Dax Cowart

Patient Rights

• He was discharged totally blind, without the use of hands or arms, badly scarred, and dependent on others to assist in personal functions
• He was very depressed throughout his treatment and well after

Age

• When you turn 18, become legally responsible for your actions
• Mother shouldn't be able to make decisions for you

(Starks)

Dax Cowart

Ethical Responsibilities

Lauren Crouch, Howard Houston, Ashley Howard, Casey Albritton, Rayna Hathcorn, Ajaunte Johns

• Physicians job to ensure the patient is healthy and comfortable
• Responsibility to make sure they are doing everything they possibly can
• Even though Dax was in his right mind, Physicians felt him pleading to die was only out of pain

(University of Washinton)

Implications

• Suffering becomes the determining factor for worth of a person
• Has moved society into physician assisted suicide
• Does this choice fit in a moral framework

Dax During

(Blogspot)

(Journal of the Practices of Cardiovascular Sciences)

(Heritage)

Against

For

• Requests for treatment
• Equal access to treatment
• Right to information about patient rights
• Right to kind and respectful care, Right to make decisions about your care
• Rights to give informed consent

• From a religious stand point, God should have the final say
• Many to this day believe everything happens for a reason
• By taking your own life you don't know what could have happened while you were alive
• Outlook is Dax is still alive

References

(Harris Health)

• Benatar, D. (2010, October 17). Should there be a legal right to die? Retrieved November 20, 2016, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2949364/
• Digitalcommons.law.yale.edu. (2016).  Retrieved 14 November 2016, from http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1702&context=fss_papers
• Gallagher, R. (2016, August 31). Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: The Issues ... Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://www.virtualhospice.ca/en_US/Main Site Navigation/Home/Topics/Topics/Decisions/Physician_Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia_ The Issues.aspx
• H. (2013). Rights and Responsibilities. Retrieved November 19, 2016, from https://www.harrishealth.org/en/patients/rights-and-responsibilities/pages/default.aspx
• Introduction to Clinical Ethics: Bioethical Tool. (2016). Depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 14 November 2016, from https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/tools/ceintro.html
• “Is There an Absolute Truth?”(2016). Retrieved November 17, 2016, from https://www.str.org/articles/is-there-an-absolute-truth#.WDI8eKLW40e Nichols, A. K. (2014, March 28). What is a Suffering Man Worth? - Crisis Magazine. Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/what-is-a-suffering-man-worth
• Kure, J. (2011). The "Good Death" Controversy in Humans and Animals. Retrieved November 5, 2016, from https://archive.org/stream/KUREJosefEuthanasiaTheGoodDeath.ControversyInHumansAndAnimals/KURE, Josef - Euthanasia The Good Death. Controversy in Humans and Animals_djvu.txt
• Steinbach, A. (1998). 'Please let me die' Retrieved November 21, 2016, from http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-04-26/features/1998116064_1_cowart-masks-young-man
• Schwartz, A. (2011). Dax's Case: Death, Self-Assertion, and the Logic of Life. Retrieved November 18, 2016, from http://www.andrewschwartz.net/daxs-case-death-self-assertion-and-the-logic-of-life.html
• Starks. (n.d.). Dax Cowart. Reading.

Dax Today

(Finalcut)

(Forum Unite Communiste)

Mental State

• Before: He valued life and in excellent quality of life
• During: Wanted to die and give up life while was mentally competent
• After: Depressed, tried to commit suicide multiple times

Living With His Disabilities

• Completely different lifestyle
• Before accident, he was popular, athletic young man, just discharged from the Air Force where he served in Vietnam
• Quality of life was excellent before and now he suffers life changing injuries
• Now lives with notable disfigurement, blindness, and limitation of activity

(NYU School of Medicine)

Dax Cowart

• Burned in a propane gas explosion
• Burned 65% of his body, lost his hands, eyes, ears and more than half of his skin was burnt and had to be grafted
• Went through excruciating procedures to stay alive
• After emergency treatment only had a 20% chance of survival

Autonomy

• Originally declared incompetent but later two psychologist found him mentally competent
• Wanted to stop treatment thus allowing him to die but mother wanted to continue treatment for religious reasons
• Despite his demands they continued treatment
• He was in question about his mental state because of the emotional and physical shock
• It was assumed that he did not have capacity to make his own decisions about refusing life saving treatment

• Means you can rule yourself
• Implies a respect for others
• Physicians have a duty to treat but not to judge
• Capacity of a person to make a reasoned choice on the basis of information

(Starks)