Argumentative Essay: Bartling And Assisted Suicide

Death is an inevitable outcome of every individual’s life. Regardless of age, death is always a possibility that could result in any medical situation, whether it be intentional or unintentional. In the medical case regarding Mr. William Bartling, he is not only an elderly man, but he is an elderly man who is having to suffer through life with five fatal diseases and one collapsed lung and is not allowed to die peacefully due to the refusal of multiple medical personnel. The Bartling case has many unanswered questions that need to be discussed. The removal of Bartling’s respirator would not be considered assisted suicide, although there are aspects of this case that support why the hospital would believe this was assisted suicide. According to the case, “He had signed a living will in an attempt to avoid just such a situation;” however it also states, “The hospital’s attorney took the position that Bartling was ambivalent on the question of his death” (Muson and Lague, page 625). Although it would …show more content…
The main reason that Bartling’s hand were tied to the bed was in order to ensure that he would not keep removing his chest tube. This can be seen as acceptable under the principle of nonmaleficence. The meaning of this principle states, “above all, do no harm” (Munson and Lague, page 933). In the eyes of healthcare professionals, they saw Bartling constantly removing his chest tube as a causing harm to himself because he was not following medical advice. Although this statement is true, these healthcare professionals were not taking into consideration the constant harm that Bartling was having to live and suffer through. Had certain principles been seen differently within the eyes of the hospital, the request that Bartling had made would have potentially been