Euthanasia: Dying with Dignity Someday, a loved one may be faced with tough times or a terrible tragedy that leaves them in pain and agony for the rest of their life. It may not happen today, tomorrow, or even next month, but it is always a good idea to have a well thought out plan. A terminal illness could strike at any minute such as Lou Gehrig’s disease, or a car accident could leave someone paralyzed and miserable for the rest of their life. Permitting euthanasia would give the people the right to die with dignity and give them the option to not have to go through the pain, suffering, and stressful effects of a terminal illness. The Hippocratic Oath has been a major road block in legalizing the euthanasia process. Even though the modern versions of the Hippocratic Oath are not the same as older versions of the oath, many doctors believe that euthanasia, along with other things related to euthanasia are against the oath. According to a 1993 survey of 150 United States and Canadian medical schools, for example, only fourteen percent of modern oaths prohibit euthanasia, eleven percent hold covenant with a deity, eight percent foreswear abortion, and a mere three percent forbid sexual contact with patients—all maxims held sacred in the classical version. (Tyson, 2014) That is proof that the Hippocratic Oath should not be preventing euthanasia from becoming legalized into the United States. However, Doctor Jack Kevorkian decided that performing a type of euthanasia process called assisted suicide does not go against the Hippocratic Oath, or any other related oath and that many more doctors should be able to follow in his footsteps. Euthanasia has been a constant argument of society. Not much is known about it except that it is... ... middle of paper ... ... (2013, December 11). Euthanasia Statistics. Retrieved on February 20, 2014 from http://www.statisticbrain.com/euthanasia-statistics/ Appleby, J. (2006, October 19). Debate Surrounds End-of-Life Health Care Costs. USA Today Retrieved on April 6, 2014 from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2006-10-18-end-of-life- costs_x.htm Bolden, T. (2014). Email Interview by Gerrard S. January, 2014 Callahan, S. (1995). Legalizing Assisted Suicide Would Harm Women. (p. 4). San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc. Dougherty, C. (1995). Euthanasia: Opposing Viewpoints. (p. 65). San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc. Earnest-Buxton, L. (2014). Email Interview by Gerrard. S. January 2014 Tyson, P. (2014). The Hippocratic Oath Today. Retrieved on February 22, 2014 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html
According to the Oxford dictionary, euthanasia is defined as the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or an irreversible coma. Those in favor argue that this is done motivated by kindness and a desire to end suffering. Those against Euthanasia understand why those in favor of Euthanasia say it is ok to practice it, but one must understand that Euthanasia is contrary to the Hippocratic Oath. According to the Hippocratic Oath doctors should never, “give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art” (par. 4). This oath is taken by all doctors after graduating and before they start practicing medicine. No matter what religious, ethnic or ideological position people take, it is undeniable that doctors carry a huge responsibility when dealing with patients’ health and lives. It is paradoxical to allow doctors to kill patients when their main goal is to prevent or cure a disease, and in other cases save lives. In times of great stress, relatives of ill patients rely on their doctors without questioning his decisions. This was the case of Dr. Harold Shipman, a respected man by his community and fellow coworkers, until he was found guilty of killing more than 250 people, mainly elderly women. Dr. Harold Shipman would visit his patients’ house and secretly give them an overdose of morphine, and then go back to his office and change his patients’ medical records to make it look like they died because of natural cause; few hours later his patients would die. In his trial, Euthanasia was ruled out because none of the victims had had terminal illness ...
Once physician- assisted suicide (PAS) is legalized, the Oath doctors take would be infringed upon. Allen states “Physician-assisted suicide is viewed as the most controversial types of euthanasia because it violates the Hippocratic Oath” (15). The oath consists of the doctors promising to keep the patients’ health and well-being first and try their best to keep their patients’ lives long and healthy until it is naturally their time to leave the world. (Allen 15). It is obviously a violation of the oath when doctors aid in the death of their patients. They do not help the patients pr...
EX1 Moreover, a good example of the irrelevance of the Oath in modern medics is the statement that a doctor may never “use the knife”, without using knifes, practicing modern surgery would be impossible (Markel, 2004). CR2 In the most Oaths administered by US medical schools, the parts about euthanasia are simply omitted, EV2 by 1993 only 14 percent of the vows taken by students prohibited euthanasia (Markel, 2004), IC this demonstrates that even if the Hippocratic Oath is the moral touchstone of physicians, most Oaths taken by students do not even prohibit euthanasia. CR3 Sometimes in order to safeguard the mysterious power and dignity of life, it is better to administer a soft death to avoid further suffering, EV3 this is also literally stated in the Hippocratic Oath: “I will keep my patients from harm and injustice”(Edelstein, 1967). C Considering all of the reasons mentioned above, the Hippocratic Oath has clearly lost its relevance regarding the prohibition of
The Hippocratic Oath states that “I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel”. Euthanasia is where someone intentionally kills a person whose life is felt not to be worth living. It is definitely a controversial topic with many opinions on whether or not it should be legalized.
