Death by the Art of Healing
Physician assisted suicide is a highly controversial growing concern, within our
society and law-makers today. Even though it could relieve the suffering of patients,
physician assisted suicide is immoral, violates the Hippocratic oath and devalues the
integrity of medicine. Physician assisted suicide should not be practiced or legalized
because it can also be classified as homicide.
Although, euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have the same motives and
goals for killing the patients, the need for the definitions to be clear is important.
Euthanasia is defined by the physician preforming the act of death on the patient. While,
physician assisted suicide is where “the physician provides the necessary means or
information and the patient performs the act themselves (Emanuel, von Gunten and
Ferris 3).
Suffering has always been a part of human existence. Requests to end suffering
by means of death through both physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia have
occurred since the beginning of medicine. “Based on a recent study, 57% of physicians
practicing today have received a request for physician-assisted suicide in some form or
another” (Emanuel, von Gunten and Ferris 1-2).
There are many reasons a patient might request assistance for their suicide.
Patients make requests for many different reasons that usually arise from physical,
psychological, social, or spiritual suffering, or practical concerns. “In one study patients
who were depressed were 4 to 5 times more likely to have made serious inquiries about
physician assisted suicide or euthanasia” (Emanuel, von Gunten and Ferris 2).
For centuries most religions particularly the Christian religion has bel...
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The word Euthanasia comes from the Greek and means “good death” (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp) and in the range of this paper, it will be called physician assisted suicide or “active” euthanasia. The definition of “active” euthanasia is ending one’s life yourself or with aid of a doctor. It can be done in various different ways; however, the most common form is with a combination of drugs, usually given by a physician. ( http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp) The reason Physician Assisted Suicide (or PAS) is an important issue in this country and around the world is that there are many people out there suffering from debilitating, incurable and intensely painful diseases that would like to end their lives with dignity and without suffering. (Leo & Lein, 2010, The Value of a Planned Death)
Euthanasia comes from the Greek word that means “good death” (“Euthanasia” Literary). In general, euthanasia refers to causing the death of someone to end their pain and suffering oftentimes in cases of terminal illness. Some people call this “mercy killings.”
Euthanasia is often confused with physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia is when one person does something that directly kills another. For example, a doctor gives a lethal injection to a patient. In assisted suicide, a non-suicidal person knowingly and intentionally provides the means or acts in some way to help a suicidal person kill himself or herself. For example, a doctor writes a prescription for poison, or someone hooks up a face mask and tubing to a canister of carbon monoxide and then instructs the suicidal person on how to push a lever so that she'll be gassed to death. For all practical purposes, any distinction between euthanasia and assisted suicide has been abandoned today.
the article faces is depressed patients are more likely to ask for assistance in their
Euthanasia – the ending of a terminally ill patient’s life by a third party, normally a physician, to end the pain and suffering of the patient.
Euthanasia is an assisted death to those with incurable diseases who wish to die peacefully instead of going through pain and suffering; on the other hand, euthanasia can be seen as legalized murder and used for the selfishness of family members. Since euthanasia has been legalized in the United States, debate has developed from the different views whether it is deliberate killing or an end to unbearable suffering. Also, there are two different kinds of euthanasia; passive euthanasia, which would be pulling the plug on life support as opposed to active euthanasia, which is an actual poisoning shot.
Euthanasia also known as physician assisted suicide is a practice of ending life to relieve pain or incurable diseases with the help of a physician. Whether or not euthanasia is justified is a very serious moral issue. The practice of physician assisted suicide can be optional. As long as it is a person’s own decision, euthanasia is justified in some cases. Every person should have the right to end their life just like some other legal rights. As long as it is an individual’s own decision and the pain they are suffering is incurable, euthanasia can be justified.
Both practices for scientific and ethical reasons are problematic as every treatment decision near the end of life (Broeckaert). Euthanasia is defined as the practice of intentionally ending someone’s life in order to retrieve pain and suffering; any action or omission intended to end the life of a patient on the grounds that his or her life is not worth living (ProCon.org, What is euthanasia?). As these definitions state, the purpose of euthanasia is to reduce suffering of a patient with a terminal disease.
Euthanasia is divided into two separate classifications consisting of passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. Traditionally, “euthanasia is passive when a physician allows her patient to die, by withholding or withdrawing vital treatment from him…euthanasia is active when a patient's death results from his physician's killing the patient, typically by administering lethal medication” (Varelius, 2016). While active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide share many of the same characteristics, they differ in the role for committing the final act, resulting in the death of the patient. A third party, consisting of either a family member or the physician, is responsible for “pulling-the-plug” in active euthanasia. On the other hand, in physician-assisted suicide, it is ultimately up to the patient to commit the final death-inducing act. Varelius suggests that the separation of passive and active euthanasia can be explained by the involvement that the physician partakes in their patients’ death
According to the Oxford Dictionary, euthanasia is a medically assisted death; painlessly killing a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease. Euthanasia usually allows the medical doctor to be in charge of giving the option of death to the patient or asking the patient’s relatives to euthanize the patient. Many victims of euthanasia involve the elderly or newborn infants. Euthanasia is unethical, impacting negatively the lives of many people.
Physician assisted suicide, a suicide made possible by a physician providing a patient with the means to kill themselves, and euthanasia, the kindness of taking individual life by the physician, is an extremely debatable topic.
Any discussion that pertains to the topic of euthanasia must first include a clear definition of the key terms and issues. With this in mind, it should be noted that euthanasia includes both what has been called physician-assisted "suicide" and voluntary active euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide involves providing lethal medication(s) available to the patient to be used at a time of the patient’s own choosing (Boudreau, p.2, 2014). Indifferently, voluntary active euthanasia involves the physician taking an active role in carrying out the patient’s request, and usually involves intravenous delivery of a lethal substance. Physician-assisted suicide is felt to be easier psychologically for the physician and patient than euthanasia because
In the past couple of years, the debate regarding physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia has become a major ethical issue in medical practice as well as an issue that involves the law and public policy. By definition, physician-assisted suicide is when a physician provides the necessary means (equipment or medication), or informs the patient of the most efficacious use of already available means, for the purpose of assisting the patient in ending his or her life.1-2 Euthanasia, also known as mercy killing, is the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, in a relatively painless method.3 It is important to note that with PAS, the physician does not directly administer the medication to end life, instead they provide the medication and the patient performs the act themselves while in euthanasia another individual administers the medication regardless of patient consent or awareness.
Whose life is it, anyway? Euthanasia is a word that means good death. Euthanasia normally implies that the act must be initiated by the person who wishes to commit suicide. But, some people define euthanasia to include both voluntary and involuntary termination of life. Physician assisted suicide is when a physician supplies information and/or the means of committing suicide (lethal dose of sleeping pills or carbon monoxide gas) to a person, so that they can easily terminate their own life.
Euthanasia has always been defined as easy and gentle death especially in cases of painful and incurable illness. It has also been referred to as mercy killing of those considered hopelessly ill, incapacitated or injured patients. It is a matter of life and death. To medical practitioners the dilemma remains: prolong