Patients with a terminal illness should have access to two options: assisted suicide and hospice care. The U.S. Declaration of Independence grants Americans the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit to happiness. Patients do not need anyone’s permission to live, and no one can forcibly obstruct efforts to achieve personal happiness. Hospice care has limitations: costs, patients still suffering with pain, or side effects that people must endure over their limited life expectancy. Assisted suicide respects individual autonomy. People should be free to determine their own fate by their own choices, especially in connection with private matters such as their health. Dying patients should require the option of both hospice care and assisted suicide. …show more content…
For example, one main barrier to obtaining hospice care is all the restrictions a person has to do to receive the benefits of hospice care.“Ninety-eight percent of the U.S. population live close enough to a hospice to receive care. Despite this growth, more than half of patients who are eligible and appropriate for hospice care die without receiving it” (Merluzzi). People do not get hospice care because it not only has restrictions when trying to obtain it, but it also has negative aspects to getting it. For example, the cost for hospice care is rising up, so the cost can become a burden on families. Patients already deal with the terminal illness that they have been suffering with that result in death, so the patients should not have to pay for the hospice care that they are receiving. The cost of hospice care is a flaw because a lot of patients and their families cannot afford the treatment. Treatments such as radiation and blood transfusions can cost more than 10,000 dollars per month (Merluzzi). Assisted suicide should be an option because it is cruel to have to suffer and worry about costs when the end result is death by a terminal …show more content…
People in hospice care endure side effects that are unacceptable to some. An example would be a patient in a diaper because their disease will not allow them to walk or get up on their own. There are many different cases of which patients in hospice care suffer and receive side effects. Hospice care is an option that can help patients, but for some it is cruel to force people to suffer a painful, tortured existence in which there is no hope for relief. Any patient going through that much pain and suffering should have the option of assisted suicide, so he/she can be at peace. Assisted suicide not only would help the patient suffering with pain, but it would give physicians some piece in mind that they did their job and relieved the patient’s pain and suffering. Physician-assisted suicide is not about physicians becoming killers. It’s about patients whose suffering that can not be relieved and about not turning away from them when they ask for help. Society should see the bigger picture of assisted suicide. Physicians are not killers ,but rather people who are relieving someone’s pain. Society should see how assisted suicide would help those who can not go through any more pain and suffering. Physicians have many obligations, but when cure is impossible there should be another option. Assisted suicide should be an option so the physicians can fulfill their obligation and relieve their
Terminally ill patients deserve the right to have a dignified death. These patients should not be forced to suffer and be in agony their lasting days. The terminally ill should have this choice, because it is the only way to end their excruciating pain. These patients don’t have
...their own life and die with their own dignity is huge thing among anyone. No one should be denied the right to leave this earth if they are in constant and terrible pain. But people were also asked whether physician-assisted suicide should be allowed for people in severe pain who aren't terminally ill or for those with disabilities and the outcome was, “a solid majority — 71 percent — opposed the idea, with only 29 percent in favor of it. The results were the same as in 2011.” (Hensley, 2012). The whole idea of having physician-assisted suicide is for a patient with a severe illness with months to live is to go out in peace and without any complications. Overall, physician-assisted suicide has many pros and cons but the main issue is the patient. It should not be up to anybody except the dying patient. There are only four states that have legalized assisted-suicide.
...the death rate and decrease the quality of care on patients. They argue that having the legal right to request an euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide will make doctors more comfortable ending a patient's life against their will without having to face any legal consequences. Although this point of view is true, I still think terminal ill patients should have the right to choose whether they want to keep living or not. This right should not be denied but modified. I think that once the patient knows he has no cure, he or she should sign a paper or make a will where it authorizes the doctor or family members to take the decision of ending his or her life in case his conditions worsens or the pain is unbearable. It would be just like the patients that have the "Do not resuscitate" request on their medical forms, but this time it would say "Do not prolong my agony."
Imagine being diagnosed with a disease that is going to kill you, but then you learn that you cannot do anything to avoid the pain it will cause you. The palliative care you will receive will only be able to provide slight comfort. You look at the options and consult with your physician, and decide physician-assisted suicide, or PAS, is what you want. Within the last two decades, the argument regarding physician-assisted suicide has grown. While some believe that death should be "natural", physician-assisted suicide helps the terminally ill maintain their dignity while dying. Physician assisted suicide should be a viable option for those diagnosed with a terminal illness. It provides a permanent relief to the pain and suffering that is involved
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide has been a hot topic of debate for quite some time now. Some believe it to be immoral, while others see nothing wrong with it what so ever. Regardless what anyone believes, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should become legal for physicians and patients. Death is a personal situation in life. By government not allowing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide they are interfering and violating patient’s personal freedom and human rights! Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have the power to save the lives of family members and other ill patients. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should become legal however, there should be strict rules and guidelines to follow and carry out by both the patient and physician. If suicide isn’t a crime why should euthanasia and assisted suicide? Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should be legal and the government should not be permitted to interfere with death.
