Do you think human life is respected enough?

Nope, but I think it is Governments, not Hospitals you should be pointing the finger at.

by Lydia C. Lee

I have heard people say they had the best care in hospital, but that's Private
Not Public.
I do think from what I have seen of late, they are more user friendly, compared to 35 years ago when I was in one for some time.

In those days you put-up-and-shut-up!! believe me.
I had many a run-in with staff, and that made it worse for me.
Today, if you complain they send out a rep-for that area.

If you go public in hospital now, there is still a area of care that is not up to
the mark, I have seen that....but one only has to say something,it seems to get better quickly.
On the whole I do think life is respected, but also that depends on if there is enough staff.
You can only get out of a place best care, if enough workers are on duty!
That is the problem, no staff little care...Private is always better, but who can afford it? I can't at this stage in my life, and I am soon to be 60.

by jonaja

It's hard when we're talking about public hospitals that are understaffed with huge amounts of patients coming and going quickly. Knowing a great deal of medical professionals they all respect the human life - it's only that they see so many people with minimal resources in such a short space of time it makes things seem callous.

by Matteo Lor

In some perspectives yes, life is very much respected. For example, nowdays, when a soldier from a western democratic nation is killed fighting in a war in another country, it makes news and the public and private response is typically overwhelmingly compassionate. But compare for those same nations 60 years ago, or 100 years ago etc. Hence it would appear within those nations that there tends to be a clear collective increase in the respect for life, with social status contributing less and less influence.

However, in many other countries, we see continuing examples of slaughter and attempts at genocide, which clearly shows respect for life can still be dependent on race, religious affiliation, gender, political ideation, social/wealth status etc.

Likewise, if a person has to make a choice between their own life and someone else's (i.e. a question of survival), they are usually more likely to chose the former, with the exception of the average parent probably being willing to sacrifice him/herself for the life of his/her child.

I think the paradox is in western nations, where respect for life appears to be increasing (as per my comments above) yet it is becoming more accepted that unplanned pregnancy, abortions and euthanasia are increasingly "OK" (or not to be frowned upon/discouraged).

It would appear from this that "life" and "respect" are relative, depending on your philosophy, and that national trends regarding these are often just a reflection of a) individual power (in dictatorships etc) or b) the collective majority of individual philosophical bent (in democratic nations).

by kimp

In some perspectives yes, life is very much respected. For example, nowdays, when a soldier from a western democratic nation is killed fighting in a war in another country, it makes news and the public and private response is typically overwhelmingly compassionate. But compare for those same nations 60 years ago, or 100 years ago etc. Hence it would appear within those nations that there tends to be a clear collective increase in the respect for life, with social status contributing less and less influence.

However, in many other countries, we see continuing examples of slaughter and attempts at genocide, which clearly shows respect for life can still be dependent on race, religious affiliation, gender, political ideation, social/wealth status etc.

Likewise, if a person has to make a choice between their own life and someone else's (i.e. a question of survival), they are usually more likely to chose the former, with the exception of the average parent probably being willing to sacrifice him/herself for the life of his/her child.

I think the paradox is in western nations, where respect for life appears to be increasing (as per my comments above) yet it is becoming more accepted that unplanned pregnancy, abortions and euthanasia are increasingly "OK" (or not to be frowned upon/discouraged).

It would appear from this that "life" and "respect" are relative, depending on your philosophy, and that national trends regarding these are often just a reflection of a) individual power (in dictatorships etc) or b) the collective majority of individual philosophical bent (in democratic nations).

by kimp

Tough question. I think that people try to do their best to respect human life within the bounds of the resources they have, but sometimes these resources are lacking.

by Sarah Bell

People (all people but particularly nurses) should do their best to respect human life - because you don't need to have great resources - respect costs nothing.

That is correct Fran. Resources mean nothing when it comes to respect. Also, the shortage of staff is much over spoken. Ask anyone that has been in hospital recently, both public and private, and they will tell you that the nursing staff are barely able to bring themselves to communicate with patients if the patients are situated more than a metre away from the nurse's desk. Patients buzzers don't mean a thing to them, only an aggravation. No human life is not respected and particularly not respected by the staff in hospitals.

I think the staff within hospitals are there because they really respect human life. Quite frankly I can't see they would stay there if they didn't. The cuts to funding, the reduction in staffing, the requirement to work rotating shifts, interrupted sleep patterns, the requirement to work double shifts, and the ever growing queues of patients waiting for care are all great reasons to walk away from the industry but they don't. I believe it is governments who create the perception that life is not respected. After all look at all the money they are prepared to spend on blowing people up in wars and yet the first thing they cut when they want to save dollars is health care. My hat is off to all the dedicated professionals within the health care system who are trying to do their best in a system which is squeezing harder and harder and making it increasingly difficult for them to provide the patient care to which they aspire.

by Shelley Murphy

I think that human life is not given due respect: every day hundreds of children are killed by their parents and parents killed by their children; every day men, women and children are trafficked for sex and kept as slaves; every day families are affected by domestic violence. Having said that, in places like hospitals, I certainly think it depends on different variables. I have seen amazing doctors and nurses who treat their patients with dignity and respect, but I have also seen doctors and nurses who dismiss their patients and treat them as nothing more than bodies.

by Vee

$ 58 billion spent on war planes and supporting infrastructure
$40 billion spent on submarine equipment
70 year old people forced to find jobs that don't exist to balance the budget destroyed by Governments that focus on the war effort.
Do we respect human life?

by kstew

yes, quite right stew. Dreadful situation.