Each case is different
...or went against what he had written in his will and what his family wanted for him. Prolonging someone’s life when there is no hope just hurts the patient and their family. Though the doctor may think that he can have some kind of life, but what kind of life can you have if your body can only function if hooked up to a machine, which Rocco decided that he did not want that kind of life ahead of time. The point of this situation is that Rocco had determined what he wanted for himself if he was to encounter the type of situation as he did. The doctor obviously had hope for Rocco, but in the eyes of his family there was no hope and they new that he would not wanted to live out his last days the way he did, hooked up to life support and in a hospital. “…after a stay of 102 days in Georgetown Medical Center, a place he had never wanted to be and where he and his family had lost all power to decide his fate (Urofsky 1174).” In the case of Helga Wanglie the situation was reversed. Helgla’s family thought that she was still living even if hooked up to a machine, the contrary to the Musolino family. In this situation the doctors weren’t aloud to cut off the machine, because of a court decision. “On July 1, Judge Belois ruled against the hospital and left power to decide decision on Helga’s medical treatment in her husband’s hands.” May be to the family the heartbeat was still a sign of life but if your heart can’t beat on it’s own you no longer can live life normally. She was never going to leave the hospital, because of her dependence to live off a machine. Each family has a different type of definition for what is living and what isn’t. Helga’s family fought to keep her alive and hooked up to a machine in the McGlone 3 hospital. To them that’s what they thought she would have wanted. If you can no longer make decisions for yourself and don’t have a will then it should be up to your family to decide how long you should continue medical treatment. Only if there is evidence that the patient can have a healthy life outside the hospital, which was not the case of Helga Wanglie. The doctors should have been aloud to discontinue the treatment, because she was never leaving the hospital. She was taking up space that could be used for someone who was going to be able to live a good life, unlike Helga who only had hope of life in the eyes of her family. If an individual has set up a will then according to the will their wishes should be granted. This was not the case with Rocco Musolino the doctor deliberately ignored what he had written in his will. Whether the doctor thought he had a chance to live a normal life he didn’t carry out the wishes of his patient. In the case of Helga Wanglie, the doctor was ordered to carry out the wishes of her family, even though she was never going to recover. There was no will t...