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A Survey of Physician-Assisted Suicide

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Submitted By jmorri29
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A Survey of Physician-Assisted Suicide

English Composition I Abstract
I recently became aware of the Oregon Death and Dignity Act; I found this to be an interesting idea. It is not difficult to understand that the citizens may have varied and strong opinions about this subject, however the article I have chosen examines the physician opinion of medically assisted suicide, mainly the physicians without the legal option of medically-assisted suicide. A Survey of Physician-Assisted Suicide
With an aging population it is not only important to understand the attitude of the public in regards to physician assisted suicide, but also the attitudes of those charged with carrying out the task of euthanasia or assisted suicide. First it is important to understand the term physician assited suicide refers to the medical professional providing the client with the means to commit suicide, meaning the physician provide medications or equipment to facilitate the end of the clients life. This differs from euthanasia in that the physician is not actually ending the client’s life through lethal injection or other direct means.
The article I chose to examine is a study of physician attitude towards assisted suicide and a study and the prevalence of this request by their clients. The results are the compiled data of a survey sent to 3102 physicians, these physicians work in the fields most likely to receive a request for assisted suicide.
Methods and Analysis
The survey involved closed ended questions, these question involve yes or no answers and are a means of creating validity and uniformity in statistical information. The surveys were sent to physician whose specialties would make them more prone to receiving request from a client to assist in ending the client’s life. The physicians met had to meet certain criteria such as age and year of graduation from

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