Unit 3
Unit 3
Table of Contents
Audio
Text&Translation
"Murderer," a man shouted. "God help patients who get you for a nurse." "What gives you the right to play God?" another one asked.
“杀人犯！”一个男人喊道。“病人要是摊上你这样的护士，真是叫天天不应，叫地地不灵了。” “你凭什么扮演上帝？”另一个质问道。
It was the Phil Donahue show where the guest is a fatted calf and the audience a 200-strong flock of vultures hungering to pick at the bones. I had told them about Mac, one of my favorite cancer patients. "We resuscitated him 52 times in just one month. I refused to resuscitate him again. I simply sat there and held his hand while he died."
那是在菲尔·多纳休的脱口秀节目现场，嘉宾如同待宰的肥牛，而两百名观众则像一群饿鹰，恨不得将他生吞活剥，啃光他的骨头。我向他们讲述了麦克的故事，他是我最牵挂的一位癌症病人。“我们曾在一个月内为他进行过五十二次复苏抢救。最后一次，我拒绝了。我只是坐在他身边，握着他的手，陪他走完了最后一程。”
There wasn't time to explain that Mac was a young, witty macho cop who walked into the hospital with 32 pounds of attack equipment, looking as if he could single-handedly protect the whole city, if not the entire state. "Can't get rid of this cough," he said. Otherwise, he felt great.
我根本来不及解释，麦克曾是一位年轻、风趣、充满男子气概的警察。他走进医院时，身负三十二磅重的攻击装备，看上去仿佛凭一己之力便能护卫全城，乃至整个州的安全。“这咳嗽老是不好。”他说。除此之外，他感觉一切良好。
Before the day was over, tests confirmed that he had lung cancer. And before the year was over, I loved him, his wife, Maura, and their three kids as if they were my own. All the nurses loved him. And we all battled his disease for six months without ever giving death a thought. Six months isn't such a long time in the whole scheme of things, but it was long enough to see him lose his youth, his wit, his macho, his hair, his bowel and bladder control, his sense of taste and smell, and his ability to do the slightest thing for himself. It was long enough to watch Maura's transformation from a young woman into a haggard, beaten old lady.
一天还没过去，检查结果便证实他患上了肺癌。一年还未结束，我已然视他、他的妻子莫拉以及他们的三个孩子如同己出。所有的护士都喜欢他。我们与他的病魔抗争了整整六个月，从未想过死亡。六个月，在漫长的人生中或许不算太久，却足以让我们亲眼目睹他渐渐失去了青春活力、风趣幽默、男子气概、满头秀发，大小便失禁，味觉和嗅觉也随之消失，最后连丝毫自理能力都丧失殆尽。也足以让莫拉从一个年轻女子憔悴成一个形容枯槁、饱经风霜的妇人。
When Mac had wasted away to a 60-pound skeleton kept alive by liquid food we poured down a tube, i.v. solutions² we dripped into his veins, and oxygen we piped to a mask on his face, he begged us: "Mercy ... for God's sake, please just let me go."
当麦克日渐消瘦，最后只剩下一副六十磅重的骨架，靠着我们通过导管灌入的流食、滴入他静脉的输液以及输送到他面罩的氧气勉强维持生命时，他恳求我们：“行行好吧……看在上帝的份上，求求你们，让我走吧。”
The first time he stopped breathing, the nurse pushed the button that calls a “code blue³" throughout the hospital and sends a team rushing to resuscitate the patient. Each time he stopped breathing, sometimes two or three times in one day, the code team came again. The doctors and technicians worked their miracles and walked away. The nurses stayed to wipe the saliva that drooled from his mouth, irrigate the big craters of bedsores that covered his hips, suction the lung fluids that threatened to drown him, clean the feces that burn his skin like lye, pour the liquid food down that tube attached to his stomach, put pillows between his knees to ease the bone-on-bone pain, turn him every hour to keep the bedsores from getting worse, and change his gown and linen every two hours to keep him from being soaked in perspiration.
