Doctors carry a lot of responsibility; they are expected to save and of fix lives. Patients know there are medical miracles, and everyone wants to be that miracle. But doctors understand the reality. If someone is suffering terminally ill, is it ethical for a doctor to end the misery? Or should they wait around for the very slim chance of a medical miracle? Richard Selzer’s “Mercy” explores the idea of a medical murder, from a morphine injection to a not so medical strangulation thought. The paranoid doctor contemplates his morals as a suffering man is on his death bed. In this doctor’s mind, there is a difference between murder for medical purposes and just plain murder. Murders, or at least the murders portrayed on TV shows, are almost
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But for this patient, it did nothing more than basically put him to sleep. The doctor is panicking because “the man will not die” (Selzer 145). Somewhere in his mind, the doctor is uncomfortable with his decision of taking this man’s life. The family knew what would happen if the doctor gave this man more morphine. As the man laid in his bed, rolling around in agonizing pain, the family continues to tell the doctor to “do it, do it now” (Selzer 143). The man had been the doctor’s patient for seven years, so at some point the doctor developed some kind of personal attachment to this patient. After giving the man the morphine that should have ended his life, the doctor said “I did not murder him. I am innocent” (Selzer 145). The doctor feels guilty because he was the one to empty the morphine filled syringes into the man’s veins. The doctor was doing as the family wished, not what he thought was right. The doctor didn’t want the man to suffer, but he also didn’t want to be the reason for this man’s death. After the strangulation thoughts, the doctor exists the man’s room in a panic to see the family patiently waiting. As the doctor is telling the family that he just isn’t ready to die, the woman says “He is ready, you ain’t” (Selzer 146). If the doctor was so uncomfortable with the thought of a medical murder, why did he even consider a much more personal murder? For the sake of the man’s comfort and the family’s …show more content…
For this doctor, his personal thoughts came up following a lethal morphine injection. The uncomfort he felt after “helping” this man showed in the panicking tendencies, seeing the IV pole with watching eyes and saying he was innocent for not killing the man. Although the doctor was uncomfortable, he did exactly as the patient and family asked. So did this doctor murder his patient? In the doctor’s eyes he did, but it was for a medical reason, not a personal one. The doctor’s intentions were right, he just wanted to help with his patient’s pain and
But for this patient, it did nothing more than basically put him to sleep. The doctor is panicking because “the man will not die” (Selzer 145). Somewhere in his mind, the doctor is uncomfortable with his decision of taking this man’s life. The family knew what would happen if the doctor gave this man more morphine. As the man laid in his bed, rolling around in agonizing pain, the family continues to tell the doctor to “do it, do it now” (Selzer 143). The man had been the doctor’s patient for seven years, so at some point the doctor developed some kind of personal attachment to this patient. After giving the man the morphine that should have ended his life, the doctor said “I did not murder him. I am innocent” (Selzer 145). The doctor feels guilty because he was the one to empty the morphine filled syringes into the man’s veins. The doctor was doing as the family wished, not what he thought was right. The doctor didn’t want the man to suffer, but he also didn’t want to be the reason for this man’s death. After the strangulation thoughts, the doctor exists the man’s room in a panic to see the family patiently waiting. As the doctor is telling the family that he just isn’t ready to die, the woman says “He is ready, you ain’t” (Selzer 146). If the doctor was so uncomfortable with the thought of a medical murder, why did he even consider a much more personal murder? For the sake of the man’s comfort and the family’s …show more content…
For this doctor, his personal thoughts came up following a lethal morphine injection. The uncomfort he felt after “helping” this man showed in the panicking tendencies, seeing the IV pole with watching eyes and saying he was innocent for not killing the man. Although the doctor was uncomfortable, he did exactly as the patient and family asked. So did this doctor murder his patient? In the doctor’s eyes he did, but it was for a medical reason, not a personal one. The doctor’s intentions were right, he just wanted to help with his patient’s pain and