Yasierah k.

Agalin November 23, 2017

BSN 4 Electives

MAR ADENTRO (THE SEA INSIDE): REACTION PAPER

The movie portrayed the story of Ramon Sampedro, an unfortunate man who,
because of a diving accident in his youth, was rendered quadriplegic or unable to move his
body, except his head, the plot showed parts of his everyday life, how was it like for him to
live in this situation, and how did he feel about it and how much he wanted to die and end
his life which was a hell for him.

Throughout the movie, Ramon fought for what he believed was his right, to die with
dignity, to be allowed to commit suicide, Ramon strongly believed that life in his situation
was meaningless, useless and has no freedom, he defined joy in life, no life itself, as the
ability to move his body, the ability to stand up, to walk and to travel around the world, to
be able to take care of yourself, for him, it was already humiliating enough that he was
dependent on the family of his brother for most of his needs, as I watched the movie, I came
to understand the reasons why Ramon wanted death so badly, he couldnt bear the feeling
of being imprisoned in his own body, being stripped out of his freedom and independency,
for him, he had no reason to live and many reasons to wish dying.

Ethically speaking, what Ramon wanted was mercy killing, to bring forth death to
him before its time, or what we call euthanasia, the government during Ramons time
considered this act unlawful and punishable, after all, it was an act of deliberately ending
someones life, killing him/her, that was still unjustifiable by law even is the person wanted
to die, several members of Ramons family and friends believed the same, and asked Ramon
the same question why do you want to die?

Ramon made it clear that his life was unbearable and death was the only way of
escaping it, but throughout the movie, many people tried to convince his that there is more
to life than what he think, that the definition of life is not limited to physical mobility and
that there were ways of enjoying life even in his condition, they were against the act of him
killing himself, his big brother for example, insisted that he would not allow such thing to
happen in his house, even when Ramon found a person who was willing to help him in the
name of Julia, she backed out in the last minute.

The irony in here, is that the person who was supposed to help him die did not
peruse it in the end, and instead, Ramon got his long-awaited wish fulfilled through the
help of Rosa, who was, in the beginning of the movie, trying to convince him not to commit
suicide, I wont be judging whose which among the two ladies made the right decision, the
legalization of Euthanasia itself is still one of the common topics of debates until now with a
lot of pros and cons as to why it should be allowed or not.

In the Philippines, Euthanasia is not allowed, and what I mean by euthanasia here is
the active type of euthanasia where you actually inject a poisonous substance into the
clients vein to cause them to die a few minutes later without any pain experience, only the
passive type of euthanasia is allowed in the Philippines, where the patient is given the right
to effuse treatment or DNR ( do not resuscitate) order and the patient is left to die without
medical intervention, that is allowed in our country, but active euthanasia is not, there are
European countries that allow it though , believing, just like what Ramon did, that it is the
persons right to end their lives if they want to, especially when the quality of the life you
will have to live is not so good, just like Ramons case, humans should not be forced to
endure what they do not want, and there are already clinics in those countries where the
person can go to die peacefully and without pain.

The idea of euthanasia clinics might seem like a very human dignity-respecting to
some people, allowing people to die on their own terms and all, and yet, that doesnt make
it completely ethical, euthanasia is still killing, it still involves ending a human life, this goes
against the ethical principle of the inviolability of life where life must be valued and
protected, this conflict of ethical dilemmas can also be encountered by health professionals,
As nurses, we are to respect our patients decision whatever it is, when they no longer want
treatment for example, we simply ask them to sign a waiver to refuse treatment, but when
it comes to participating in ending their lives, the idea can contradict our known job as
nurses which is to conserve and protect life. This is one of the many reasons why most
countries, the Philippines included, still prohibit euthanasia.
 In my opinion, Euthanasia is a relative issue; you have to consider all parts of the
given situation before you can really judge whether it ethical or not, the movie presented
one scenario, one side of the problem and helped me to understand several aspects about,
it made me realize that sometimes, death is better than living and that we should not judge
other people, I found the movie rather interesting and heart-touching.