Dax Cowart was hospitalized after a gas explosion engulfed his car because he suffered stern burns. He was “burned so severely and [was] in so much pain that [he] did not want to live even the early moments following the explosion.” He repeatedly asked his doctors and family to end his agony. Dianne Pretty had a motor neuron disease that instigates a painful death. She wanted to have “a quick death without suffering, at home surrounded by [her] family.” 85-year old Mary Ormerod was starved of nutrients after she went into a coma. Her doctor and daughter made the decision to end her torment, however the doctor got suspended in doing so (BBC).
Today there are five to ten thousand comatose patients in long term care facilities (Wheeler A1). There are countless elderly people in care facilities that have repeatedly expressed a desire to die. There are countless terminally ill patients that have also begged for death. Should these people be allowed to die, or should they be forced to keep on living? This question has plagued ethicists and physicians throughout the years.
...ncurable diseases or accidents like Dax Cowart where the person’s life after would never be the same or could never be what the individual imagined their life to be, patients should have the option to die a painless way. . The United States of America is becoming more accepting of this alternative to painful treatments that patients in this state would receive. With the removal of “The Appropriate Ends” area from the Hippocratic oath, it is clear that the U.S. is making a big push toward legalizing euthanasia. Legalizing euthanasia will open another opportunity for suffering patients, because regardless of whether or not euthanasia is an option, suicidal patients will find a way to die and many times this is more brutal and painful than euthanasia. With the hoippocratic oath taking a more modern view on healthcare, euthanasia is becoming a morally right thing to do.
When it comes to the topic of euthanasia the four ethical goals of health care providers are in direct conflict with one another. An argument can be made that both permitting and preventing euthanasia violates one of those four principles which are as follows: beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. Perhaps the biggest conflict is between the principles of autonomy and non-maleficence. When it comes to PAS we cannot allow our patients to act autonomously while at the same time making sure to do no harm. In addition the Hippocratic Oath serves as a large roadblock on the way to legalizing PAS. The Hippocratic Oath is an oath taken by healthcare providers at the beginning of practice outlining obligations and proper conduct of providers. The Hippocratic Oath is based on the maxim “do no harm” and more specifically it states “neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course”. American medicine traditionally succumbs to this oath and has therefore made PAS illegal. It is important to note, however, that this Oath was written thousands of years ago and it may need to be revised in the face of both e...
Morally, doctor patient relationships are where doctors fully respects the wishes of patients decisions and autonomy. But its when the patients wish to die by the doctors hands or even be giving an overdose prescription to help aid their wish, can cause an uproar in whether if proceeding in Euthanasia is morally right or wrong. But its where the physicians have to decide and honor the wishes of euthanasia even if it does goes against they’re code of ethics and seems morally wrong. Even though the only job of a physician is to make sure of the patients life and that they remain alive.
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.
A recent poll founded by the Canadian Medical Association found that “only one in five doctors surveyed. . . said they would be willing to perform euthanasia if the practice were legalized. . . Twice as many – 42 percent – said they would refuse to do so” (Kirkey 1). Euthanasia is defined as giving a patient the right to die early with a physician’s assistance, and the legalization of this practice is being considered by lawmakers in many countries, including the United States. Accordingly, 42 percent of doctors in Canada are on the right side of this debate. Euthanasia should not be legalized because it violates society’s views that life is sacred, creates economic pressure for doctors, and for those countries that have legalized it, their laws are not specific enough to fully protect patients.
"I will never give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect". A frequent quoted portion of the Hippocratic Oath, written in Greece sometimes during the fifth to forth centuries B.C.E, represented an effort by an apparently small group of physicians to build public respectability by distancing themselves from other physicians who commit assisted suicide. It has had considerable influence in the history of Western medical society and now, once again, physician-assisted suicide has become a major ethical issue in medicine, as well as an issue that involves law and public interests. Of the various issues at the medicine issue, perhaps none has drawn as much attention as assisted suicide. This topic is being discussed with great frequency in newspaper, journals and books about whether it is really necessary and ethical to physicians to participate in this life-ending act. Proponents or advocates of physician-assisted suicide argue that each person has freedom over their own life. Persons whose quality of life is nonexistent and who are having a terminal illness should have the right to decide to seek assistance. In contrast, opponents say that physician-assisted suicide is not an acceptable practice for the physicians legally as well as morally.
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
The history of Physician Assisted Suicide (P.A.S.), first known as the practice of active euthanasia., dates back as early as 500 B.C to Classical Greece (Osborn). From Classical Greece to today, the root of Greek medicine has stemmed from a Greek physician named Hippocrates. Hippocrates is famously known for creating the foundation of the Hippocratic Oath, which is a document physicians abide by to determine moral and ethical conduct (Tyson). The Hippocratic Oath is a promise physicians make “to do everything possible to help their patients” and to relieve patients of suffering (Cambridge University). Over the past 2,515 years, the controversial issue of Physician Assisted Suicide has continued to resurface. The question of whether or not
Euthanasia has been an ongoing debate for many years. Everyone has an opinion on why euthanasia should or should not be allowed but, it is as simple as having the choice to die with dignity. If a patient wishes to end his or her life before a disease takes away their quality of life, then the patient should have the option of euthanasia. Although, American society considers euthanasia to be morally wrong euthanasia should be considered respecting a loved one’s wishes. To understand euthanasia, it is important to know the rights humans have at the end of life, that there are acts of passive euthanasia already in practice, and the beneficial aspects.