Bonnie Wolfrum
Professor Kulikowski
ENG-1010-121315
April 17, 2015 Persuasive Research Essay Euthanasia should be legalized for terminally ill patients.
Have you ever looked into someone’s eyes expressing unbearable pain? You can see only one wish in such eyes and that is to die. For me, I saw it every day for nine long months as I watch my father in law suffer and die of stage four esophageal cancer. The pain and suffering he went through was so unbearable to watch and the hopeless feeling I had of not being able to do anything to take away the pain. There were days when he would ask us to just put him out of the miserable, horrible pain he was in; but we all knew that there was no legal way to do this for him. To watch as he
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Hospice Organization’s purpose is to care for terminally ill (dying) patients and their families by giving the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical comfort (“Hospice Care”). They do this by keeping a patient comfortable with pain management. But are they providing the best quality of life for a terminally ill patient by keeping them sedated and drugged? Euthanasia, we see it every day in veterinary hospitals and clinics where animals are euthanized by their owner’s consent. In reality, this act is seen as a humane way of reliving your pet’s pain and suffering. So why can’t people be shown the same compassion? With euthanasia, we are offering a patient the ability to end all the pain and suffering. Shouldn’t everyone have the right to a dignified death or should terminally ill patients be left to …show more content…
Hospice organizations will argue that “a death with dignity allows for a natural death in its own time, while doing everything possible to assure relief from distressing symptoms” (“Hospice Patients Alliance”). How is laying in a hospital bed for days, months and sometimes years in pain, suffering, and withering away to nothing dying with dignity? This is what happens to many patients diagnosed with a terminal disease. If it is the role of the hospice physicians and nurses to alleviate a patient suffering then why not legalized euthanasia so they can be rid of all the pain and suffering and die with some
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
Another reason a patient may opt to euthanasia is to die with dignity. The patient, fully aware of the state he or she is in, should be able choose to die in all their senses as opposed to through natural course. A patient with an enlarged brain tumor can choose to die respectively, instead of attempting a risky surgery that could leave the patient in a worse condition then before the operation, possibly brain-dead. Or a patient with early signs of Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease may wish to be granted euthanization before their disease progresses and causes detrimental loss of sentimental memories. Ultimately it should be the patient’s choice to undergo a risky surgery or bite the bullet, and laws prohibiting euthanasia should not limit the patient’s options.
There are several important ethical issues related to euthanasia. One is allowing people who are terminally ill and suffering the right to choose death. Should these people continue to suffer even though they really are ba...
...o through when they are in their final stages. In addition, because the lethal medication is always to be requested and not encouraged by a doctor, requesting death with dignity gives patients a feeling of autonomy and power as they do have some control over their last parts of life during a time when they usually feel helpless. With proper legislation and training for professionals, death with dignity could be properly regulated and not be abused. The Death With Dignity Acts found in the states that have already legalized it have been successful with giving terminally ill the rights and choices they deserve while also have specific and strict guidelines. The rest of the country should take these states as role models because it still remains that legalizing death with dignity across the nation would benefit a lot of people who are suffering from a terminal illness.
Euthanasia actively seeks an outside source to hasten the end of life when you choose to opt out of treatment, or where none is available. Hospice Palliative Care differs in the way that this organization provides comfort, care, and pain management in the event you choose to opt out or where treatment is non-existent. The natural course of life comes to an end through the affliction without aid to hasten the end. Incidentally, Webster defines euthanasia as mercy killing, and doesn’t delineate between killings by commission or omission. (Euthanasia) By its definition, there’s no difference between euthanasia and Hospice Palliative Care. However, this definition isn’t absolute when you involve human
However, to preserve the individual 's self respect they would not want their family to see them fall apart and wither away. Nevertheless, the end of a family member 's life is hard on all loved ones and the last memories they have should be ones of joy and care. A patient should be able to pass away peacefully knowing that they did so with their respect and dignity intact. In the article “Is physician-assisted death in anyone 's best interest?”, James downar explains that many people try and delay death, even when faced with a hopeless situation. However, although they remain cognitively intact, other patients have limited life prolonging options and their quality of life and function deteriorate below the threshold that they consider acceptable. This portrays the idea that regardless of whether or not a person is in favour of, or opposed to euthanasia, all people would agree that they would want a dignified death for themselves and their loved ones. The problem starts when people cannot agree as to the definition of 'dignity. ' According to a new survey commissioned by ‘Dying With Dignity Canada’, approximately 84 per cent of Canadians support assisted dying. These results clarify that terminally ill patients need their rights recognized. That being said, those who are continually opposed to voluntary euthanasia must not deny people the right to die with
