Slavomír Laca
INTRODUCTION
"You are important because you are! You are important to the last moment of your life, and we will do everything we can to help you not only to die in peace, but to live until you die." (Cicely Saunders)
The past, present and future are inextricably linked and exist simultaneously in our lives. Nevertheless, the future is the part of life that we deal with the least. We pretend that time does not pass and we will never grow old. However, the passage of time represents absolute justice. Everyone flows the same way. Part of this justice is the fact that each of us ages and inevitably there will be a moment when we become part of the "old" group. The aging of the population is the result of improving living conditions and health care, which also improve the functional status of older people. The problems that aging brings with it need to be solved. The main thing is that by extending the human age, the period of a person's life in which he is able to lead a full-fledged and independent life with a good state of health will also be extended.
It is an irrefutable scientific fact that human life begins at conception and ends at death. Death is the inevitable conclusion of life. Man is afraid of death, but more than death itself, he is afraid of the way of dying. Every person has the right to a dignified death, and especially a person suffering from an incurable disease. We must try to make dying easier for the sick - to serve and help him. A sick person needs love and respect. In many cases, the family cannot handle helping the dying person, and the sick person needs professional help, which can be provided by palliative and hospice care, which is comprehensive care. It is important that it is accompanied by spiritual help and support of the dying person, not only pain relief with analgesics, and equally sensitive communication with family and loved ones. The basic motto of palliative and hospice care is the quality of life of the terminally ill patient and his family.
The publication Social work in palliative and hospice care will lead us to an extensive reflection on palliative and hospice care within social work, which are enhanced by the unprecedented development of knowledge in the medical and social sciences. The presented approach to the investigated issue does not want to be a simple key to solving any position, as every situation in life is original.
The central theme of this book is closely related to death and dying, that is, palliative and hospice care is a better alternative to euthanasia. Euthanasia is at the center of controversial interests of philosophers, sociologists, theologians, doctors and health workers, not only lay people but also the tabloid media deal with it. It affects the whole society. We are dealing with a collective societal dilemma concerning decisions about death, health, and physical and mental disability. This dilemma involves every area of our lives. Euthanasia is still an open issue. Every attempt to discuss this serious and previously taboo topic provokes conflicting opinions and different attitudes. A dignified death versus the expediency and permissibility of euthanasia evokes overlapping concepts in our thoughts. Good death, law, mercy, help, murder, escape, indignity, duty, humanity... Euthanasia is captive to many questions and different answers to them.
"There is only one justice in the world, and that is that everyone has to die", people say on various occasions. However, there are large differences in mortality. Just as every human being is unique, its termination also has millions of forms. Euthanasia can be a solution for dying patients who cannot be helped, who have lost the last glimmer of hope and who themselves demand voluntary departure. Unless it is a too sensitive problem, difficult decision-making, and coming to terms with the conscience, breaking the age-old dogmas of morality linked to religious faith.
The turbulent development of science and technology associated with significant secularization does not always have a positive real impact on society and the individual. This is especially true in medicine. The possibilities of modern palliative and hospice care have been able to push the boundaries of death beyond the limits of previously assumed possibilities. This development brings ever new possibilities in treatment procedures and in prolonging life, which increasingly puts the problem of euthanasia in a new current light. Today's achievements of palliative and hospice care have brought help to the suffering, terminally ill with various medicines, devices, but mainly methods that serve experts from the ranks of doctors and medical personnel to suppress pain and protect human life from the possibility of euthanasia.
Human life should be protected by each of us, especially in the most complex and vulnerable reality of the human period - in the case of illness. We can also contribute to the protection of life, with the right human, moral and, for experts, professional approach and positive emotional support. A person deserves attention even in this final period of life. Regardless of age, gender, nationality or skin color, he has the right to die a peaceful and dignified death. It is up to us to make it possible for him.
Doc. PaedDr. Marek Storoška, PhD., Dr.h.c.
CONTENT
1 HUMAN LIFE 1.1 Philosophical-anthropological view of human being 1.2 Man and philosophy 1.3 Man from a theological point of view 1.4 Quality of human life
2 DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON 2.1 Ethics of life 2.2 Morality and the question of life 2.3 Value and respect for life 2.4 Human right to life
3 OLD AND SICK PEOPLE IN THE PERCEPTION OF SOCIETY 3.1 Aging in a historical context 3.2 Characteristics of aging and old age 3.2 Theories and adaptation of aging 3.3 Personality of the senior in society
4 PALLIATIVE CARE 4.1 Structure and forms of palliative care 4.2 Palliative care in childhood 4.3 Palliative and hospice care as a response to euthanasia
5 HOSPICE CARE 5.1 History of hospices 5.2 Forms of hospice care 5.3 Hospice Team
6 SOCIAL WORK IN PALLIATIVE AND HOSPICE CARE 6.1 Social worker as part of palliative and hospice care team 6.2 Care of the dying person by a social worker 6.3 Care of a social worker for the family of a terminally ill patient
7 EUTHANASIS 7.1 History of euthanasia 7.2 Socio-ethical aspect of euthanasia 7.3 Medical-bioethical aspect of euthanasia 7.4 Legal aspect of euthanasia
8 EUTHANASIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 8.1 Documents of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on euthanasia 8.2 John Paul II. and euthanasia 8.3 Church-legal norms and euthanasia 8.4 Proponents of euthanasia
9 PROBLEMS OF EUTHANASIA IN THE WORLD 9.1 The issue of euthanasia in Europe 9.2 Status and acceptance of euthanasia in European countries 9.3 Euthanasia and the Slovak Republic
Author PaedDr. Slavomír Laca, PhD. VŠZaSP St. Elizabeth, Bratislava
Reviewers Prof. MUDr. Vladimír Krčméry, DrSc., Dr.h.c., mult. Prof. dr. Hab. Piotr Mazur Prof. PhDr. Pavel Mühlpachr, PhD. Doc. PaedDr. Marek Storoška, PhD., Dr.h.c. Doc. PhDr. Beáta Balogová, PhD. ThLic. Peter Laca
Language adjustment Doc. PhDr. Pavol Zubal, PhD.
Publisher VŠZaSP St. Elizabeth, Bratislava Release year 2012 Load of 100 pieces Number of pages 301 Printing by BEKI desing s.r.o., Košice ISBN 978-80-8132-051-4 EAN 9788081320514