他第一次停止呼吸时，护士按下了按钮，在全院范围内呼叫“蓝色代码”，一支急救小组火速赶来对他进行复苏。之后每一次他停止呼吸，有时一天甚至两三次，急救小组都会再次赶来。医生和技师们创造了他们的“奇迹”然后离开。而护士们则留下来，擦拭他嘴角流淌的唾液，清洗他髋部大片凹陷的褥疮，吸出他肺里几乎要将他溺毙的积液，清理那些如同碱液般灼烧他皮肤的粪便，将流食通过连接他胃部的管子灌下去，在他双膝间垫上枕头以缓解骨头摩擦的剧痛，每小时为他翻一次身防止褥疮恶化，每两小时为他更换一次病号服和床单，以免他被汗水浸透。
At night I went home and tried to scrub away the smell of decaying flesh that seemed woven into the fabric of my uniform. It was in my hair, the upholstery of my car—there was no washing it away. And every night I prayed that Mac would die, that his agonized eyes would never again plead with me to let him die.
夜里，我回到家，总想用力搓洗掉那似乎已渗入制服纤维的腐肉气味。那气味钻进我的头发，弥漫在我的车厢座套里——怎么也洗不掉。每个夜晚，我都祈祷麦克能早日离世，他那双痛苦的眼睛不要再向我恳求死亡。
Every morning I asked his doctor for a "no-code" order. Without that order, we had to resuscitate every patient who stopped breathing. His doctor was one of several who believe we must extend life as long as we have the means and knowledge to do it. To not do it is to be liable for negligence, at least in the eyes of many people, including some nurses. I thought about what it would be like to stand before a judge, accused of murder, if Mac stopped breathing and I didn't call a code.
每天早晨，我都向他的主治医生请求开出“放弃急救”的医嘱。没有这份医嘱，我们就必须对每一个停止呼吸的病人进行复苏。他的医生是那种认为只要我们有方法、有知识，就必须尽可能延长生命的众多医生之一。不这样做，至少在许多人眼中，包括一些护士，会被视为玩忽职守而承担责任。我想象过，如果麦克停止了呼吸而我没有呼叫急救，我站在法官面前，被控谋杀，那会是怎样的情景。
And after the fifty-second code, when Mac was still lucid enough to beg for death again, and Maura was crumbled in my arms again, and when no amount of pain medication stilled his moaning and agony, I wondered about a spiritual judge. Was all this misery and suffering supposed to be building character⁴ or infusing us all with the sense of humility that comes from impotence?
在第五十二次急救之后，当麦克神志依然清醒，再次乞求死亡，当莫拉再次在我怀中崩溃，当再多的止痛药也无法平息他的呻吟与剧痛时，我开始思忖，是否有一位来自心灵的审判者。这一切的苦难与折磨，究竟是为了磨砺品性，还是为了让我们在无力回天中体会谦卑？
Had we, the whole medical community, become so arrogant that we believed in the illusion of salvation through science? Had we become so self-righteous⁵ that we thought meddling in God's work was our duty, our moral imperative⁶ and legal obligation? Did we really believe that we had the right to force "life" on a suffering man who had begged for the right to die?
我们整个医学界，是否已变得如此傲慢，竟相信能通过科学实现救赎的幻象？我们是否已变得如此自以为是，竟认为干预上帝的旨意是我们的天职、我们责无旁贷的道义，更是我们不可推卸的法律责任吗？我们真的有权将所谓的“生命”强加于一个苦苦哀求死亡权利的垂死之人吗？
Such questions haunted me more than ever early one morning when Maura went home to change her clothes and I was bathing Mac. He had been still for so long, I thought he at last had the blessed relief of coma⁷. Then he opened his eyes and moaned, "Pain ... no more. ... Barbara ... do something. ... God, let me go."
一天清晨，莫拉回家更衣，我正在给麦克擦洗身体，这些问题比以往任何时候都更强烈地困扰着我。他已经静静地躺了很久，我以为他终于得到了昏迷带来的解脱。然而，他睁开了眼睛，呻吟道：“痛……别再……芭芭拉……做点什么……上帝啊，让我走吧。”
The desperation in his eyes and voice riddled me with guilt. "I'll stop," I told him as I injected the pain medication.