Euthanasia is the fact of ending somebody’s life when assisting him to die peacefully without pain. In most cases, it is a process that leads to end the suffering of human beings due to disease or illness. A person other than the patient is responsible for the act of euthanasia; for example a medical provider who gives the patient the shot that must kill him. When people sign a consent form to have euthanasia, it is considered voluntary, involuntary euthanasia is when they refuse. When people are not alert and oriented they are not allowed to sign any consent including the consent to euthanasia. When euthanasia is practiced in such situation, it is a non-voluntary euthanasia. In sum, people who practice voluntary euthanasia in honoring other
In this article Quill states “Between 10% and 50% of patients in programs devoted to palliative care still report significant pain 1 week before death.” In this article Quill talks about how terminal sedation is for the patient from his standpoint. He talks about how patients who pick thermal sedation die from starvation, dehydration, or some other complication. He also states that “The suffering patient is sedated to unconsciousness, usually through ongoing administration of barbiturates or benzodiazepines.” Quill speaks about how opposers of physician suicide often say that it is against many moral beliefs. Voluntary Active Euthanasia is much like physician assisted suicide, but differs where the physician does all the steps, including the final step. Quill says, “For patients who are prepared to die because their suffering is intolerable , VAE has the advantage of being quick and
Keeping a person alive who is in pain and terminally ill does not keep the person from a painful death or from dying. Doing so only causes the person to die slower and makes the process of it worse than it would have been. Letting the patient choose the time of their death is not only merciful to the patient being euthanized, but it is also merciful to the family, friends, and loved ones to the patient. In the article “Death With Dignity: Choices and Challenges” by Faye Girsh, it gives an example of a merciful death by physician assisted suicide that puts ease on both the family and the patient as the article
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
Patients seek relief from symptoms such as unremitting severe pain, breathing difficulties such as choking and suffocation, nausea and vomiting. When a patient refuses treatment or is taken off of it they will endure endless amounts of pain and suffering before they actually die. If the patient is given lethal medication, the death would be much swifter and peaceful. Euthanasia in Greek means “painless, happy death” as stated in http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/commentary-case-against-physician-assisted-suicide-right-end-life-care. Patients feel as if their bodies are turning against them. They realize they cannot eat, drink, or even go to the bathroom by themselves. Patient’s whose lungs are failing have to be hooked up to a breathing tube acquiring massive doses of morphine for weeks to ease the pain until they pass. This is no different than PSA only the patient wouldn’t have to suffer as long. On the other hand physical pain is not the only form of suffering. One must take in to consideration the patient’s mental health. When the patient knows they are going to die and they understand more pain and suffering are to come the more humane way would be to let the patient choose to die peacefully. Also a patient that is psychologically suffering could decide to end their lives themselves in a non-peaceful manner. Doctors can allow the patient to end the
The word “dignity” is used used when arguing both sides of this topic. Supporters of euthanasia think that it is the right of the person suffering to end their own life with dignity. The Euthanasia Society of America was started in 1939 when this issue became popular (Behuniak). This was started as a way to start advocating for people to
However, dignity in dying is not necessarily assured when a trusted doctor, whose professional ethics are to promote and maintain life, injects a terminally ill patient with a lethal dose of morphine. & nbsp; Every culture has a taboo against murder, including our own. The practice of physician assisted suicide is wrong across all religious and cultural groups. According to Leon R. Kass, M.D., the taboo against doctors killing patients, even on request, "is the very embodiment of reason and wisdom. Without it, medicine would have lost its claim to be an ethical and trustworthy profession. " Before a physician is allowed to practice medicine, he/she takes the Hippocratic Oath, which is described by Encyclopedia Britannica as, "a pledge to prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt".
In my life I have lost many close family members to disease and illness. I have watched them waste away from the ravages of Alzheimer’s, AIDS, cancer and kidney failure. Each time their lack of choice leads them to treatment that only prolonged their pain and suffering and offered no hope. It is because of these experiences that I am a strong proponent of assisted suicide. Hospice care was the choice we made for each of them. Although it gave them relief from their pain it did not provide them with any value of life. We would never consider hospice care assisted suicide but there are decisions made that do help to shorten the lives of those that have this care. Most people on hospice are given morphine, or some derivative of it, to help them be “comfortable”. Morphine is a respiratory depressant and as the body systems begin to shut down the morphine does not get metabolizes as efficiently so eventually it will depress their respiratory system and eventually stop their heart. This is the hard truth about the end of life for many. It is at this time of the dying process that patient and their family member, with the guidance from doctors and nurses and safe medication practices, make the decisions on how often to give this medication. If it is ok at this time to help shorten a life, why is it not ok to let this same person chose to end their life with the same form of medication at the time of their
Death is something inevitable which all human beings must have to face today or tomorrow, or some part of their life.There are many people around the world sinking their lives in the darkness of dignity. Each and every day individuals all throughout the U.S. are diagnosed with terminal illness. They are compelled to wait until they die naturally, at the same time their bodies deteriorate by their sickness that will eventually take their lives. Some of the time, this implies living excruciating pain ,and that most states in our nation cannot do anything about it legally. People should have the will to live or die as the death of dignity is one of those acts that promotes this behavior , as a result it should be legalized all over the states,