An Ethical Case Study

And Moral Resolution on the issue of

CONCEALING THE TRUTH

In partial Fulfillment of

The Requirements of the Course of

Christian Ethics

Monday & Thursday, 10:30 a.m. -12:00 n.n.

Submitted to:

REV. GEMMA OCO-CRUZ

Professor

By

Group 3

1. Lim, Antonio 6. Ocampo, Rayne Pauline

2. Llacer, Mark Arizo 7. Park, Lowell John

3. Lumucho, Darmia 8. Pinangang, Jasper
4. Mojana, Geralf 9. Protacio, Mikael
5. Nunez, Mary Antoinette 10. Punongbayan, Aaron

11. Quilario, John

 GROUP TASKING

AFFIRMATIVE TEAM NEGATIVE TEAM

Socio-Cultural-economic Aspect

Debater 1: Mojana, Geralf Llacer, Mark

Medical-Legal Aspect

Debater 2: Punongbayan, Aaron Lumucho, Darmia

Moral-Biblical Aspect

Debater 3: Protacio, Mikael Quilario, John

Team Leaders: Pinangang, Jasper Lim, Antonio

Group Consolidator: Ocampo, Rayne

Researcher/s: Debaters & Team Leaders

Encoder/s: Park, Lowell John & Nunez, Mary & Ocampo, Rayne

Lay-out Artist / Editing: Ocampo, Rayne

 Table of Contents

I. Background of the study

 Case Study
 Proposition
 A brief background of the major issue to be resolved
II. Definition of Terms/Basic Concepts
III. Major arguments with supporting evidences
IV. Conclusion, recommendations and acknowledgements
V. References
 I. Background of the Study

The case is about Doña Lucia is a 98 year old that is confined in the ICU, her
favorite daughter Beatriz suddenly died. The family couldn’t tell her what happened
because it may worsen her condition. After few days she got depressed because she’s
been not seeing Beatriz. So, the family and the hospital staff gathered to discuss what
to do about the situation.

The proposition is resolved, that it is morally permissible to conceal the truth of

the death of Beatriz from Doña Lucia.

It’s debatable because Doña Lucia has the right to know what happened to her
daughter and keeping the truth from her might just worsen her condition. Though, the
revelation of the truth should be expressed in the best way while keeping the calmness
to avoid further resulting of a negative outcome.

II. Definition of Terms

Permissible - that can be permitted; allowable.

Conceal - preventing something from being seen or known about.

Deterioration - the process of becoming progressively worse.

Depression - is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of
interest.

