Abstract
The paper discusses a very important issue that doctors and patients face very often. The discussion is centered round the issue of euthanasia given by Dr. Anna Pou when the devastating hurricane Katrina had created havoc at New Orleans in 2005. But the discussion stretches further to the issue of ethics associated with medical care in times of crisis. It raises a few very vital questions based on legal, moral and ethical grounds. The paper discusses how doctors are faced with moral hazards in times of crisis where the patient’s life is at stake or when a critical surgery has to be done that risks the life of the patient. The discussion comes to the conclusion that whether patient has the least chance of survival or not is not the only deciding factor in administering a critical medical procedure or even euthanasia. What is more important is what the patient thinks about his or her health and whether the possible ways of treatment are acceptable to the patient or not. The paper cites several examples of medical cases that have been tried at the court to establish the fact that the legal system asserts the importance patient’s opinion while administering any medical treatment to the patient. So it is advisable to the doctors to take the patient’s consent before taking any medical step on the patient. Even in case of Dr. Pou she would have taken the opinion of other staffs as the patients were not in a position to respond.