他眼神和声音中的绝望让我愧疚万分。“我会让你解脱的，”我在注射止痛药时告诉他。
I sat on the bed and held Mac's hands in mine. He pressed his bony fingers against my hand and muttered, "Thanks." Then there was one soft sigh and I felt his hands go cold in mine. "Mac?" I whispered, as I waited for his chest to rise and fall again.
我坐在床边，握着麦克的双手。他用瘦骨嶙峋的手指紧贴着我的手，喃喃道：“谢谢。”接着，一声轻柔的叹息，我感到他的手在我掌中渐渐冰冷。“麦克？”我轻声呼唤，等待着他的胸膛再次起伏。
A clutch of panic banded my chest, drew my finger to the code button, urged me to do something, anything ... but sit there alone with death. I kept one finger on the button, without pressing it, as a waxen pallor slowly transformed his face from person to empty shell⁸. Nothing I've ever done in my 47 years has taken so much effort as it took not to press that code button.
一阵恐慌攫住了我的心，我的手指移向了急救按钮，内心有个声音在催促我做点什么，任何事都行……而不是独自与死亡枯坐。我将一根手指搭在按钮上，却没有按下，眼看着蜡黄的死灰之色逐渐将他的脸庞从一个活生生的人变成一具空壳。在我四十七年的人生中，没有任何事比忍住不按那个按钮更费力。
Eventually, when I was sure as I could be that the code team would fail to bring him back, I entered the legal twilight zone⁹ and pushed the button. The team tried. And while they were trying, Maura walked into the room and shrieked, "No ... don't let them do this to him ... for God's sake ... please, no more."
最终，直到我确信急救小组也回天乏术时，我才按下了按钮，踏入了法律的灰色地带。急救小组尽力了。就在他们施救的时候，莫拉走进了房间，尖叫道：“不……别让他们这样对他……看在上帝的份上……求求你们，别再折磨他了。”
Cradling her in my arms was like cradling myself, Mac, and all those patients and nurses who had been in this place before, who do the best they can in a death-denying society.
将她拥入怀中，就像拥抱着我自己，拥抱着麦克，也拥抱着所有曾在这里经历过这一切的病人和护士——他们在这个否定死亡的社会里，已经竭尽所能。
So a TV audience accused me of murder. Perhaps I am guilty. If a doctor had written a no-code order, which is the only legal alternative, would he have felt any less guilty? Until there is legislation making it a criminal act to code a patient who has requested the right to die, we will all of us risk the same fate as Mac. For whatever reason, we developed the means to prolong life, and now we are forced to use it. We do not have the right to die.
所以，电视观众指控我谋杀。或许，我真的有罪。如果医生当时签发了“放弃急救”的医嘱——这是唯一合法的选择——他难道就不会感到丝毫愧疚吗？除非立法规定，对已请求放弃生命权的病人进行急救属于犯罪行为，否则我们所有人都可能面临麦克同样的命运。无论出于何种原因，我们发展出了延长生命的手段，如今却又被迫使用它。我们，没有死的权利。
Summary&Mindmap
English Summary The article is a poignant first-person account by a nurse, Barbara, who was publicly accused of "murder" on a TV show for her actions concerning a terminally ill cancer patient, Mac. She details Mac's horrific decline over six months, his repeated pleas to be allowed to die, and the medical team's obligation to resuscitate him 52 times due to the absence of a "no-code" order. Barbara describes the immense emotional and physical toll on Mac, his wife Maura, and the nursing staff. Ultimately, when Mac was dying, Barbara delayed calling a "code blue," allowing him a peaceful death, an act for which she felt immense internal conflict but also a sense of moral justification. She critiques a medical system and society that often prioritize prolonging life at all costs, even against a patient's wishes, and questions the true meaning of compassion and the elusive "right to die."
