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.
...le pain to both the patient and to their families. One procedure, known as Physician-Assisted suicide, alleviates suffering by having a physician provide a patient the means to painlessly kill him or herself. This procedure however, remains controversial and illegal in many states. This is unfair to patients who wish to be assisted in seeking death and escaping their terminal illness. Despite all of the benefits that are brought about because of Physician-Assisted suicide, people across America still seek to ban the practice because it clashes with personal moral and ethical beliefs. Although many people disagree with the procedure of Physician-Assisted suicide, it should still become legal because it alleviates suffering, allows patients to die in a dignified manner, and allows people to take control of the ultimate choice, death, away from their terminal illness.
Pain is universal. In life, everyone will feel pain; it is inevitable and cruel. Physical or emotional, insignificant or severe, it is there. The pain continues mounting into an unbearable amount of suffering. Suffering that blots out everything of worth, such as family, love, aspirations, and optimism. Hopelessness seizes any will to endure. With no way to subside or control the pain, often one will go to extremes in order to be free of it. Many take their life, in order to escape the horror. Committing suicide is a traumatizing experience for any and all involved. Life is precious. The chance to live is only given once, and cannot be taken for granted. Preventing even a single life from ending early is imperative and obligatory to everyone. Suicide can never be an option. Why then is it acceptable as an alternative treatment for dire medical conditions? Physician-Assisted Suicides have a negative impact on those involved and is unethical.
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.
The first reason to allow the legalization of assisted suicide is the autonomy of people. According to Ronald Dworkin (cited in Safranek 1998) right to autonomy is "a right to make important decisions defining their own lives for themselves." Therefore, right-to-die is associated with the right of people to make decisions about their own life. The controversy about this right is that might the patient is not in the right mental state to make choices properly. However, allowing doctors to assist a suicide provides necessary supervision of the process and to guarantee that the patient is in the right psychological state to make such decisions and also doctor can ensure that patient is aware of all the consequences that this implies. Price, A, McCormack, R, Wise...
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.” (medterms.com) Surveys have shown physician-assisted suicide to be gaining more and more support amongst doctors and “up to half of adults believe it should be legal in cases of terminal illnesses.” (Vaugn, Page 597) In a 2000 large survey, Oncologists revealed 22.5% supported the use of physician-assisted suicide for a terminally ill patient with unremitting pain, 6.6% favored active euthanasia in these circumstances, 56.2% had received requests from patients for physician assisted suicide, 38.2% for active euthanasia, 10.8% had performed physician-assisted suicide and 3.7% active euthanasia. (Vaughn, Page 598) Not only have physician-assisted suicide begun gaining more support amongst physicians but also in the public. In a 2007 survey conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs, results have shown that 48% of the public believe it should be legal or doctors to help terminally ill patients end their own life by giving them a prescription of fatal drugs while 44% believe it should be illegal. (Vaughn, Page 603) In the 2007 Gallup Poll, results show 56% of the public believes when a person has a disease that cannot be cured and is living in severe pain, doctors should be allowed to assist the patient to commit suicide if the patients requests it and 38% believe it should not be allowed and 49% of the public believes that physician-assisted suicide is morally acceptable while 44% beli...
Are we all living to die? And if so should we have a choice on how we die? There are many ethical dilemmas surrounding assisted suicide. What things will dictate our right to die: terminal illness, depression, or your constitution rights? The Bill of Rights state in the eighth amendment, “ nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”, so would it be considered cruel inflicted punishment to deny a person with a terminal illness and a few agonizing months to live the right to end their suffering sooner? A health care professional takes an oath to preserve life and wellness so assisting a person with suicide would jeopardize their ethical and moral duty to their profession. Also,
Controversy around physician assisted suicide partially comes from the lack of knowledge surrounding it. Euthanasia, also known as voluntary active euthanasia is where the physician intentionally ends the patient’s life at the patient’s request and with their full informed consent (Emanuel, 2015). Nowhere in the United States is this legal. Passive euthanasia is when life-sustaining treatments are terminated such as respirators and artificial nutrition (Emanuel, 2015). Palliative sedation is considered ethical and involves administering drugs that pose a risk of death (Emanuel, 2015). There are numerous terms used to describe death and physician’s involvement so it is important to distinguish between the different terms to better educate patients.
Physician-Assisted Suicide, or Euthanasia, is a serious issue, and it affects people throughout all walks of life. From teenagers with angst, to older adults feeling hopeless in their life, to the elderly suffering from terminal illnesses, suicide pervades throughout their thought processes as an alternative to their emotionally and physically pervasive situations. Euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide, has a history dating back to the seventeenth century. Only recently has it become as controversial an issue as it has.
According to dictionary.com Physician assisted suicide is suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information as in a drug prescription or
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
The patient might not be in the state of mind where they can make a clear and sensible decision. Some things that cause people to come to an unreasonable conclusion are mental complications, such as depression. Depression can lead to individuals wanting to commit suicide because they feel hopeless. If these individuals are seen as fit to make a life changing decision, they could take advantage of the availability of euthanasia. In addition, bias from the patient’s doctor could also persuade the patient to choose euthanasia, since the only source of medical information is from their doctor. The European Scientific Journal states that “ Recent studies have reported that about 70% of actual decisions to end a life by euthanasia have been hasty and irrational, and contrary to general perceptions, depression and loneliness rather than pain and suffering seem to be the primary factors motivating patients' interest in euthanasia. Also patients can be strongly influenced by doctors as the sole source of their information about illness, prognosis and possible interventions, so despair can easily be communicated to both the patient and family by a doctor expressing pessimism about a prognosis.” Therefore, euthanasia should not be legalized because of both mental complications and doctor bias.
Physician-assisted suicide refers to the physician acting indirectly in the death of the patient -- providing the means for death.
Although many people are familiar with the term “physician-assisted suicide,” very few however, actually know what is meant by the term. The term “physician-assisted suicide” is one that has been commonly used among the public as well as those who are in medical fields and discussed heavily throughout the medical literature. Physician-Assisted Suicide illustrates the process of prescribing medications that are often lethal in nature to patients who in return who take the self-administered doses without any outside help in order to end their life (Chin, Hedberg, Higginson, & Fleming, 1999). There have been states such as Washington and Oregon who have legalized Physician-Assistant Suicide. However, under the Washington and Oregon Death with Dignity Acts the term has been coined, “physician aid-in-dying (Chin, Hedberg, Higginson, & Fleming, 1999).” There have been much debate over what words to use but all seems to agree that it depends on how you feel about this issue and what side of the case you are on (Chin, Hedberg, Higginson, & Fleming, 1999).
One of the many concerns is allowing incompetent individuals making this irreversible decision, which is why, “all have agreed that this end-of-life option should apply on to competent individual’s”(113). In addition, people opposed to this method argue that patients demanding this process are suffering from depression and not able to make decisions; yet, Rosenfled explains that practitioners most ensure that patients who consent to this medical intervention do it voluntarily, knowingly and