Ethical and Legal Debates on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

1497 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Euthanasia assisted suicide moral issues

One of the greatest miracles in life, is life itself, but where is life there’s death. So as unexpected as life is shall death be the same, or can we choose on how we leave this earth. Over the years, the laws and ethical consternation regarding the debatable subject of euthanasia and assisted suicide, have been questioned frequently by society. Though the question may never be answered between euthanasia and assisted suicide being right or wrong, the fact of the matter is that people are still choosing their fate.

In America, euthanasia refers to a person knowingly, and purposely taking another persons life, or in a more factual meaning killing someone who in fact couldn’t kill himself. Euthanasia also known as “mercy killing” is in fact considered homicide, which would make it illegal in every state. Assisted suicide refers to person knowingly giving another person the resources to commit suicide. Assisted suicide is also considered as medical treatment in certain states (Oregon) is in fact legal if you meet certain requirements. So while euthanasia and assisted suicide both end up with the same conclusion, they both have different consequences that follow.

Another untold aspect between euthanasia and assisted suicide is the techniques both of them are carried out. While euthanasia could actually be done by any means ( a daughter poisoning her mother, or a husband smothering his spouse with a pillow), assisted suicide has to be performed humanely and correctly for it to be legal. Assisted suicide can be performed many ways, one of the most common known is Principle of Double Effect (Gibson, 2012). Principle of Double Effect is when a physician prescribes a patient a large amount of painkillers, with the intent of helping the...

... middle of paper ...

... kill (or destroy) yourselves, for verily Allah has been to you most Merciful.' (Quran 4:29). So based off of religion alone assisted suicide and euthanasia would be unethical and/or a sin in the eyes of their lord.

Underlying the ethical and legal debates over assisted suicide and euthanasia are a number of issues that focus upon the Patient, worldviews, family, and religion. Some positions on assisted suicide and euthanasia can be based upon assumptions regarding the psychodynamics to request assistance in suicide, which can be evaluated only with more research in the future. But In the meantime, a patient that is requesting assistance with suicide from a physician should receive their wish, but continue to search and try to identify other ways to relieve suffering. Although life is valuable and sacred a person should have the right to choose how they should die.

Show More
Related

  • The Debate on Whether Assisted Suicide is Ethical or Immoral

    1755 Words  | 4 Pages

    Assisted Suicide, also known as mercy killing, occurs when a physician provides the means (drugs or other agents) by which a person can take his or her own life. This assistance is one of the most debated issues today in society followed by abortion. Physicians are frequently faced with the question of whether or not assisted suicide is ethical or immoral. Although assisted suicide is currently illegal in almost all states in America, it is still often committed. Is assisted suicide ethical? Studies have found that the majority of Americans support assisted suicide. One must weigh both sides of the argument before they can decide.

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues With Physician Assisted Suicide

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    The discussion of physician-assisted suicide is frequently focused around the ethical implications. The confusion commonly surfaces from the simple question, what is physician-assisted suicide? Physician-assisted suicide can be defined as a circumstance in which a medical physician provides a lethal dose of medication to a patient with a fatal illness. In this case, the patient has given consent, as well as direction, to the physician to ethically aid in their death (Introduction to Physician-Assisted Suicide: At Issue,

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues Of Euthanasia

    1581 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many convincing and compelling arguments for and against Physician Assisted Suicide. There are numerous different aspects of this issue including religious, legal and ethical issues. However, for the purpose of this paper, I will examine the ethical concerns on both sides. There are strong pro and con arguments regarding this and I will make a case for both. It is definitely an issue that has been debated for years and will continue to be debated in years to come.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death remains as one of the greatest mysteries today. Even though dying is a natural part of existence, American culture is unique in the extent to which death is viewed as a taboo topic. Rather than having open discussions, we tend to view death as a feared enemy that can and should be defeated by modern medicine and machines. Many people fear their end of life care, dying, and what will come after death. Society has become institutionalized, therefore most people die in a place with many health professionals. One main controversy over the last few decades are whether or not people should be able to choose when they die with assistance from a physician. Physician assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide is the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life. There are some people that are strong advocates and others that do not agree at all.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide

    1494 Words  | 3 Pages

    Waiting, suffering, pain, and death. These words constantly flow through the minds of people lying on their death beds. Some have cancer or life threatening diseases while others just wish they were not alive and want their lives to end. In today’s world, too many people encounter these life or death situations. Because of this, a controversy over assisted suicide has grown all over the United States. Assisted suicide, the “termination of one’s own life by the administration of a lethal substance” with the help of a physician, has been passed and made legal in a few states such as California and Oregon; however, other states are weary and unsure about passing such a disputed issue. While some people

    Read More

  • Should Physcian-Assisted Suicide be Legal

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    The approach of physician-assisted suicide respects an individual’s need for personal dignity. It does not force the terminally ill patient to linger hopelessly, and helplessly, often at great cost to their psyche. It drive’s people mad knowing they are going to die in a short period of time, suffering while they wait in a hospital bed.