中文概括 本文是护士芭芭拉的第一人称叙述。她因对一位名叫麦克的晚期癌症患者的处理方式，而在电视节目中被公开指控为“凶手”。她详细描述了麦克在六个月内可怕的衰败过程，他反复请求被允许死亡，以及由于没有“放弃复苏”（no-code）医嘱，医疗团队被迫对他进行了52次复苏。芭芭拉描述了这一切对麦克、他妻子莫拉以及护理人员造成的巨大情感和身体上的折磨。最终，在麦克弥留之际，芭芭拉延迟了呼叫“蓝色代码”（紧急抢救），让他平静地离世——这一行为让她内心充满巨大冲突，但也感到一种道义上的合理性。她批判了那种往往不惜一切代价延长生命（即使违背病人意愿）的医疗体系和社会，并对同情心的真正含义以及难以捉摸的“死亡权利”提出了质疑。
Analysis
"It was the Phil Donahue show where the guest is a fatted calf and the audience a 200-strong flock of vultures hungering to pick at the bones."
- 中文详尽解释：
- 这句话描述了作者参加的“菲尔·多纳休秀”的氛围。
- “菲尔·多纳休秀”（The Phil Donahue show）是美国一个曾经非常著名的电视脱口秀节目，以其嘉宾与观众之间有时尖锐、甚至是对抗性的互动而闻名。
- “where the guest is a fatted calf”（嘉宾就像一只待宰的肥美羔羊/牛犊）：这里的“fatted calf”（肥美羔羊/牛犊）是一个比喻，可能暗指被养肥后准备献祭或屠宰的牲畜。在此情境下，它强烈暗示嘉宾就像是特意被推出来，准备接受众人（观众）的审视、攻击或批判的“祭品”，处于一个非常脆弱和易受攻击的位置。
- “and the audience a 200-strong flock of vultures hungering to pick at the bones”（而观众则像一群大约两百只饥饿的秃鹫，渴望着啃食骨头）：这又是一个非常生动且负面的比喻。“vultures”（秃鹫）是食腐动物，以其凶猛、贪婪和不放过任何残羹剩饭的特性为人所知。“hungering to pick at the bones”（饥饿地想啃食骨头）进一步强化了观众的攻击性和批判性，他们仿佛要将嘉宾“生吞活剥”，不留任何情面，对其言行进行最苛刻的挑剔和攻击，直到“只剩下骨头”。
- 核心含义：整个句子的意思是，这个电视节目对嘉宾来说是一个极其残酷和充满敌意的环境。嘉宾很容易成为众人围攻的靶子，而观众则像一群嗜血的秃鹫一样，热衷于尖锐地质问、批判并试图摧毁嘉宾。作者用这个比喻来形容她在节目上所面临的被审判、被攻击的困境和压力。
- 中文详尽解释：
"Six months isn't such a long time in the whole scheme of things, but it was long enough to see him lose his youth, his wit, his macho, his hair, his bowel and bladder control, his sense of taste and smell, and his ability to do the slightest thing for himself."
- 中文详尽解释：
- 这句话通过对比来强调麦克在相对较短时间内经历的巨大而悲惨的 변화。
- “Six months isn't such a long time in the whole scheme of things”（从宏观来看，或者说从人生的整体规划或宇宙的尺度来看，六个月不算太长）：这是一个习惯用语，意思是将某段时间放在一个更大的背景或框架下衡量时，它可能显得不那么重要或漫长。
- “but it was long enough to see him lose…”（但是，这段时间却足以让我们目睹他失去…）：这里的“but”引入了一个转折，强调了尽管六个月在“宏观”上可能不长，但在麦克具体的遭遇中，这段时间却产生了毁灭性的后果。
- 随后的排比列举：“his youth (他的青春活力), his wit (他的机智幽默), his macho (他的男子气概)” 指的是他精神和个性上的特质的丧失；“his hair (他的头发), his bowel and bladder control (他的大小便控制能力), his sense of taste and smell (他的味觉和嗅觉)” 指的是他身体特征和基本生理机能的丧失；“and his ability to do the slightest thing for himself (以及他为自己做最微小事情的能力)” 则指他彻底失去了自理能力和人的基本尊严。
- 核心含义：这句话深刻地揭示了疾病的残酷。虽然从客观时间跨度看，六个月或许不算长，但对于麦克和关心他的人来说，这六个月却是一段目睹生命被一点点蚕食、尊严被一步步剥夺的漫长而痛苦的过程。作者通过这种方式，强调了麦克所承受痛苦的深度和广度，以及疾病对其生命质量的全面摧毁。
- 中文详尽解释：
"Was all this misery and suffering supposed to be building character or infusing us all with the sense of humility that comes from impotence?"