Autonomy - the ability to make your own decisions without being controlled by anyone
else.
III. Major Arguments
Socio-Cultural-Economic Aspect
Affirmative/Pro
It is morally permissible to conceal the
truth of the death of Beatriz from Doña
Lucia because;
1. Conceal the truth about the death of
beatriz because it will only worsen
the condition of Doña Lucia.
Supporting Evidence:
According to Lynel C. Yingling a
sociological doctor of J & L Human
Systems Development, that when a loved
one dies, those left to mourn often find
themselves in a complex web of emotions
and reactions. The death of a loved one
would result to grief and some of the
common grief reactions are feeling of
powerlessness, hypersensitivity,
overwhelming sense of loss and sorrow,
inability to concentrate, disruptive sleeping
paterns, questioning of faith and change in
eating habits. Doña Lucia would feel
frustrated and abandoned from knowing
the truth; it has a huge impact on her
especially she is confined in the ICU for
traumatic heart failure.
2. There are no positive benefits that
Doña Lucia would get from knowing
the truth about her granddaughters
death.
Supporting Evidence:
According to Daniel J. Brotman, MD,
director of the hospitalist program at Johns
Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore that emotional
stress, conceptually, is the same thing for
cardiovascular risk as physical stress.
Emotional trauma -- such as the death of a
loved one-- increases risk of heart attack
and heart death. Acute fear, grief, startling,
or anger can cause "stunned heart."
Wallops of emotion also can cause sudden
death due to life-threatening abnormal
Negative/Con
It is not morally permissible to conceal the
truth of the death of Beatriz from Doña
Lucia because;
1. Tell the truth to Doña Lucia for her
to get better because the truth will
set her free from worrying why
Beatriz is not coming.
Supporting Evidence:
Extensive efforts are in process in
some societies to make patient rights to
know the truth as a natural part of medical
practice.
We know there are consequences of
telling the truth, but if Doña Lucia know the
truth and understand the situation she had,
I think she will be okay and would get
better from her health because she will
never get depressed again from thinking
about where is Beatrix. Doña Lucia will
stop worrying about Beatriz maybe she will
in grief but sooner or later she will move
on from the dead of Beatriz.
2. There is a family that will comfort
Doña Lucia when she learned that
Beatriz is already dead and when
she is sad.
Supporting Evidence:
Family plays a key role in human life
because it can give people a sense of
home or a loving and support I've group.
Dona Lucia might get depressed
from incident that happen to Beatriz, that is
why there is a family who help you to
forget the saddest things and change it to
happiness, which is a purpose of a family.
The family will let Dona Lucia feel the love
they have for her. The family will comfort
Doña Lucia from grieving. And soon Doña
Lucia can accept the dear of her daughter
and will be happy again.
heart rhythm. There are no positive 3. Doña Lucia is too old, anytime her
benefits of telling the truth to Doña Lucia; life will end soon.
instead, it would cause a chain reaction Supporting Evidence:
that would worsen her condition physically, Certain cultural attitudes and
mentally and emotionally. responses are so ingrained in family
members that they continue to affect their
3. We all lie. Especially when we need thinking and behavior whether or not those
to conceal the truth to minimize individuals are aware of such influence.
harm, embarrassment and distress. Respect Doña Lucia for telling truth
Supporting Evidence: whether she die or not, she had a right to
White lies are those untruths which know the truth because Beatriz was her
we tell in order to minimize harm, daughter parent is always care for their
embarrassment or distress. We also tell children.
white lies to reduce our own empathetic
distress. When we value the happiness of
others, telling them the truth can be
uncomfortable. There is an unwritten
social norm of a filipino family that their
utmost priority would be the concern for
every family member. A perfect example
would be that our parents would always
ask us where are we especially when we
are not yet home by night time. They
would text or call you or sometimes even
your friends just to make sure that you go
home safe. They cannot even sleep
soundly knowing that their childrens are
still outside at night. The whole point is,
the family of Doña Lucia are aware that
telling the truth might worsen her condition
and having their utmost concern for her, it
is okay to conceal the truth instead to
minimize harm and distress.

