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Life and death is often being described as the ‘yin and yang’ in Chinese where they are

inseparable. Living people will never know what death is unless they experience it. Thus there is

always fear of death; the fear of knowing what is in the afterlife. Terminally ill patients are

one-step closer to death than other healthy people and they will have to be prepared to face

death when the time comes. Different people have different views on death based on

religions or own beliefs, hence different paths will be taken for them before death. Medical

technology is constantly improving to aim to prolong lives, enhance the quality of lives and

to help any patients, including those who are suffering from terminal illness, answer the

uncertainties.

Quality of medical treatment, care and services are improving due to the advancement in

medical technology which, at the same time, results in the rise of medical costs. What will

happen to a person who lost the ability to support the family after realizing that s/he has

contracted terminal illness? Will s/he fall in debt incurred from the medical treatment? Money

could be an important issue for the patients as not everybody will be capable in paying off the

expenses in finding treatment and to maintain their current quality of life. A terminally ill patient

who is wealthy will more likely be able to lead a life worth living as they might not need to

worry about medical treatment costs and could use their wealth in areas to benefit them socially,

psychologically and personally.

Wealthy patients can tend to be able to afford the quality medical services during their

period of for treatment. Having better treatment and facilities could make the terminally ill feel at

ease and could maintain their current quality of life, depending on what the person is able to do

or enjoy doing in his or her daily life, but it does not mean that their health status will not

deteriorate over time. Callahan (2005) says that “the weakest sense of dignity in the context of
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dying focuses on the loss of control”. There could be possibility that loss of autonomy might

occur at some point in time. And often, it would be considered might also lead to a loss of

dignity as well. An example of a lady who lost her mobility gradually needed external help to

walk (Lavi, 2008) was identified. Most people would not want to experience loss in mobility or

body functions. It seems that money cannot stop these incidents from occurring, but the hope in

medical treatment to minimize the chances of this happening is present. There will always be

hope if one goes through medical treatment (Lavi, 2008).

Even though Rich healthy, rich people are likely tend to be healthier as they can receive

better services and health treatment (Maich, 2006), . In the event where if they rich people are

terminally ill, they would still remain in be placed at an advantageous position as they can use

their wealth to obtain higher quality services to treat themselves. The terminally ill could go

through new or developing technologies in view of finding a hope to cure them which would

require huge amount of funds to be invested in the process. This could not be possible for the

lower to middle income group of terminally ill patients. Despite not being able to be cured of

their illness currently, there could still be a hope where medical researches and trials would

extend lives of terminally ill patients ranging from a few days to years (Callahan, 2005). Health

conditions could be improved even if it is temporary. The terminally ill, having the ability to

spend on medical treatment means that there is a hope in finding cures to the illness or to

improve worsened health states. With wealth, it opens another path to hope.

Wealth can lead to the freedom in decision making (Maich, 2006), as often rich people

can choose to appoint doctors or decide which hospitals to receive treatment in. James Russell

Lowell said that, “Wealth may be an excellent thing, for it means power, and it means leisure, it

means liberty” (Maich, 2006). It can be seen that rich people, to an extent, have the power to
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make their own decision by seeking professional advices. Emotional needs are satisfied as the

patients are open to more choices to maintain their quality of life with their wealth. It is common

to see wealthier patients stay in higher class wards with better services and facilities. This

contributes to the quality services they receive in their treatment which benefits them physically

and mentally as they tend to get more attention from the nurses and doctors.

One counter argument could be in the use of wealth in exchange for health but end up

suffering even more.

You probably can write much better than this. There are patches of decent writing but

there are also parts where I cannot even make sense of what you are trying to tell me. Please get

your act together!

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References

Bloom, B. S., & Kissick, P. D. (May, 1980). Home and hospital cost of terminal illness.

Medical Care, 18(5), 560-564. Retrieved November 01, 2009 from

http://explore.library.smu.edu.sg:9797/MuseSessionID=76de94d66dfc9e930f2927b0766

7de/MuseHost=www.jstor.org/MusePath/stable/pdfplus/3763905.pdf

Callahan, D. (2005, Nov-Dec). Death: “The distinguished thing”. Hastings Center Report

Special Report, 35(6), S5-S8. Retrieved September 12, 2009 from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2103/is_6_35/ai_n29224743/

Lavi, Shai. (Winter, 2008). How dying became a ‘Life Crisis’. Daedalus, 137(1), 57-65.

Retrieved September 12, 2009 from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3671/is_200801/ai_n24392945/

Maich, Steve. (Feb 13, 2006). Money really can buy happiness. Maclean’s, 119(7), 26-

29.

Retrieved October 18, 2009 from

http://www.singlearticles.com/money-really-can-buy-a4303.html

Rokach, Ami. (September 27, 2006). Coping with loneliness among the terminally ill.

Social Indicators Research, 82(3), 487-503. Retrieved October 20, 2009 from

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http://explore.library.smu.edu.sg:9797/MuseSessionID=3a4cea1bae6567967de76dd0ca4c

3d7e/MuseHost=www.springerlink.com/MusePath/content/k0h8r78612136153/fulltext.p

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