Legalize physician assisted suicide - Those that believe that physician assisted suicide should be legal primarily argue on the basis of patient autonomy and family considerations. The first argument, patient autonomy, states that terminally ill patients should have the right to control the circumstances of their death and to determine when t...
Terminally ill patients should have the legal option of physician-assisted suicide. Terminally ill patients deserve the right to control their own death. Legalizing assisted suicide would relive families of the burdens of caring for a terminally ill relative. Doctors should not be prosecuted for assisting in the suicide of a terminally ill patient. We as a society must protect life, but we must also recognize the right to a humane death. When a person is near death, in unbearable pain, they have the right to ask a physician to assist in ending their lives.
In conclusion, legalizing physician assisted suicide will reduce health care costs by not having patients kept on expensive machines and needing expensive surgeries. Allowing patients to legally receive assistance with their suicides will allow doctors to manage their time on more promising patients instead of ones that will most likely die within a couple days to a couple of months. Legalizing assisted suicide will not only allow doctors to manage their time better, but gives the patient an option. Some worry about legalizing assisted suicide going against the doctor’s oath, but the patients are the ones who are suffering, not the doctors. Many believe that legalizing physician assisted suicide will allow options for the patients so they aren’t suffering anymore.
Physicians Assisted Suicide An Argumentative Essay Physicians Assisted suicide is a topic many people are not fully informed about. Physician assisted suicide, or PAS for short, is when a physician can legally prescribe medicine for a patient to take in order to medically kill themselves. I believe that PAS should be talked more about in order for more people to understand how bad or grave it can be to a family and to our world. PAS falls underneath the umbrella of euthanasia. ?
Do people have the right to die? Is there, in fact, a right to die? Assisted suicide is a controversial topic in the public eye today. Individuals choose their side of the controversy based on a number of variables ranging from their religious views and moral standings to political factors. Several aspects of this issue have been examined in books, TV shows, movies, magazine articles, and other means of bringing the subject to the attention of the public. However, perhaps the best way to look at this issue in the hopes of understanding the motives behind those involved is from the perspective of those concerned: the terminally ill and the disabled.
Physician -assisted suicide has been a conflict in the medical field since pre- Christian eras, and is an issue that has resurfaced in the twentieth century. People today are not aware of what the term physician assisted suicide means, and are opposed to listening to advocates’ perspectives. Individuals need to understand that problems do not go away by not choosing to face them. This paper’s perspective of assisted suicide is that it is an option to respect the dignity of patients, and only those with deathly illness are justified for this method.
Terminally ill patients no longer wish to have their lives artificially prolonged by expensive, painful, or debilitating treatments and would rather die quietly. The patients do not wish to prolong their life and they may not wish to commit suicide themselves or worse, are physically incapable of doing so. People have the right to their own destiny and living in the U.S we have acquired freedom. The patients Right to Self Determination Act gives the patient the power to decide how, when and why they choose to die. In "Editorial Exchange: Death with Dignity: Reopen Assisted-Suicide Debate." The Canadian Press Sep 27 2013 ProQuest. 7 June 2015” Doctor Donald Low and his terminally ill friends plea to physician assisted suicide in an online video. He states that it is their rights as cancer patients to make the decision to pass, but he is denied. Where is the equality? Patients who are on dialysis or hooked up to respirators have the choice to end their lives by ending treatment. However, patients who are not dependent on life support cannot choose when they can pass. Many patients feel that because of their illness that life is not worth living for and that life has already been taken from them due to lack of activities they can perform. Most of the terminally ill patients are bedridden with outrageous amounts of medication and they don’t want family members having to care for them
First, there are those who agree with assisted suicide, arguing that a person should have the choice to end one’s own life, to end one’s prolonged pain and suffering. According to Soo Borson, terminally ill diseases like dementia and Alzheimer 's kill, but very slowly and rob a person of their mind long before their body is physically ready to die. Once that happens to the patient, the path is filled with great anguish for the one’s around the patient as well. Personally, I have lived with two grandparents suffering from dementia, and one who suffered with both lung cancer and dementia. It is a sad sight to see how their minds faded and how the disease caused both grandparents to change into people I couldn’t even recognize anymore. According to Andre and Velasquez, medicine and technology have allowed people to live longer lives, but have also allowed people
Thesis Statement: Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia may offer an accelerated and pain relieved alternative to end someone’s suffering, therefore people should not be denied the right to die especially when faced with terminal illnesses.
Should a patient have the right to ask for a physician’s help to end his or her life? This question has raised great controversy for many years. The legalization of physician assisted suicide or active euthanasia is a complex issue and both sides have strong arguments. Supporters of active euthanasia often argue that active euthanasia is a good death, painless, quick, and ultimately is the patient’s choice. While it is understandable, though heart-rending, why a patient that is in severe pain and suffering that is incurable would choose euthanasia, it still does not outweigh the potential negative effects that the legalization of euthanasia may have. Active euthanasia should not be legalized because