Medical-Legal Aspect

Affirmative/Pro
It is morally permissible to conceal the
truth of the death of Beatriz from Doña
Lucia because;
1. Doña Lucia is a 98 year old woman
she has been experiencing heart
failure and already confined at ICU
at her age and condition right now
we can see that she can't handle it
if they will tell the truth to her.
Negative/Con
It is not morally permissible to conceal the
truth of the death of Beatriz from Doña
Lucia because;
1. Doña Lucia's depression raises the
risk of deterioration and death.
Supporting Evidence:
According to Dr. Roy C. Zeigelstein,
who specializes study, diagnosis, and
treatment of patient with heart disease and
 Concealing the truth is morally depression the depression raise the risk of
permissible for Doña Lucia it is the deterioration and death. In depressed
safest way for them. heart attack patients, decreased
Supporting Evidence: motivation to follow healthy daily routines
There are many physicians who can result in skipping important heart
worry about the harmful effects of medications, avoiding exercise and proper
disclosing too much information to diet, and continuing or intensifying
patients. Assuming that such disclosure is smoking and drinking habits.
done with appropriate sensitivity and tact, Individuals with depression can also
there is little empirical evidence to support experience changes in their nervous
such a fear. If the physician has some system and hormonal balance, which can
compelling reason to think that disclosure make it more likely for a heart rhythm
would create a real and predictable disturbance (called an “arrhythmia”) to
harmful effect on the patient, it may be occur. The combination of depression and
justified to withhold truthful information. a damaged heart (from a heart attack),
seems to make people particularly
2. If they will not hide the truth to Doña susceptible to potentially fatal heart rhythm
Lucia it would be worse for her abnormalities.
condition. She has been People with depression may have
experiencing a traumatic heart uncommonly sticky platelets, the tiny cells
failure so in the other hand she has that cause blood to clot. In patients with
a huge tendency that she can heart disease, this can accelerate
experience heart attack because atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
she can't handle the situation and it and increase the chance of heart attack.
will lead her to death if she finds out Some studies show that treating
that her daughter Beatriz passed depression makes platelets less sticky
away. again.
Supporting Evidence:
Providing patients with information is 2. Doña Lucia grief is better than her
fundamental to respecting autonomy. depression. Therefore, saying the
However, there may be circumstances death of Beatriz is much better than
when information may be withheld to hiding it.
prevent serious harm to the patient, a Supporting Evidence:
concept referred to as therapeutic According to Diagnostic and
privilege. Statistical Manual of mental disorders that
the grief and depression share similar
3. "To do no harm." Preserve the symptoms, but each is a distinct
patient hope that her daughter is experience. Where grief and depression
still alive it would be better for her differ is that grief tends to decrease over
condition than knowing the truth. time and occurs in waves that are
Supporting Evidence: triggered by thoughts or reminders of its
If the physicians have compelling cause. In other words, the person may feel
evidence that disclosure will cause real relatively better while in certain situations,
and predictable harm, truthful disclosure such as when friends and family are
may be withheld. Examples might include around to support them.
disclosure that would make a depressed Depression, on the other hand,
patient actively suicidal. This judgment,
often referred to as the therapeutic
privilege.
My evidences are based on the
therapeutic privilege. A therapeutic
privilege refers to an uncommon situation
whereby a physician may be excused from
revealing information to a patient when
disclosing it would pose a serious
psychological threat, so serious a threat as
to be medically contraindicated.
Moral-Biblical Aspect
Affirmative/Pro
It is morally permissible to conceal the
truth of the death of Beatriz from Doña
Lucia because;
1. It is morally permissible to conceal
the truth of the death of Beatriz from
Doña Lucia due to the reason that it
might worsen her situation and may
eventually cause her death. It is
permissible to conceal the truth of
the death of Beatriz from Doña
Lucia for it is better for her not to
know the truth rather than know the
truth and might be the cause of
worsening her situation, and might
tends to be more persistent and pervasive.
An exception to this would be atypical
depression, in which positive events can
bring about an improvement in mood. A
person with atypical depression, however,
tends to exhibit symptoms that are the
opposite of those commonly experienced
with grief, such as sleeping excessively,
eating more, and gaining weight.
So that hiding the death of Beatriz
from Doña Lucia is not good for her health
especially to her mental health that her
depression will raise the risk of
deterioration and death.
3. Legally, Doña Lucia has a right yo
know the death of her daughter.
Supporting Evidence:
"Art. 1339. Failure to disclosed facts,
when there is a duty to reveal them, as
when the parties are bound by confidential
relations, constitutes fraud. "
A neglect or failure to communicate
or disclose that which a party to a contract
knows and ought to communicate
constitutes concealment. Concealment is
equivalent to misinterpretation or false
representation.
Negative/Con
It is not morally permissible to conceal the
truth of the death of Beatriz from Doña
Lucia because;
1. Telling the truth is a sign of love, if
the family truly loves Doña Lucia
they will tell the truth no matter what
and it is a command of God.
Supporting Evidence:
I am sure that you know that lying is
a sin. And if someone lied to you it hurts
deep inside, And for Dona Lucia who is
already depressed about her favorite
daughter not being there, for the family to
lie to her will only hurt her more. And if the
 even the cause of her death. She family truly cares for her they have to tell
started to feel depressed for not the truth even if it means it might cause
seeing Beatriz, and if she comes to her death.
know the truth, maybe, she will be LEVITICUS 19:11 “Ye shall not steal,
more depressed and she might not neither deal falsely, neither lie one to
be able to handle it. It’s better if the
another. ”It is clearly written here that the
family just make up a story Bible discourage us to lie to one another.
temporarily just for the sake of There will be good and bad lies in
Doña Lucia’s condition. human standards but in the Bible what is
good is always good and what is bad is
2. Doña Lucia and the family members always bad.
will suffer if the truth will be told.
There is no moral obligation to tell 2. It is not permissible for the family to
the truth unless Doña Lucia asks conceal the truth because lies are
about Beatriz. sharper than the truth and in the
long run Doña Lucia will know the
3. As a matter of fact. In Joshua 2:1-6 truth. For the family to conceal the
there is a bible story the same truth, they have to establish a lie.
argument to Doña Lucia and And to support that lie they have to
Beatriz, so this is the story. Then put out more lies.
Joshua son of Nun secretly sent Supporting Evidences:
two spies from shittim. “Go, look JOHN 8:44 “You belong to your
over the land,” he said, “especially father, the devil, and you want to carry out
Jericho.” So they went and entered your father's desires. He was a murderer
the house of a prostitute named from the beginning, not holding to the
Rahab and stayed there. The king truth, for there is no truth in him. When he
of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of lies, he speaks his native language, for he
the Israelites have come here is a liar and the father of lies. “It says that if
tonight to spy out the land.” So the the family lies to Doña Lucia they are
king of Jericho sent this message to fulfilling the devil’s desires and it’s now
rahab: “Bring out the men who glorifying God, and if the family is telling
came to you and entered your the truth they are fulfilling God’s desire and
house, because they have come to commandment and opposite on what
spy out the whole land.” But the JOHN 8:44 said the family belongs to their
woman had taken the two men and father, Which is God.
hidden them. She said, “Yes, the
men came to me, but I did not know 3. The family doesn't know what will
where they had come from. At dusk, happen to Doña Lucia whether they
when it was time to close the city tell the truth or conceal it, Even if
gate, the men left. I don’t know Dona Lucia died because of the
which way they went. Go after them family telling the truth, At least the
quickly. You may catch up with family Glorified God in telling the
them.” (But she had taken them up truth and she died in peace knowing
to the roof and hidden them under the truth about her daughter.
the stalks of flax she had laid out on
the roof.)
Introduction of Affirmative Team Leader Speech