- 中文详尽解释：
- 这是一个反思性的设问句，表达了作者在目睹麦克承受的巨大痛苦以及自身无能为力后，对这些苦难意义的深刻困惑和追问。
- “Was all this misery and suffering supposed to be building character”（所有这些痛苦和折磨，难道是为了塑造（我们的）品格/性格吗？）：这部分引用了一种常见的、试图为苦难赋予积极意义的说法，即苦难可以磨练人的意志，使人变得更坚强或品格更高尚（类似于中文常说的“吃得苦中苦，方为人上人”或逆境使人成长）。作者对这种说法提出了质疑。
- “or infusing us all with the sense of humility that comes from impotence?”（还是为了让我们所有人都充满那种源于无能为力的谦卑感呢？）：
- “infusing us all with…”：意为“向我们所有人注入/灌输…”。
- “the sense of humility”：谦卑感，一种认识到自身渺小、能力有限或不那么重要的心态。
- “that comes from impotence”：“impotence”在这里并非指生理上的阳痿，而是指“无能为力”、“无助”、“束手无策”，特指医护人员在面对麦克无法逆转的病情和极度痛苦时，尽管拥有医疗知识和技术，却依然无法真正解除其痛苦或改变其命运的那种深切的无力感。
- 核心含义：作者在痛苦地思考：麦克所承受的以及她们作为医护人员所目睹和参与其中的这一切苦难，其“目的”或“意义”究竟是什么？是为了让他们（病人或医护人员）通过这些苦难而“品格得到升华”这种带有某种积极色彩的传统解读？还是，这些苦难仅仅是为了让她们这些自认为掌握着救死扶伤能力的医护人员，在残酷的现实面前，深刻体会到自身的局限和无力回天，从而产生一种因无助而生的谦卑之心，承认在强大的疾病和死亡面前人类的渺小？这句话充满了对无谓延长痛苦的医疗行为的沉痛反思，暗示这种痛苦可能并无积极意义，反而只是突显了所有相关者的无助和绝望。
- 中文详尽解释：
"Had we become so self-righteous that we thought meddling in God's work was our duty, our moral imperative and legal obligation?"
- 中文详尽解释：
- 这仍然是一个尖锐的自省式设问句，作者将批判的矛头指向了整个医疗界，质疑其在不惜一切代价延长生命这一问题上的动机和行为是否源于一种傲慢。
- “Had we become so self-righteous”（我们（指整个医疗界或更广泛的社会）是否已经变得如此自以为是了）：
- “self-righteous”：形容词，指自认为道德高尚或行为绝对正确，并因此可能看不起或不愿听取不同意见。这里暗示医疗界可能过度自信于自己的判断和能力，认为自己的所作所为都是绝对正确的。
- “that we thought meddling in God's work was our duty, our moral imperative and legal obligation?”（以至于我们认为干涉上帝的事务（通常指生死等自然规律）是我们的职责、我们的道德责任和法律义务了吗？）：
- “meddling in God's work”：“meddling”指不必要地干预、插手。“God's work”在这里通常指代生命、死亡、自然进程等被认为是神圣的、或超越人力所能完全掌控的领域。这句话暗指医生们试图通过医疗手段强行干预病人的生死过程，就像是在干预本应由更高力量或自然规律决定的事情。
- “our duty (我们的职责), our moral imperative (我们的道德责任/强制性要求), and legal obligation (我们的法律义务)”：这三者列出了医护人员或社会通常用来合理化其不惜一切代价延长生命行为的理由——职责所在、道德上必须如此、法律上不得不为。
- 核心含义：作者尖锐地质问：医疗界（甚至整个社会）是否因为一种过度的道德优越感和自以为是的心态，将干预病人生死（这种本应属于“上帝”或自然规律范畴的事情）错误地当成了自己天经地义的职责、不可推卸的道德使命和必须遵守的法律规范？这句话强烈批判了那种不顾患者意愿和生活质量、盲目追求延长生命时间的医疗行为，暗示这种行为可能并非出于真正的慈悲或责任，而是一种基于技术万能和人类中心主义的傲慢。
- 中文详尽解释：
"Nothing I've ever done in my 47 years has taken so much effort as it took not to press that code button."
