What is life? Reading for the humanities Section 1 and essay section 2

Three interesting recent articles provide food for thought on how we deal with life and death in a medical setting.

First, ABC journalist Lyndal Curtis talks about the loss of her stillborn daughter Madeline and how she considers Madeline to be as much a daughter of hers as if she had lived. Several readers share their loss of a child in the comments, and it's heartbreaking to hear of parents whose loss is ignored just because their child's death occurred before birth.

Clare Skinner writes in the Sydney Morning Herald about Do Not Resuscitate orders and asks us all to consider our own wishes in this situation.

Medical ethics rest on four basic principles: beneficence (do good), non-maleficence (do no harm), autonomy (respect your patient as a rational individual) and justice (be fair). In the modern era, with information-savvy and potentially litigious patients expecting more from a resource-strapped and politicised health system, the latter two are frequently the source of conflict.

She emphasises the difference between the medical practice of the emergency room - of doing no harm, of required consults with a distraught and uninformed family, of keeping the patient alive at great cost - and better palliative practice of providing comfort and support in death.

Finally, neurologist Dr Grumpy posts about his experience with a husband unable to accept the death of his wife, a situation where a Do Not Resuscitate order could save resources and human suffering. Commenter Celeste quotes a Bloomberg article:

"Looking back, memories of my zeal to treat are tinged with sadness. Since I didn’t believe my husband was going to die, I never let us have the chance to say goodbye."

I believe our society misses out on that experience: the opportunity to say good-bye and the wisdom that comes from listening to people who are dying.