In the words of Martin Luther King, "There comes a time when one must take a
position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because
conscience tells him it is right." Good morning, everyone! We are representing the
Affirmative side and as their Team Leader, we chose to represent the affirmative side
for this debate because we believe that our proposition, that the nurses have the right to
refuse medical orders or to ignore the wishes of the patient and family on the grounds of
one's conscience is agreeable and should be justified. To further justify our proposition,
here is Ms. Jasper Pinangang a 1st year studying BS in Information Technology for our
Socio-Cultural-Economic Aspect. To convince you through Medical-Legal Aspect, here
is Mr. Aaron Punongbayan also a 1st year Information Technology student and for the
Moral-Biblical Aspect, let me present to you Mr. John Quilario also a first year student
currently taking up BSIT. I am hoping that our proposition will help all of you to realize
that one’s conscience is important in decision making.

Ending of Affirmative Team Leader Speech

You've heard our arguments and to give you a recap, our debater for the
affirmative side of the socio-cultural aspect proves that one of the beliefs of a filipino
family is hoping for the empowerment and acceptance of their family member whatever
it takes because for them, each member of the family is special. Conscience is the
greatest armor for it would be the one to tell us that our decisions are right or wrong. For
our medical/legal aspect, the nurse has a role in explaining the side effects of morphine
on the patient and there are other options or alternatives other than morphine. The
nurse don't have to refuse the doctors decision because the nurses' priority is to ease
the pain of the patient by independent intervention and should not rely heavily on
medicines that might make the patient's condition worse. An independent intervention
demonstrates pain relief strategies on the patient. An example of an independent
intervention is a possible use of tranquilizers, breathing techniques and massage. For
the moral/biblical aspect, the nurse has a free will to maintain a good conscience. Two
of God's characteristics are love and compassion, keeping someone in pain and
suffering is evil. The nurse chooses her conscience and thinks it’s the right choice, but
there are bad consequences that might happen to the patient. I hope we've justified our
proposition through our arguments.

