurately employs that “…the improperly biased procedural burden…” the right of autonomy in refusing medical treatment (Menikoff, 2001, p. 317). The parents of Nancy were unethically held to this biased procedure of providing evidence, which, without defined practices of procedure, ensures the state will always insert its …show more content…

George Annas (1990), J.D. and M.P.H. at the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, corroborates this disrespect in his opinion on the case of Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health. Annas (1990) argues that “Nancy Cruzan has been deprived not only of her right to decide, but also of the protective role of her family” (p. 674). In this decision of the state of Missouri and the reaffirmation of the SCOTUS, Nancy has been ignored of her autonomous rights and the right of surrogates to express her autonomy, as Annas (1990) demonstrates. It is the suggestion of Annas (1990) that the burden evidence lay at the hand of the states, rather than the family expressing the interest of the patient. In addition in his dissenting opinion, Justice Stevens advocates that the interests expressed by the individual and complimented by those of third parties, are above any input from a state policy (Menikoff, 2001, p. 322). This is consistent with my view that any evidence provided by the surrogates of patients with PVS be adequate against any prevailing state interest

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