...Withdrawal of aid and terminal sedation are often confused with physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is a controversial practice which is not legally protected under the constitution, but may be allowed depending on state. Withdrawal of aid and terminal sedation are both protected under the constitution and therefore are morally acceptable. It is easy to confuse these cases, but it is important to distinguish between them when determining both the ethicality and legality of a case. In Case Study #28 “Death By Dehydration,” 67-year-old Roberta W is an unmarried female, retired teacher, and is cared by her brother and his wife. She suffers from a multitude of different ailments which confine her to bed and make her even the most basic of tasks burdensome. Roberta is weary of her circumstances and regrets being a burden on her brother and his wife, however her brother and wife do not resents her demands and needs. Roberta W expresses that she would rather be dead at one point and has a conversation with her doctor to remove a hernia. Her physician Dr. R tells her that there is a low chance she would survive the hernia surgery due to her emphysema and tells her that no responsible surgeon would operate on her. Possibly in response to Dr. R’s statement, Roberta asks Dr. R to...
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...November Nelson has been grieving over the death of her boyfriend Josh Prescott after a pledge stunt gone wrong. Just when she thinks that life can’t get any worse, she discovers that she is pregnant with Josh’s child. She faces the challenge of breaking the news to her mother and the Prescotts. She is faced with the biggest decision that she could ever imagine. When November finally tells her mother, she is understandably upset. November had plans to attend the Black College Tour and an academic summer program. She also had plans to attend Cornell University. Now, she knows that she has to alter her plans. After an outburst in class, November reveals that she is pregnant. It doesn’t take long for the news to get around school. November must endure whispers and criticism from her fellow students. November and her mother have a discussion about what it will take to take care of a baby. Mrs. Nelson tries to help her daughter see that she has left behind a world of having to worry about homework and washing dinner dishes to the world of motherhood. Jericho Prescott has been grieving over the death of his cousin Josh. The pain is more than he can bear and his world is divided into life “before” and “after” Josh. In order to cope, he gives up playing trumpet and decides to go out for the football team. He hopes that the physical pain will suppress his emotional pain. As Jericho faces challenges on the football field, he faces challenges in his love life. His ex-girlfriend Arielle wants...
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...person who walks down the cold, clinical hallways or sits and waits in the drab and impersonal waiting rooms represents a very human side to the realm of medicine, and each person’s story during the medical process involves many choices by both the physician and the patient. It is important that choices of death are equally respected by physicians as are choices of life, which is why life-ending medication should be accepted legally for all citizens. In terms of “death with dignity”, dignity is considered the choice to live and die at will, without either life or death causing an affront to that dignity. In 1972 Arthur Morgan, then president of Antioch College in Ohio, recounts “[crying]...
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...it being considered murder. There is no jail time, life in prison, or death penalty. Believe it or not, this scenario existed in real life. This scenario describes Physician-Assisted Suicide. Physician-Assisted Suicide is currently legal in a few states. There is currently an on going debate to extend its legality to more states and eventually the entire United States. Many people each year are diagnosed with a terminal illness. They are forced to suffer and live in pain until they eventually die naturally. For some people, this could be years, even decades of suffering. This is a long time of suffering that could be avoided. Physician-Assisted Suicide helps these people. People can be put out of their pain and misery. This is highly controversial. Some believe these doctors are murderers. Others call these doctors a saving grace. This is a practice with many ethical questions. Hopefully, after research, I will be able to answer these ethical questions. There are a few other questions that I hope to answer. On being, the states allow Physician-Assisted Suicide. Also, what is New Jersey’s stand on this practice? Lastly, what are the guidelines and requirements to be eligible? As defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Physician Assisted Suicide is...
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...1. Euthanasia is the process of ending a life in order to relieve pain from a suffering patient. I think once if a patient’s family, or it is in their will, euthanasia must be done. Another reason it could be practiced is if the patient is noticeably not there. Even though the neuroimaging my say their brain is reacting, the person might not be there anymore. After watching the video, it made me more hopeful that people who go into a coma state will come out of it, if provide with the right materials. But if it was my family member, I would not want them to suffer. Even if they wake up, they will have a long road ahead of them, filled with a variety of problems. 2. I do believe that patients who are in the vegetative state that show an increase...
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...1. Did I reach the goals set for this interview? To what extent? My goal for the interview was to determine the patient’s safety of my patient. I asked her if she felt like hurting herself or if she had thoughts of suicide. She said, “No”. When I asked her if she thought it was a bad idea to walk down the highway she said, “No, because there weren’t a lot of cars on the highway”. This patient is not safe to reenter the community. 2. What other goals emerged? I should have asked where she lives and who she lives with. I should have asked her about the last time she took a shower or changed her clothes. 3. What factors helped/hindered reaching those goals? She was very willing to answer my question, but it was hard to keep her engaged in the conversation. She was talking a lot about being a model and focusing on fixing the bed sheets. She was easily distract, so I had to keep redirecting her back into the conversation. 4....