Introduction Negative Team Leader Speech

As we are all future young professional, my team would like to negate their
proposition. We believe that Nurse Howard doesn't have rights to refuse or ignore
medical orders or wishes of patient Mrs. Barnes and her family. Nurse Howard must
choose her profession rather than her conscience.

To convince each and every one of you that are here with us, here is Mr.
Protacio my first debater a first year BSIT student will give reasons through socio-
cultural aspect. Next, here is Mr. Lim a first year BSIT will give some reasons through
Medical Legal aspect and lastly here is Mr. Park also a first year BSIT student who will
give some reasons through moral biblical aspect. I hope through this debate can
enlighten you all. As we are all future young professional; my team would like to negate
their proposition. We believe that Nurse Howard doesn't have rights to refuse or ignore
medical orders or wishes of patient Mrs. Barnes and her family. Nurse Howard must
choose her profession rather than her conscience.

Ending of Negative Team Leader Speech

To sum up everything we present earlier in answering "Why Nurse should

choose her profession over her conscience?"

The socio-cultural aspect give us reasons that are Nurse Howard should give
comfort to Mrs. Barnes, it is unprofessional and unethical conduct of nurse if Nurse
Howard doesn't give a medication. While in medical legal aspect give us the reasons
that are Nurse Howard may lose her job and worst can be sue. Also her license can be
suspended and Mrs. Barnes could be die because of severe pain. And lastly in moral
biblical aspect give us a reason that God is love; keeping someone in pain is not love,
God gave human freewill and lastly God told us to live to the fullest. That is all I hope
after this debate all of you can stand in what we believe that Nurse Howard must
choose her profession over her conscience. I am Darmia Lumucho, a BSA student, the
negative team leader.
IV. Conclusion, Recommendations and Acknowledgements

In conclusion, both teams have presented their arguments and supporting evidences
which has been very helpful that the team has able to reach a conclusion that it is not
morally permissible to conceal the truth of the death of Beatriz from Doña Lucia.

As for our consensus the group decided that it is not justifiable to keep the death of
Beatriz from Doña Lucia. The group also recommends that the family should tell Doña
Lucia the truth. It may be harsh but the truth nonetheless. They can tell Doña Lucia in a
most leisurely pace. Though, in her situation the family and the doctors have no right to
keep it from her because they all know that Beatriz is so important and how Doña Lucia
loved her so much. Doña Lucia can handle the pain she will feel if the family tells her
the truth because she will understand it and with the help of her family telling her the
truth, it might lessen the pain she will feel.

First of all I would like to thank god for giving us knowledge, wisdom, and courage
for this debate today. I’d also like to say thank you to our subject teacher Rev. Gemma
Oco-Cruz for the guidance and tips she shared to us from the very beginning, our
classmates and to the panelists for their time and patient. May everyone have a good
day ahead and god bless you all, thank you.
V. References
Group #1

Issue: Same-Sex Relationship

Proposition: Resolved, that it is alright for Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Sigfreud to continue their
same-sex relationship.

I would like to say my opinion about this issue; it is really not a big deal for me
this kind of issue because if you love someone, you don’t care what people will say
about the relationship you are in. In this generation, some people might not accept the
same-sex relationship but I think they need time to sink in the good side and effect of
the people that just only being themselves to express and show the love they feel
towards the person they love no matter what gender. Lastly, I love seeing the people
who is in the same-sex relationship because even though the society might and will say
bad things to them. They won’t let that happen because they are proving and showing
to them the power of love they have for each other and that is enough.

