It has the minds of society wondering if death solves some of the most extreme medical problems. If a patient finds himself or herself terminally ill and in excruciating pain, they should have the option to partake in assisted suicide to end their misery. Some insights support Euthanasia and some reject the concept. This issue is important to society because people want the right to end their lives when facing terminal, or life threatening, illnesses. In my opinion, certain forms of euthanasia should be considered legal.
There are many people in this world who feel they have a justifiable reason to end their lives but are not able to do it by themselves for physical, mental, or religious reason. However, there is a procedure called Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) where a doctor prescribes a lethal dose of a medication that kills the patient in the most humane way possible. This procedure differs from others, such as euthanasia —the act if deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve suffering —, because it is the patient who decides when to take the medication and end his life. There are many controversial debates on whether assisted suicide is right or wrong and consequently whether it should be legal. Opponents of this medical procedure, especially those with strong religious believes, maintain that regardless of one’s health condition people should never decide when to end their lives.
When the patient is terminally ill and is in a lot of pain they should be able to end their own life instead of waiting for it to end itself. Even though some argue that physician assisted suicide is not a humane way of dying it still stops the patient´s suffering and gives them peace of mind. Assisted suicide has been a debate for many years, and
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!
However, in recent decades, when a patient feels that his or her life is no longer worth living for, they will commonly ask for their physicians’ assistance in suicide. Many people feel that it is the physician’s moral responsibility to end the suffering of the patient, while others feel that it is unethical to interfere with a natural process of death. Physicians exist to save the lives of patients. Assisted suicide puts them in the position of ending lives and naturally creates arguments of ethicality and legality. Currently, physician-assisted suicide is illegal.
Assisted suicide takes place when a dying person who wishes to precipitate death, requests help in carrying out the act. In euthanasia, the dying patients may or may not be aware of what is happening to them and may or may not have requested to die. In an assisted suicide, the terminally ill person wants to die and has specifically asked for help. Physician-assisted suicide occurs when the individual assisting in the suicide is a doctor rather than a friend or family member. Because doctors are the people most familiar with their patients’ medical condition and have knowledge of and access to the necessary means to cause certain death, terminally ill patients who have made the decision to end their lives often turn to their physicians for advice.
Critics to the idea of providing dying patients with lethal doses, fear that people will use this type those and kill others, “lack of supervision over the use of lethal drugs…risk that the drugs might be used for some other purpose”(Young 45). Young explains that another debate that has been going on within this issue is the distinction between killings patients and allowing them die. What people don’t understand is that it is not considered killing a patient if it’s the option they wished for. “If a dying patient requests help with dying because… he is … in intolerable burden, he should be benefited by a physician assisting him to die”(Young 119). Patients who are suffering from diseases that have no cure should be given the option to decide the timing and manner of their own death.
The Ethical Dilemma of Physician Assisted Suicide There is great debate in this country and worldwide over whether or not terminally ill patients who are experiencing great suffering should have the right to choose death. A deep divide amongst the American public exists on the issue. It is extremely important to reach an ethical decision on whether or not terminally ill patients have this right to choose death, since many may be needlessly suffering, if an ethical solution exists. Clarify Concepts Physician assisted suicide - the ending of a terminally ill patient’s life with the assistance of a physician who will normally supply a drug for the patient to take. 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.
Therapeutic privilege involves the deception of patients by their doctors. If a doctor feels that pertinent information may potentially do more harm to the patient than good, he may withhold that information. It was once widely believed that if a terminal patient found out he/she were going to die, the information would ultimately cause him/her more harm and anguish. To “protect” their patients, doctors often withheld such information. Grounds for this justification are in the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence.
I believe that withholding treatment from a patient is wrong, because in a way that is like slowly murdering that person. If you withhold treatment from a patient they are going to go through probably more pain or sufferi... ... middle of paper ... ...so think that it is wrong to withhold treatment from a patient, and make the patient suffer even more. I also think that it is wrong to let a newborn baby wither to die, because that child should have a chance to live, and to be all it can be. In the long run I think that doctor's should do what is morally right, and let the suffering patient keep receiving treatments, until they die, but sometimes it is too much for the patient to take, and so I believe that it is the patients choice. I disagree with James Rachels essay, because I think that it is kind of like a cruel and unusual punishment to withdraw treatments from a patient.