In this Nov. 30, 2017 file photo, a patient is seen receiving a dialysis treatment in Nagasaki. (Mainichi/Eriko Hori) | ©The Mainichi

Is “death option”, should be the appropriate thing to suggest to the patient without terminal illness?

This is one of the hot issues today. Suggesting to stop the patient’s dialysis means either giving a death sentence. Because the dialysis machine or sometimes called “artificial kidneys” helps to cleanse the dirt that becomes a poison in the blood of a patient suffering from kidney disease.

Kidney disease is a serious illness and is fatal when not treated immediately. But may extend your life a decade and still cope with life through dialysis. When dialysis is discontinued, it can poison the body. Just like the 44-year-old patient who died last August 2018 at Fussa Hospital, Fussa, Tokyo, just a few weeks after dialysis. According to the hospital, there are two more patients with a similar case-at 30 and 55 years old.

That is why it is so surprising that the patient wanted to choose the “death option” in the context of medical choices. Medical institution professionals should provide treatment to the sick and help extend its life. So everyone is shocked about the choice of a patient with a “death option” rather than “treatment of illness”. But it was learned that due to the difficulty in dialysis, as a means of treatment, it pushed the patient’s doctor to give the option to stop dialysis knowing that it will lead to death..

An important point in this case is the memorandum written by the woman confirming her understanding of her choice, and in relation to this document in her death. Patients have the right to decide their treatment choices, along with informed consent and right to self-determination. However, is self-determination an extension of right to die? There is no clear legal answer yet.

The patient who died at Fussa Hospital was the first case of a doctor who gave the patient a choice to stop dialysis which could cause the death of the patient even when the situation was about to die.

Did this doctor make it unethical and unacceptable? Or can we say that it is right to let the patient stop dialysis if we see them suffering?

Source: The Mainichi