Life And Death In Joe Bonham's Johnny Got His Gun

The Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest binding documents in history. It was written by the physician Hippocrates and despite being written centuries ago, many doctors still take the oath and use it to guide them in the ethical practice of medicine. It states “First do no harm.” Throughout history, doctors has done as much as they can to treat and keep their patients as comfortable as humanly possible. But this line of reason begins to blur with the issue of physician assisted suicide. Joe Bonham, the main character in the novel Johnny Got His Gun, wakes up in unfamiliar surrounds to find out he 's a blind, deaf, and mute, quadriplegic. His doctors refuse to euthanize him and is left to live bedridden, occupied only by his own thoughts that drive him mad. In the case of Joe Bonham, it was wrong to keep him alive.

The Hippocratic Oath states that when treating patients, physicians will “First do no harm.” It goes on to states that “I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked nor suggest any such …show more content…
death but the manner of dying. Patients deserve the right to take purposeful action in deciding how they end their lives. Doctors should feel obligated to follow the wishes of the patient because the decision is all about the patient, not the doctor. Joe in Johnny 's Got His Gun felt the doctors prize themselves in being able to keep him alive. “He was probably a very famous guy by this time and the doctors were beginning to make pilgrimages. One doctor was probably saying to the others you see how we were able to do it? You see what a clever job we did? You see where the arm came off and you see the hole in his face and you see he still lives? Listen to his heart it 's beating just like your heart or mine. Oh we did a fine job when we got him. It was a great piece of luck and we 're all very proud.” (158) We instead need to look at the patient 's role rather than favor doctors that prize their self-image above the patient 's