- 中文详尽解释：
- 这句话通过一个强烈的对比，来强调作者在特定情境下克制自己不去按急救按钮所付出的巨大意志力和内心的挣扎。
- “Nothing I've ever done in my 47 years has taken so much effort”（在我47年的人生中，我做过的所有事情里，没有任何一件比这更费力/艰难/需要如此大的努力了）：这是一个典型的表达方式，用“nothing…as…as…”结构来突出后者。作者回顾自己过去47年的人生经历，将所有做过的事情，无论多么困难，都与当前这件事进行比较。
- “as it took not to press that code button.”（如同（克制自己）不去按那个“蓝色代码”按钮所花费的力气那样大。）：“code button”即文中的“蓝色代码按钮”，一旦按下就会启动医院的紧急抢救程序。这里的核心在于“not to press”（不去按），这是一种“不作为”的行为，但这种“不作为”却需要巨大的心理能量。
- 核心含义：作者在说，她活了47年，经历了各种各样的事情，但没有任何一件事情比在麦克弥留之际，“克制住自己不去按下那个启动抢救程序的按钮”更让她感到艰难和消耗心力。这深刻地揭示了她内心的巨大冲突：一方面是作为护士的职业本能、医院的规定以及对可能产生的法律后果的恐惧，都驱使她去按按钮救人；另一方面是她对麦克长期承受巨大痛苦的深切同情、对麦克及其妻子莫拉求求解脱意愿的理解和尊重。因此，这种“不按按钮”的“不作为”，实际上是一种需要克服巨大心理障碍、职业惯性和潜在恐惧的、极其艰难的“作为”。这句话生动地展现了她在那个生死攸关的时刻所承受的沉重的道德、情感和职业压力。
- 中文详尽解释：
"Cradling her in my arms was like cradling myself, Mac, and all those patients and nurses who had been in this place before, who do the best they can in a death-denying society."
- 中文详尽解释：
- 这句话通过一个拥抱的动作，将其意义从单纯的安慰个体扩展到了对一种集体困境的共情和对社会文化的反思。
- “Cradling her in my arms”（将她（指麦克的妻子莫拉）拥入怀中）：这是一个充满同情、安慰和支持的动作。
- “was like cradling myself, Mac, and all those patients and nurses who had been in this place before”（就如同同时拥抱着我自己、麦克，以及所有那些曾经身处此境（指医院面对绝症和死亡的困境）的病人和护士们）：
- 这是一个非常深刻的共情（empathy）表达。作者在拥抱和安慰悲痛的莫拉时，她感受到的不仅仅是对莫拉的安慰，这个拥抱也包含了对她自己（作为承受巨大压力和悲伤的护士）的慰藉，对刚刚逝去的麦克的哀悼与某种意义上的解脱，以及对历史上无数与麦克有着相似遭遇的病人、和像她一样在艰难中提供照护的护士们的深切理解和同情。
- “in this place before”：既可以指具体的医院这个物理场所，也可以更广泛地指代这种面对生命末期、痛苦、无助和伦理抉择的艰难处境。
- “who do the best they can in a death-denying society.”（他们在一个否认死亡的社会里尽其所能地做到最好。）
- “death-denying society”：这是一个关键的社会批判短语，指一个倾向于回避谈论死亡、恐惧死亡、不愿正视死亡的社会文化。在这种文化氛围下，医疗体系和社会舆论可能更倾向于不惜一切代价延长生理意义上的生命，即使这意味着延长病人的痛苦，而不鼓励或不接受有尊严的、平静的死亡。
