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I strongly agree with Cassem's view that "there is such a thing as a "good death". In the article "Ending a Life" by Charles Stein Cassem talks about the complex story of the Barrett family to describe a "good death". Alice Barrett's mother and father were in a fire where her father, age 75 died, and her mother, also age 75 was taken to the hospital with very bad burns throughout her body. Alice's mother "was in one of the four intensive care beds, hooked up to tubes and separated from her family by a plastic tent" (Stein, 14). Alice's mother Mrs. Barrett was a nurse all her life and previously prepared a living will explaining "she wanted no heroic measures taken to keep her alive" (Stein, 14). "To that list, she also added surgery, antibiotics, and artificial feeding and fluids. Beyond that, she had written, I further direct that treatment be limited to comfort measures only, even if they shorten my life " (Stein, 16). Mrs. Barrett's living will was very precise as to what her wishes were. When the time came to make a decision on whether to continue life support or have a feeding tube inserted so that she could get the nutrition she needed, the family became divided. A member of Cassem's committee was called in to help assist in resolving the conflict that was going on between the Barrett family. Cassem and his committee members are not there to make any decisions over the cases "their purpose is more modest: to help the people involved reach some kind of consensus. Often just the introduction of an outside perspective can be helpful, especially to families who with out preparation, are asked to make monumental decisions" (Stein, 16). As the family became more attentive to Mrs. Barrett's living will they realized that she knew exactly what she wanted done if an event like this should occur. After going over all options the medical staff stood on a neutral ground awaiting the families decision on whether to continue life support, or resort to comfort measures only.
