Suicide: The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

Introduction

A person is going about their business, doing their regular routine and it is time for a doctor’s visit. The patient goes in there, and the doctor performs his regular examine and sends the patient home. The next phone call they get from their doctor is a tragic one. They have just been diagnosed with a disease that has a low survival rate. Also so begins the medical treatments. These treatments could last weeks, months, or years, during which the patient will face some of the most difficult choices. Some of our family members or friends have heard these words before and, unfortunately, doctors can only do so much to help, and the cost of treatments are on the rise. Most of us cannot pay for that, and insurance companies can

One of the biggest pros to someone who is choosing Physician Assisted Suicide, is maintaining their dignity in this trying time. Being able to make their own choice when they want to end their pain, instead of prolonging the suffering brings some sense of peace. The patient is taking their death into their own hands, and by their own means’. Furthermore; the loved one/ patient takes their death into their own hands and can do it their own way. As Brittany Maynard stated, “I quickly decided that death with dignity was the best option for me and my family” (Maynard, 2014). One of the biggest questions asked in this controversial debate, “Should doctors be allowed to help patients die on their own terms” (Gonchar, 2016)? A major name in this debate is Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He is a doctor who specialized in helping patients at the end of their life die in a peaceful manner. Around the 1980’s, he aided in the suicide of an elderly woman who was just diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a condition in which the brains myelin sheath deteriorates, making motor skills and cognitive ability to decrease; also there is still not a cure at this time. There was controversy surrounding her mental state, although, as a doctor he felt that she deserved to die with dignity. A doctor is someone who is medically trained professional that can help a patient when they are in a time of physical pain. Then when a doctor or multiple doctors are unable to help out and the only few things they can give are pain medications that can have an extensive amount of symptoms, a local hospice facility and support groups, does not take away the pain well. “Certainly, even the best palliative care model or service cannot prevent patients sometimes asking for hastened death” (Radbruch, Leget, Bahr, Müller-Busch, Ellershaw, Conno, Vanden Berghe 2016). Radbruch and his associates conducted a study to examine what needs to be