Replies

As repugnant as it may be, certainly to myself, to compare poor innocent Terri to a being like Anna Nicole, I realised it would be inevitable to the press. Here they are extolling the benefits of the disaster, sinking into one of the more disproved of mantras, that Terri was on life support, that starving and dehydrating a healthy woman was removal of life support.

Anna Nicole Smith might wind up doing for general estate planning what Terri Schiavo did for living wills: Raising awareness.

Nobody relishes the idea of making arrangements for handling things at death. No wonder more than half of Americans lack even a simple will, according to some estimates, and it's anyone's guess how many of those documents are up-to-date.

Schiavo made headlines two years ago when she was taken off life support and died without having made any written instructions for the possibility. Had she drafted a living will, a document that spells out one's wishes about life support, it could have avoided much anguish, cost, legal wrangling and publicity.

Anna Nicole puts planning in focus

8mm

Just what we need, more bioethickers...

But Abdool's role is one that's becoming more important as our medical technologies improve. Bioethicists deal with questions like whether stem cell research is ethical and just how much of our growing arsenal of medical treatments should be administered to a patient.

Although it's a job that may seem obscure to many of us, the issues he deals with are big ones for society to grapple with, often commanding headlines. The most recent example involves sextuplets born to a Jehovah's Witness couple in British Columbia. The bioethical discussion was fierce after the government seized three of the newborns for blood transfusions -- something that violates the tenants of their parents' religion.

There is also the case of Terri Schiavo, dominating headlines in March 2005. Schiavo had been in a persistent vegetative state for years. A battle between her husband, who wanted her feeding tube removed, and her parents, who wanted her to live on, erupted, involving decisions by U.S. legislatures and courts, and plenty of airtime.

The fact these issues command so much of our attention points to how important, and complex Abdool's job is. Bioethicists fit into growing concerns about pandemic illnesses, too, helping to figure out just how to allocate limited resources.

A doctor's job is stressful enough without the responsibility of making such decisions. And often, these ethical decisions are ones doctors simply aren't equipped to make. Like a doctor, Abdool makes life and death decisions regularly. Like a doctor, he often makes them within minutes. And not unlike a doctor, Abdool, the city's only bioethicist, is on call 24/7.

Bioethicist plays necessary role

8mm