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...expressed that he really enjoyed learning more in depth about his family. He mentioned that this experience taught him about more about himself. Tom currently works full time as a spotlight operator in the greater Atlanta area. He graduated from college about a year ago with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts. After college, he worked three part time jobs until he was hired at his current job. He currently lives in Coweta County with his maternal grandparents. His maternal grandfather has recently been diagnosed with cancer, after being in remission for many years. Tom mentioned that cancer has been prevalent in both paternal and maternal family members for at least two generations. He also mentioned that his paternal great grandmother committed suicide many years ago, but he only learned this recently because it was a “family secret”. His parents are both in their fifties and are still married. His mother is a medical coder and his father is a computer programmer. Tom states that his father began taking medication for what he assumes to be depression about four years ago, but Tom has never really pressed his father or mother for more details. He has one brother who is three years younger and living in South Georgia working full time. There is no history of serious medical issues in his immediate family. My client has never received counseling, and is not sure if other family members have ever received counseling. He is not currently on any medication and has not been diagnosed with any...
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...Should Physician-assisted suicide be legalized in Canada? Introduction The topic of legalizing Physician-assisted suicide has long been a controversial issue in Canada and has recently received increased attention. In 1993, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the provisions of the Criminal Code prohibiting assisted suicide. Two decades later, the Supreme Court of Canada began to deliberate whether to uphold or strike down the law prohibiting doctor-assisted suicide. Last month, the nine justices of the Supreme Court heard impassioned pleas for overturning Canada’s absolute prohibition against assisted suicide, with proponents arguing laws that consider the act equivalent to murder are a violation of personal autonomy and infringe the Charter of Rights and Freedom that provides for “life, liberty and security of the person” (Connor, 2014). The hearing sparked fresh debates across the country. Opponents argue that legalizing physician-assisted suicide would lead society down a dangerous "Slippery Slope" that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable. In addition, opponents argue that legalizing physician-assisted suicide gives too much power to doctors and it may reduce the availability of palliative care. The aim of this paper is to make a comprehensive argument in favor of physician-assisted suicide. Physician-Assisted suicide & Euthanasia Physician-assisted suicide occurs for any situation where doctors use drugs or other methods...
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...Physicians-Assisted Suicide Physician-Assisted Suicide is a medical process where a physician supplies a terminally ill patient with a prescription for one dose of lethal medication. The prescription is given to a patient upon request only if the patient intends to end his or her own life because of suffrage from a terminal illness. Today, physicians-assisted suicide is more commonly known as the Death-With-Dignity Act. Recent stories of patients who have attempted to end their own life by lethal medication have made countless headlines concerning the topic throughout many informational sources. Currently, the states of Washington, Oregon, and Vermont are the only three states that have adopted the Death-With-Dignity Act. Physician-Assisted Suicide is among many practices that aid in ending a patient’s life along with DNR’s, DNI’s, and AND’s, when life-sustaining treatments are denied. Physicians-Assisted Suicide is much more controversial than other life ending methods because it enables a patient to end her or her own life in a way that many individuals feel is immoral and unethical. The ethical issues of physicians-assisted suicide are both emotional and controversial, yet healthcare workers deal with a request for this alternative every day. Is physicians-assisted suicide the answer? The question doesn’t come by an easy answer. However, both sides of the debate, either for it or against it, provide strong, concrete points that help truly uncover where the controversy lies...
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...Assisted Suicide by Jordan Froce A Project Presented to Professor Demosthenes Long in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for CRJ 150: Introduction to Criminal Justice Pace University Dyson College of Arts and Sciences February 3, 2012 Table of Contents Introduction……….................................................................................... 3 Background…………………………..……………………...................... 3 Literature Review……………………………….……………………….. 5 Conclusion………………………………………….……......................... 7 References........………………………………………….…..................... 9 Introduction Imagine being in such a great deal of pain, and suffering that you make the decision to end your own life. We often have people there in our lives to help us along the way. Parents are there to love us, teachers are there to teach us, and doctors are there to help us when we are sick. But what happens when you are terminally ill, who is there to help you then? Doctors can only do so much. Many people believe that they should have the right to end their lives, while others disagree. If people do decide to end their lives, why shouldn’t they get the best care possible? Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a very well known physician who offered these possibilities to his patients with grim futures. In this paper I will be covering different aspects of the very controversial subject...
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...* Assisted Suicide * Jabarri Moore * COM/172 March 31, 2014 Cassandra Baker Assisted Suicide Patients suffering from debilitating diseases and living in agonizing pain should have the right to end their life without government interference because the constitution states that all American is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The State Government and the Federal Government will end an individuals’ life if murder is committed to innocent children or to law enforcement personnel. Then when it comes to an individual who has not committed a violent crime and wants to end their life on their due to medical sufferance, the government chooses not to intervene on behalf of the person unless to punish the act in its entirety (Avila, 2000). Individuals Right to End Own Life Quality of Life According to Longmore (2005) the courts, the media, and different onlookers neglected to distinguish or disregarded the prejudicial components of open strategy, human services conveyance, and social administrations that make the lives of some individuals with handicaps terrible; specifically, by denying satisfactory financing for free living, by neglecting to offer fitting mental assessment and intercession, and by ignoring the points of view of inability rights development pioneers in these cases and on these issues. A quadriplegic patient in Detroit, Michigan injured while surfing thus breaking his neck and ultimately rendering the patient to a quadriplegic...
