Case Study: Mary Robaczynski and Harry Gessner Case Study

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Right to life is a fundamental right that every human being is entitled to and no one has the right to take it except under certain conditions for instance when one is threatening the lives of other people. Mary Rose Robaczynski killed Harry Gessner because she disconnected his respirator without a good reason. Even the principle of autonomy does not apply when it comes to the right to life because no one is allowed to take his or her own life and that is why suicide is a crime. Every individual under the face of this earth must work hard to protect life at all costs. Mary Rose Robaczynski was not justified to take Gessner’s life because he was going to die within a few hours because if that was the case she should have been patient a little bit longer. The most highlighting information from this case is that Mary was quoted saying that she normally does what she did to Gessner for patients whom God really knows’ whether they are alive. This means that Mary killed Gessner out of mercy.

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The most crucial responsibility of all medical personnel is to save lives. As a professional medical practitioner, a nurse is expected to take care of patients by using his or her skills and intellectual ability. Mary acted out of emotions because when she was pressed she argued that she acted in the best interest of the patient. If she clearly knew her work, then there was no reason for her to feel helpless. Gessner’s call for his life to be terminated should not have surpassed the professional requirements. At the time of disconnecting the respirator, Gessner was not in the right mental capacity to give informed consent therefore; one would wonder where Mary got her reasons to take such an action because there is no evidence that Gessner’s next of kin gave her the consent to do so. Sometimes in the Intensive Care Units, patients whom the doctors have no hope in their recovery survive and so, human life is sometimes unpredictable. The surest test that can confirm that a patient will survive an illness or not is death therefore, before then all other claims are just opinions.

Even if Mr. Gessner had asked to be disconnected from the respirator, my view would remain the same. Suicide is a crime in almost every country because the fact remains that no individual has a right to take life unless under acceptable circumstances. The principle of autonomy states that every individual has a right to make his or her choices however, it does not give a person the right to choose whether to live or not. In my opinion, a patient ought not to choose whether to be treated or not because it would be a crime if failure to put a patient under medication leads to death. Due to the painful experiences of illnesses, isolation, and associated trauma, patients usually feel the urge to take their lives by themselves or through the help of medical personnel.

In conclusion, the moment Maryland General Hospital admitted Mr. Gessner to its facility it went into an agreement that it would try its best to restore him back to normal health. Mary as a nurse betrayed the hospital’s expectations by not performing her duty as expected. The best thing she should have done is to try and provide the best care she could and leave him to fight for his life to the end. The above arguments prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mary acted unprofessionally by disconnecting Gessner’s respirator which led to the termination of his life and so her action was a form of negligence for not taking a human life seriously.

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IvyPanda. (2022, September 15). Case Study: Mary Robaczynski and Harry Gessner. https://ivypanda.com/essays/case-study-mary-robaczynski-and-harry-gessner/

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"Case Study: Mary Robaczynski and Harry Gessner." IvyPanda, 15 Sept. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/case-study-mary-robaczynski-and-harry-gessner/.

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IvyPanda. (2022) 'Case Study: Mary Robaczynski and Harry Gessner'. 15 September.

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IvyPanda. 2022. "Case Study: Mary Robaczynski and Harry Gessner." September 15, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/case-study-mary-robaczynski-and-harry-gessner/.

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IvyPanda. "Case Study: Mary Robaczynski and Harry Gessner." September 15, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/case-study-mary-robaczynski-and-harry-gessner/.

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