- “do the best they can”：指这些病人（在痛苦中挣扎）和护士（在提供照护和面对伦理困境时）在这样一种对死亡缺乏坦然接受和理性讨论的社会大环境下，已经尽了他们最大的努力去应对、去抗争、去寻求可能的、更好的（或许更有尊严的）出路。
- 核心含义：作者拥抱莫拉的这个动作，超越了简单的个体之间的安慰。它变成了一种象征，象征着一种跨越个体界限的集体性的哀伤、理解和团结，将莫拉的痛苦、作者自身的感受、麦克的经历以及所有曾在相似医疗困境中挣扎的人们（无论是病人还是医护人员）的情感连接起来。同时，这句话也含蓄但有力地批评了那种不愿正视和接纳死亡的社会文化，这种文化可能导致不必要的痛苦延续，并向那些在这种文化压力下艰难寻求人性化处理方式的人们表达了敬意和深切的同情。
- 中文详尽解释：
"Until there is legislation making it a criminal act to code a patient who has requested the right to die, we will all of us risk the same fate as Mac."
- 中文详尽解释：
- 这句话清晰地表达了作者对现有法律体系在保障患者临终意愿方面的担忧，并指出了这种法律缺失可能导致的普遍性风险。
- “Until there is legislation making it a criminal act to code a patient who has requested the right to die,”（除非有立法规定，对一个已经明确请求“死亡权”（即放弃抢救权）的病人进行抢救（code）属于犯罪行为，）：
- “Legislation”: 指立法，法律条文。
- “making it a criminal act to code a patient”: “to code a patient” 在医疗语境中特指对病人实施心肺复苏等紧急抢救措施。“criminal act”指犯罪行为。这部分的意思是，通过立法，将“对特定病人（即下文定义的病人）进行抢救”的行为界定为非法，甚至是犯罪。
- “who has requested the right to die”: 指那些已经清醒、明确地表达了在特定医疗情况下（如病情不可逆转、生命质量极低时）放弃抢救、希望自然死亡意愿的病人。这里的“right to die”更准确地说是指“拒绝维持生命的医疗措施的权利”或“有尊严死亡的权利”。
- 整个前半句是一个条件从句，设定了一个前提：如果未来能够出台这样的法律——即当病人明确表达了放弃抢救的意愿后，医护人员若仍然强行对其进行抢救，则这种行为将被视为犯罪。
- “we will all of us risk the same fate as Mac.”（否则的话，我们所有人都将面临（或冒着遭受）与麦克同样的命运的风险。）
- “we will all of us risk”: “we all of us” 强调了这种风险的普遍性，指的不仅仅是特定人群，而是未来社会中每一个可能面临类似麦克那样绝症和痛苦处境的人。他们都将“冒着……的风险”。
- “the same fate as Mac”: 指像麦克那样，在生命的最后阶段，尽管承受着巨大的、无法缓解的痛苦，并且本人也渴望有尊严地、平静地离世，但由于缺乏明确的法律来支持和保护其临终意愿（即“no-code”的合法性和强制性），而被迫一次又一次地接受那些只能延长痛苦、却无法改善生命质量的抢救措施，最终在极大的折磨中死去。
- 核心含义：作者认为，在当前的法律框架下，由于没有明确的法律将违背病人清醒时表达的放弃抢救意愿的强制抢救行为界定为非法，那么未来，社会上的每一个人，一旦不幸遭遇类似麦克的绝症和无法忍受的痛苦时，都可能重蹈麦克的覆辙——即他们的个人意愿得不到尊重，被迫在极度痛苦中被无效地延长生命，无法实现有尊严的死亡。这句话是在强烈呼吁进行法律改革，通过立法来更好地保护患者在生命末期的自主决定权和人格尊严。
- 中文详尽解释：