While Andrea Rubin lay unconscious and severely burned after a car fire in 2014, her father told doctors to do everything they could to keep her alive. She would need many surgeries that would greatly affect her quality of life. Her friends were outraged; they told the doctors that Andrea would not want to live under those circumstances. This disagreement was only possible because Andrea was being kept alive on a ventilator, a medical innovation that became widely available in the late 1960s. In this episode, we explore how families and doctors make medical decisions for patients who are incapable of deciding for themselves.
playing god? A bioethics podcast
- Episode 1: I Would’ve Let You Die, Too
- Episode 2: The Girl Who Died Twice
- Episode 3: Need a New Liver? Drinkers to the Back of the Line
- Episode 4: Why Can’t I Buy A Kidney?
- Episode 5: A Womb of One’s Own?
- Episode 6: Creating One Life to Save Another
- Episode 7: An Off Switch for Depression?
- Episode 8: Miracle Drugs, Million Dollar Price Tags
- Episode 9: The Future of Baby-Making
- Prequel: The God Squad
- playing god? In the Classroom
Episode 1: I Would’ve Let You Die, Too
Andrea Rubin
Since her injury, Andrea has been recognized as an inspirational and a much sought-after speaker. The MetroHealth Foundation (Cleveland, OH) awarded her the John A. Gannon Angel Award in 2022. This award is given to a burn survivor who has turned their experience into a way to advocate for others going through similar experiences. She was also the patient of honor at The MetroHealth System’s 2018 biannual gala. In 2019, Andrea was a co-presenter for the John P. McGovern Lecture at the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston and her story was highlighted by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. In 2017, she was a member of an esteemed panel on burn ethics at the annual conference of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities. Andrea has been an invited speaker at the annual meeting of the American Burn Association and has repeatedly been asked to present to medical students, bioethics graduate students, undergraduate students, and high school students. She is an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Bioethics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University.
Andrea is the co-author of an article about the problems patients encounter after discharge and was the focus of an article written about ethical issues in burn care. She has been interviewed on podcasts and for newspaper articles. The documentary about Andrea for The MetroHealth System’s Gala won a local Emmy Award.
Jeffrey Kahn
Andreas C. Dracopolous Director
Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
Monica Gerrek
Co-Director
Center for Biomedical Ethics at MetroHealth System (where Andrea was treated)
Additional Resources
You can learn more about Andrea’s case here.
A similar case to Andrea’s happened in the 1970s. A man named Dax Cowart repeatedly asked doctors to let him die after suffering severe burns. But the doctors continued to treat him against his wishes. Here’s an interview with Mr. Cowart ten years after his accident, where he talks about his experience with the Washington Post. Dr. Gerrek wrote a paper comparing the two cases, and showing how medical decision making for severe burn patients has evolved over the past 50 years.
If you’d like help planning your own advanced directive, check out this resource.
The Greenwall Foundation, seeking to make bioethics integral to decisions in health care, policy, and research. Learn more at greenwall.org.
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