"Terminally ill patients should not continue to maintain treatment" draft of the fourth defense

Thank you, President. I will now make a summary statement for our side. First of all, let me point out a few loopholes in the debate (I will clearly answer the questions raised by the opposing side in the following summary statement)

1. The opposing side just said that the patients themselves want to continue the treatment very much but are forced to give up due to social factors. Then I can't help but have a question, the patient's long-term treatment has made his family physically and mentally exhausted. After visiting doctors, we know that more than 90% of terminal patients ask doctors to remove the tubes because they can't bear the pain caused by chemotherapy. We believe that terminally ill patients should not have to endure such an undeserved disaster before they die. Please think about it, when life is coming to its end, is it better to choose to use medical treatment and all kinds of drugs to prolong life painfully, or to give up those complicated maintenance equipment and die naturally.

2. The other side just said that filial piety is the first thing to do, and they can't bear to see the patient leave like this. Yes, the Chinese people advocate "filial piety as the basis", "hundred good filial piety first", in the eyes of the people, if the loved ones still have a breath of air in the case of letting them lose their lives in advance is simply treasonous. So they are willing to spend countless amounts of money, to desperately drag the relationship to send red envelopes, to buy their own peace of mind, to buy a good reputation. Some even go so far as to dump their families' money just to beg the doctors to give their loved ones one more day to survive. So they cried because they were moved by their filial piety, and so did those around them because they were moved by their filial piety. However, they never ask their loved ones, those who are full of tubes with tears in their eyes but can not say a word, living, will not be very painful. "Moral abduction" is really a very sad thing. As the saying goes, it is human nature for people to die of old age, not to use love to bind others, no matter how kind your encouragement is how beautiful it looks, it is a requirement for him, requiring him to struggle in this pain. Instead of prolonging the length of the patient's life, it is better to ensure the quality of their existence, so that they retain their dignity.

3. The other side of the debate has just absurdly suggested that continued treatment contributes to medical research and performs miracles. The other side of the defense you are not contradicting each other, the former just said filial piety and the latter said to contribute to the medical argument, this argument is not inevitably a bit of a slap in the face. Moreover, we can not have a sacrifice a patient into the development of the idea of medicine, it is true that the history of the development of medicine, is the life of countless patients piled up, but as a doctor, the first consideration is still the patient's well-being, because the medicine itself is in order to save people, rather than letting the patient in the pain of the lingering, lifting the pain, is the responsibility of humanitarianism, is the responsibility of the medical doctor.

5. The other side of the defense also told us that terminal patients need psychological treatment. The other side of the defense ah you should be talking about hospice care, hospice care is not a cure, but a focus on the patient in the weeks or even months before the death of the patient, to alleviate the symptoms of the disease, delay the development of the disease of medical care. Do hospital nurses love their patients more than their loved ones? Obviously not. Birth, old age, sickness and death are the complete circle of life. Everyone cannot escape the day when life runs out. We believe that people at the end of life, please do not continue to do traumatic treatment for the patient, cherish the last companion is the best psychological treatment.

6. The other side mentioned the problem of moral theory. Let's talk about social morality. There is a news report about a patient's family asking medical staff to help them keep the secret of "voluntarily giving up treatment". They couldn't bear the pressure of public opinion from their friends and neighbors. If a patient is classified as being at the end of his or her life, then from the perspective of medical ethics, the hope is to improve the quality of the patient's last life, no longer treating the disease, but rather focusing on pain relief, supportive therapies, and holistic care. Focus on the quality of life, not the quantity.

The other side of the defense said so much, the subtext is only that the terminal patients in the death of the dying still have to bear the pain, to die also to die in the hospital bed, the death of the appearance can not be intact, the body full of tubes, a person lying in the cold ward, have not had time to look at the world's last look before closing their eyes. Throughout the entire debate on the surface of the treatment of terminally ill patients, in fact, the length of life and the value of life choice, for life, everyone has their own right to live and die, but today we are discussing the person is a terminally ill patient, he does not have the means to decide, at this point the quality of life has a higher status than the length of life. Expensive treatments and no expense spared to save a life do not hide the sickness and suffering caused by the disease, or the fact that a patient who is kept alive by machines is actually going to die. In the words of a dying mother, " There is no need to hover when life comes to an end; that's something all people can't get around. The difficult struggle to survive with tubes all over the body, the resuscitation that drags everyone to exhaustion, the lingering existence without death, the prolongation of life without quality or dignity ...... are not what I want. Twilight can calmly and peacefully leave, the life to the soil to nature, my heart yearning for. "

The natural departure of a loved one under birth, old age and death is not a failure. The death of a loved one who has lost his or her dignity is what we really regret.

In summary: we identify and unanimously believe that the terminally ill should not continue to be treated continuously

Cunjin College of Guangdong Ocean University