    Read More

  • Assisted Suicide Thesis

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today's society is now introduced to one of the most controversial issues; assisted suicide. Just like in other controversial arguments, there are many people that feel that it is wrong for people to ask their healthcare provider to end one's life; while others feel that if the person is terminally ill and has given their will to die, that they can be assisted in suicide. Though both sides are reasonable many people believe that people should not take part in helping someone take their own life, assisted suicide should be legal because, it plays a factor of conquering one’s feelings, gives an option to those whom are terminally ill or in immense pain, and every human

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Ethics of Euthanasia

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    As patients come closer to the end of their lives, certain organs stop performing as well as they use to. People are unable to do simple tasks like putting on clothes, going to the restroom without assistance, eat on our own, and sometimes even breathe without the help of a machine. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. “Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations, Medical practioners should be allowed to help patients actively determine the time and circumstances of their death” (Lee). “Arguments for and against assisted suicide (sometimes called the “right to die” debate) are complicated by the fact that they come from very many different points of view: medical issues, ethical issues, legal issues, religious issues, and social issues all play a part in shaping people’s opinions on the subject” (Lee). Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is considered murder, it goes against physicians’ Hippocratic Oath, violates the Controlled

    Read More

  • The Right to Physician Assisted Suicide

    1874 Words  | 4 Pages

    The right to assisted suicide is a significant topic that concerns people all over the United States. The debates go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Some are against it because of religious and moral reasons. Others are for it because of their compassion and respect for the dying. Physicians are also divided on the issue. They differ where they place the line that separates relief from dying--and killing. For many the main concern with assisted suicide lies with the competence of the terminally ill. Many terminally ill patients who are in the final stages of their lives have requested doctors to aid them in exercising active euthanasia. It is sad to realize that these people are in great agony and that to them the only hope of bringing that agony to a halt is through assisted suicide.When people see the word euthanasia, they see the meaning of the word in two different lights. Euthanasia for some carries a negative connotation; it is the same as murder. For others, however, euthanasia is the act of putting someone to death painlessly, or allowing a person suffering from an incurable and painful disease or condition to die by withholding extreme medical measures. But after studying both sides of the issue, a compassionate individual must conclude that competent terminal patients should be given the right to assisted suicide in order to end their suffering, reduce the damaging financial effects of hospital care on their families, and preserve the individual right of people to determine their own fate.

    Read More

  • Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide

    478 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    Assisted suicide and euthanasia are phenomena developed in the past 20 years. They’re similar to each other because they both have to do with taking away another human being’s life. While assisted suicide is defined as the act of providing a drug prescription or lethal dosage to a patient by a physician and the person can decide when to take the dosage, euthanasia is the practice of killing a sick individual where a physician takes an active part on the process. PAS and euthanasia are legal in Belgium, Colombia, India, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Oregon, Washington , Montana and Vermont. For years a debate on assisted death has been going on. There are groups who believe it should not be charged as murder and there are others who believe it should. In this essay the reader will be introduced to some of the main reasons why a government pass a law to make them [PAS and euthanasia] legal.

    Read More

  • Euthanasia: An Ethical Dilemma

    1817 Words  | 4 Pages

    The ethical debate regarding euthanasia dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. It was the Hippocratic School (c. 400B.C.) that eliminated the practice of euthanasia and assisted suicide from medical practice. Euthanasia in itself raises many ethical dilemmas – such as, is it ethical for a doctor to assist a terminally ill patient in ending his life? Under what circumstances, if any, is euthanasia considered ethically appropriate for a doctor? More so, euthanasia raises the argument of the different ideas that people have about the value of the human experience.

    Read More

  • Moral and Ethical Issues of Euthanasia

    1525 Words  | 4 Pages

    As we all know, medical treatment can help save lives. But is there a medical treatment that would actually help end life? Although it's often debated upon, the procedure is still used to help the aid of a patient's death. Usually dubbed as mercy killing, euthanasia is the "practice of ending a life so as to release an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering" (Encarta). My argument over this topic is that euthanasia should have strict criteria over the use of it. There are different cases of euthanasia that should be looked at and different point of views that should be considered. I will be looking into VE (Voluntary Euthanasia), which involves a request by the dying patient or that person's legal representative. These different procedures are as follows: passive or negative euthanasia, which involves not doing something to prevent death or allowing someone to die and active or positive euthanasia which involves taking deliberate action to cause a death. I have reasons to believe that passive or negative euthanasia can be a humane way of end suffering, while active or positive euthanasia is not.

    Read More

More about Ethical and Legal Debates on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

Open Document