1.0 Introduction
Ken Harrison, a deranged sculptor who is injured in a car accident finds himself in the middle of life permanently paralyzed from the neck down. He is dependent on others for his care, survival, and every day primitive needs. Ken is a strong-willed, passionate man dedicated to his art. As he continues to spend time in the hospital he discovers he does not want to continue life depending on doctors, nurses, family, and friends. Yet, the catch is that he wants to be released from the hospital with no care giving him about a week to live “So Whose life is it anyway?” Throughout the play it is discovered that the ultimate right to his life is Mr. Harrison’s. Despite the doctors and nurse opinions and medical …show more content…
Emerson proceeded to give him the medicine after he refused to take the Valium. This part of the play made me extremely uncomfortable. I could not imagine being a patient refusing medication and the doctor continues to proceed. If I was Harrison not only would I want to be discharged, but I would have sued the hospital for misconduct against a patient. In my opinion, this is one of the most unethical practices in the play.
2.2 Unethical Practice
The second unethical practice is the art of deception and white lies. Dr. Emerson knows that Harrison may never walk again or leave the hospital, but continues to encourage him and give him hope as if it will happen. I personally would not consider this to be lying, but Dr. Emerson withholds some information from Harrison. The boundary between lying and deception is often vague. He deceives with the truth. On the other end Harrison knows that the hospital just wants to keep him there to run test and monitor his condition. But, he is ready to die. Pages 18-19 is an interesting conversation between Dr. Emerson and Harrison because Harrison would like the truth and Dr. Emerson is answering his questions in-directly.
Ken: “I think you do. Spell it out for me, please. What chance have I of only being partly dependent on nursing?”
Dr. Emerson: “It’s impossible to say with certainty what the prognosis of any case