These are some of the arguments that caught my attention and convince me;
“Arguably, Christian and Edmund brings out the best of each other as they love which
inspires both of them to be productive to the economy which benefits the whole society.”
This argument in socio-cultural-economic aspect catches my attention. It clearly stated
what I am wanted to people to understand the meaning of having a same-sex
relationship. It is really bravery to have a same-sex relationship in this generation
because once you enter the world of LGBTQ world, you are ready to face all the hatred
from others and be prepared on what might going to happen along the way of the
relationship. Although, this same-sex relationship have so many positive things to look
at like; loving whomever you want despite of their gender, acceptance, unconditional
love from the person you choose to love and lastly the freedom of someone to see the
beauty and power of love. The second argument would be;” As a believer in democracy,
we are entitled to live our lives with rights. The right to express is as well as the right to
love. Christian and Edmund have those rights, and there are no law whatsoever in the
Philippines to stand against same-sex relationship.” It is clearly stated that here in the
Philippines have no law that can stop a same-sex relationship. I hope soon will a law in
here that stated that having a same-sex relationship is legal in our country.

Overall, my taken position of this issue is affirmative that it is alright for Mr. Wolfe
and Mr. Sigfreud to continue their same-sex relationship. The 2 given arguments that
group had presented answer the thought of the proposition clearly and believably. Love
is the most powerful weapon you can show to other people just to prove that there is
nothing wrong with you is doing. Loving someone that is same-sex as yours is not a sin.
As long as you see yourself the progress of your being is turning into good, there is no
problem nor can people stop you from doing what you want in life.

Group #2

Issue: Family issue

Proposition: Resolved, that Eddie is morally blameworthy of his situation.

First of all, why would Eddie would be the blameworthy of the situation? When it
should be his father that should be blamed for what’s happening in their family. An 18
yr. old like Eddie should not be pressured or stressing about his father’s situation. Eddie
should not be the one who will tell her mom about the situation of his father, although he
can said it but at least bring his father with him to explain the situation the both included.
The father should be the one who is responsible from the happenings of their family. He
is the only person who can fix the family that is broken. Lastly, that Eddie should not
take the responsibility of his father for all the wrongdoings that he did.

These are the arguments that caught my attention that make me take the side of
negative team; “The legal thing to do in Eddie’s situation is Eddie must tell his mother
about his father’s affair so that they can file a case against his father because adultery
is illegal here in the Philippines.” This argument in medical-legal aspect is really
interesting knowing that this kind of law does exist in the country of Korea and this is the
law; Article 333 and 334 of The Revised Penal Code “Article 334. Concubine – Any
husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or shall have sexual
intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall
cohabit with her in any other places, shall be punished by prison correctional in its
minimum and medium periods. Dealing in this kind of situation, this law can help a lot of
who is suffering the same situation as Eddie. “The cause of Eddie's depression is the
inane posture of his father. The burden of not telling the truth to his mother and the fact
that the mistress of his father is the one who's providing for his education is what makes
Eddie confuse of what he must do, thus making Eddie the victim in this situation.” I can
now see clearly why Eddie is suffering from the depression and the hesitations of telling
his mother or not. His own father is putting him in a situation where he doesn’t know
what to do anymore. This kind of situation is really not the environment of the age of 18
or in any age. The selfishness of his father makes a really bad impact on Eddie.

Overall, my taken position is negative that Eddie is not morally blameworthy of

his situation. His father is the reason why he is suffering from different kinds of mental
health disorders. What really needs to be done is his father should take action from the
happenings in their family, he should be helping his son to take courage on the decision
he wants to do. They can be both talk to the mother about the issue and explain the
details. A family can understand each other if the communication is working.
Group #3

Issue: Nurse’s appeal to conscience and profession

Proposition: Resolved, that Nurse Howard has the right to refuse medical orders
or/and ignore the wishes of patient Mrs. Barnes and the family on the grounds of her
conscience.

First of all being a nurse should take an oath that no matter what happens, the
life of the patient should be the first in line to do. Even though it is against your
conscience it is not right to choose it just because you feel like it is not the right thing to
do. The morphine is the nurse’s problem of this situation and that she should obediently
listen to the doctor’s order to give the morphine. Yet, Nurse Alice as a nurse don’t know
or doesn’t knoe that there are a lot of alternatives to give Mrs. Barnes to take away the
pain of the patient. She can just talk to the doctor about her feelings towards giwning
Mrs. Barnes the morphine injection.

