A Battle Over Life Support: In Re Michael Martin (2002)

Abstract

"Today, medical technology enables us to keep people alive in situations that once would have meant their deaths. This situation often leads to painful decisions on how far we should go to keep seriously hurt or ill patients alive. Michael Martin was so badly injured that he could not make healthcare decisions for himself. His wife insisted that she had promised him she would allow him to die if he should ever become totally dependant on others. Yet Michael Martin, though clearly incapacitated, was not unconscious. Should he be kept alive or should he be allowed to die?" [description taken from cassette box] A study guide for this program is available from Choices, Inc. At http://www.choicesvideo.net/guidebooks/WAV/landmarktrialsofmodern ethicsmartin.pdf. This guide is housed with the video in the NRCBL collection. "New conditions bring new choices. Today, advances in technology and changing social norms force us to confront ethical issues that rarely arose in the past. Sophisticated medical devices can keep a patient alive in ways that were once impossible. But what if a patient--or a patient's family--doesn't wish these mechanisms to be used? Another concern involves the end of life-- who decides when it occurs? If a terminally ill person chooses to die, does that person deserve medical assistance? Or how far can a child go when he believes his parents are abusive? Very often, such delicate questions must be decided in court. LANDMARK TRIALS OF MODERN ETHICS explores some of these remarkable cases." [description taken from cassette box]