Physician Assisted Suicide Essay

Physician Assisted Death, also known as Physician Assisted Suicide is the practice of a patient with a terminal illness who actively and intentionally end their own lives with the aid of a physician by providing the means to complete this act, usually by prescribing lethal doses of barbiturates medication (9 grams of Secobarbital in capsules in the most commonly used type of barbiturate or 10 grams of Pentobarbital liquid which is the second most commonly used type of barbiturates, a guaranteed overdose). A very old method, implemented since ancient times even “ before the birth of Christ” (time.com). Although the Physician Assisted Death to give assistance to patients, victims of painful, hopeless, and deadly illness end their suffering through an easy death, on the other hand, there has been a lot of opponents of this right-to-die practices causing it to be a prolonged public debates over this topic. In this essay we will talk about the different perspectives of medical ethics, religion, other methods to treat pain and caregivers for patients, and criticism and justifications for Physician Assisted Death/ Physician Assisted Suicide.
Back around the fourth century B.C. the Hippocratic oath was first written, a sacred oath for physicians and anyone in the healthcare swear to act with honesty and to never intend harm to any patients, also “includes the unambiguous statement: I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.” (time.com) Opponents believe that physicians fail to comply with the oath by practicing Physician Assisted Suicide, because it is a doctor’s role to save lives and not as an accomplice of murder. However, no one has the right to decide when someone has suffered long enough...

... middle of paper ...

...atient clearly comprehends everything in relation to her requests and other methods.
As a final point, it is not of good conscience to ask another person especially a loved one to suffer excessively, when they are near death without any hope of recuperating or have any quality of life. A person can never get a feel in how exactly is another person’s pain since everyone deals with pain distinctively. I believe that Physician Assisted Death or Physician Assisted Suicide should be legalized but used as a last resort and with strictly qualifications and mentally competent, to help patients with terminal illness to not live the last days of their lives in excruciating pain. The nature of death is part of humanity. “I do not fear death. I had been for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience for It.” –Mark Twain