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...March 16th, 2012 Persuasive Essay Euthanasia, Mercy Killing or Murder? Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide are the methods for helping patients to release their pain and suffering by using either medication or other comfortable methods. There are many arguments about these issues had been rising up from many different aspects, such as the actual definition of euthanasia and its practice; the physicians’ responsibilities and opinions; and ethics and religions stance of euthanasia. In my opinion, euthanasia and physician assisted suicide should be prohibited completely in all hospitals. Euthanasia is a physician purposely kills a patient by drugs with the approval from that person. Euthanasia can divide into two categories: passive and active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is withdrawing any life-sustaining treatment (Palliate Medicine - 2011). In the other hand, active euthanasia is using drugs under administration of a physician. It can be voluntary, with the permission of the patients; involuntary, without a permission of a patient; and non-voluntary, with the permission of the second party due to the physical or mental condition of a patient (Health Policy – 2010). Involuntary is performing against the patient’s will, which is completely illegal. Active voluntary and non-voluntary are the main consideration of the society nowadays. One of the studies has shown the estimation of the percentage of deaths in the United Kingdom that involved euthanasia to be 0.16% (Palliative...
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...Legal and Ethical aspects of Assisted Suicide Paula Nehrling Grand Canyon University Introduction to Nursing Research NRS-433V Angie Lawson May 01, 2016 Legal and Ethical aspects of Assisted Suicide Only five states in the US have legalized physician assisted death. California is the latest to legalize this and it will be available here in less than a month. There are many legal and ethical questions that nurses have. Some feel like this is murder or against their religious beliefs and others feel like people should have the right to die with dignity. The Oregon death with dignity act was passed more than 20 years ago in 1994, though legal challenges delayed enactment until 1997. Washington followed in 2008, since this time, Montana and Vermont has passed laws supporting physician assisted death. California has passed legislation and will begin next month (Ganzini, L., 2016). The process is very similar in each of these states. They allow a competent adult resident of that state to obtain a prescription from a physician for a lethal dose of medication, for the purposes of causing death through self administration. The law does not allow lethal injection or allow individuals to acquire a lethal prescription through advanced directive to be used when mentally incapable in the future. There are also limits as to when the prescription can be written. Two physicians, one of whom writes the prescription, must confirm that the...
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...Originally, the term "physician assisted suicide" meant the provision by a physician of the means of which a suffering, terminally ill patient could initiate his or her death. The "euthanasia" means the killing of a terminally ill person to end his or her suffering. Now, by practice, the term "physician assisted suicide" has been expanded in meaning to include the administration of a lethal substance by a physician to a suffering patient-a form of euthanasia. Thus, physician assisted suicide can now be defined as any action taken by a physician to provide death to a patient. Many people argue that the decision to kill oneself is a private choice which society has no right to be concerned about. This position assumes that suicide results from competent people making autonomous, rational decision to die, and then claims that society has no business "interfering" with a freely chosen life or death decision that harms no one other the suicidal individual. However, according to experts, who have studied several cases on suicide, the basic assumption is wrong. It is very unlikely that someone with serious disability commits suicide. Rather, as society view seriously disabled and terminally ill individuals as burdens with unacceptable quality of life, these persons may feel an obligation to commit suicide. A careful 1974 British study, which involved extensive interviews and examination of medical records, found that 93% of those studied who committed suicide were mentally ill...
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...| Assisted Suicide | Canadian Studies | | | 12/3/2012 | | Rebecca Miller Canadian Studies 302-4:30-6:00 December 3, 2012 Canada Assisted Suicide Most places in the world have some sort of law about Euthanasia or physician-assisted Suicide. In Canada, it is against the law for a physician to aid a person in ending their own life (Criminal Code of Canada states in section 241(b ). Assisted Suicide is defined as suicide facilitated by another person, especially a physician, who organizes the logistics of the suicide, as by proving the necessary quantities of a poison. There are many people that are for and against assisted suicide; that is why this issue remains a sensitive and complex issue for many. Currently in Canada the books on both passive euthanasia (withholding of life-preserving procedures) and active euthanasia (assisted suicide) both forms are illegal. Recently in July, 2012 a British Columbia Supreme Court overturned the criminal code for Assisted Suicide citing that it unfairly infringes on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court has given a reprieve to the legislature for a challenge or change in the law before it goes into effect. I will discuss both sides of the issue of Assisted Suicide and the relevant cases that came before the Canadian Courts past and the case that eventually swayed the Supreme Court to reverse the laws of the land. It used to be easy to define when one was dead, either when ones heart stop beating...
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