These are the arguments that can prove that Nurse Howard should consider her
profession rather than her conscience. “Under Republic Act of 9173 or “Philippine
Nursing Act of 2002” Article VI Section 28 “… he/she (Nurses) singly or in collaboration
with another, initiates and performs nursing services to individuals, families and
communities in any health care setting.” It clearly stated that they should be performing
what a Nurse should do to a individual if that person is under the Nurse healthcare. By
having that kind of authority, Nurse Howard can use it to explain to Dr. Jones her side
that there is a way or alternatives to not hasten the death of Mrs. Barnes. These are the
alternatives that our group talking about that it is not said during the debate because he
forgot his arguments and supporting evidences. “There are a lot of pain killers aside
from morphine such as codeine, antidepressants, nerve blockers that stops the feeling
of pain. Fentanyl can also be used as pain killer since this drug has been legalized to
use and approved by government.” It can be solved the problem of Nurse Howard if she
will tell right away to Dr. Jones that there alternatives that can be used aside form
morphine as pain killers. Choosing what’s best for the patient is the most righteous thing
to do because beside the fact that Nurse Howard is doing her job properly and
righteously, she can also save someone’s life because she takes actions that can save
Mrs. Barnes.

Overall, my taken position is negative because Nurse Howard should choose her
profession rather than her conscience. Doing something that can save someone’s life is
surely the right thing to do. Because Nurse Howard can use her title to take actions that
she know to herself that is right and must do to fulfill his duty as Nurse. Taking actions is
the right thing to do rather than being the type of person who does nothing but to just
think about her feelings, emotions, and pitifulness towards the patient Mrs. Barnes.

Group #4

Issue: Promise keeping

Proposition: Resolved, that it is morally justifiable for the grandchild to concede to her
grandmother request not to be put on life support and keep her promise.

For me, if you truly love someone you will do anything for them just to take away
the pain they are feeling. The grandson should do the right thing and concede to her
grandmother request not to be put on life support and keep her promise. Because it is
the last request of the grandma, it is also the last thing she needs to stop her suffering
and just want to rest. Just doing the right thing even if the grandson knows that her
grandma will be gone the moment he concedes the grandmother request will never be a
mistake because the grandson only wants best and what makes her grandma happy
even in her last breath.

These are the arguments that really have a point in resolving the issue of the
grandmother and grandson. “The grandmother was diagnosed with Colon cancer which
has no permanent cure.” This argument has supporting evidence that says; according to
the American society of clinical oncology (ASCO) the colon cancer has a survival rate to
14 percent that means about 14 percent of people who with stage 4 colon cancer are
likely to still alive but need to proper medication life support. But will not grantee that
they will live longer especially if it is stage 4 colon cancer. This evidence just proves that
it is okay to take the grandmother’s life because her colon cancer is very not curable at
all. “Respecting the inherent worth and dignity means enduring difficulty, illness, and
pain.” This one is what I am wanted to say about this issue, respecting the will of the
grandma can be the result of her happiness and will die peacefully because her wish is
granted by her grandson. Also, it is what the grandma wanted from the start that she
knew about her colon cancer. She immediately made a decision about it without
hesitation and make sure that her grandson also knows about it. “Christ offers true hope
and peace even in the great suffering but this peace cannot be found in avoiding the
pain. The Peace can only be found by accepting god’s love freely and by accepting and
believing on his promise of eternal life with him after all the suffering and pain.” It says
here that even though the grandma is suffering from the pain; Jesus gave us eternal life
for all the people that believe in Him.

Overall, my taken position is affirmative that that it is morally justifiable for the
grandchild to concede to her grandmother request not to be put on life support and keep
her promise. Doing the request will not make the grandson bad or a murderer, he just
wants what is best for her grandma and fulfilling it would be the happiness of his
grandma. I would also like to say that maybe the entire grandma wanted is to have her
death peacefully.

Reaction Papers
From Group 1 to
Group 4

Submitted by: Ocampo, Rayne Pauline A.

Submitted to: Rev. Gemma Oco-Cruz
Gr. & Sec.: CSIT-1A
Schedule: 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 n.n.