...Assisted Suicide Is it moral or ethically right for a doctor to have an ability to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is undergoing severe pain and suffering? My personal position is that if we believe that there is a human right to life, then we must accept that people have their own right to dispose of that life whenever and however they may choose. I do not believe that telling people they have a right to life while denying them the method to end life has any ethical consistency. I believe everyone has the right to not suffer therefore why I believe in the pros of assisted suicide. I have weighed the pros and cons for each side to show the controversy each point can have. The main topics are an individual’s “right to die”, patient...
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...In my opinion, Physician-assisted suicide should not be allow because, as a Christian, I believe that if a physician participate in helping someone take his or her life, they are guilty of committed a murder. I am against the practice of helping some take his or her life, besides helping them in the process because of my beliefs in God. “Thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13). I disagree that under certain circumstances, physician should be able to help in committing a murder, regardless, of the degree of pain and sufferings that individual is going through. In the case of terminal illnesses (diseases that are untreatable), I believe that you as the patient with the diagnosis can pray to God for help. Either, in curing the disease, or ending...
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...Ethical Arguments of Physician Assisted Suicide With mounting increase of decriminalization, the ethics of physician assisted suicide (PAS) continues to be debated throughout the media, courtrooms and health care settings11. This debate is rooted in bioethics, as it examines values and moral issues in healthcare, health policy and medical research12. The arguments for and against PAS are founded in these values and morals of our healthcare system and health policy. Key arguments for supporters of PAS focus on two values: autonomy (self-determination) and individual well-being. That is, as individuals we have the right to make decisions not only on how we live, but how and when to end our life. Additionally, PAS supports the principle of beneficence,...
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...Proponents of physician assisted suicide might one day win the legalization of physician assisted suicide, but what matters is if you’re willing to apply it to your life or somebody else’s. Compassion, dignity, and autonomy are arguments proponents of physician assisted suicide have, but they’re not arguments that are well kept. Compassion can be shown in many different ways; we can spend time with people, donate money, donate resources, and plain and simply show how much we love and care for each other. Dignity doesn’t relate to death in anyway. When you remember somebody who died you don’t remember what they were like on their death bed. You wouldn’t want to do them the dishonor of that. You would remember them they way they were when...
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...fundamental human right and a legal option for anyone around the globe. One major benefit of physician-assisted suicide is that it ends suffering. According to "Doctor Assisted Suicide Pros and Cons List," as death nears, a lot of physical pain can occur from terminal...
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...project is, the Pros and Cons of Legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide. Many societies have associated the taking of an individual’s own life with the magnitude of their morality. In the United States, the courts have ruled that no one actually has the right to die, and due to this, physician assisted suicide is outlawed throughout most of the world. There are only a few countries or states that have legalized this process. A lot of people will always associate Dr. Jack Kevorkian as the example of the way that a physician assisted suicide happens, however that is not always the case. When an individual has a terminal illness and they make the choice (being in their right state of mind, and have gotten a second opinion) choose to die, then their doctor may write a fatal prescription for that individual. There are definitely pros and cons to physician assisted suicide, in this paper I plan on showing both sides of the argument. Beginning with a few of the cons…as with any death, there is going to be grief over the loss. At times due to their spiritual beliefs, people feel like a physician assisted suicide is a selfish or even sinful act. This perspective has a lifelong effect on a person and they may harbor resentment, no one can say for sure if there is an afterlife, which is more about a negative personal perspective. At times what is thought to be a lethal prescription ends up being not so lethal, it is usual, but some individuals have taken what the physician ordered and woke...
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...devalues human life Euthanasia can become a means of health care cost containment Physicians and other medical care people should not be involved in directly causing death There is a “slippery slope” effect that has occurred where euthanasia has been first been legalized for only the terminally and later laws are changed to allow it for other people or to be done non-voluntarily. Opposition overcomes 48 point deficit to defeat assisted suicide - Ballot Question 2 in Massachusetts 1 1 0 Google BOSTON, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In a stunning upset, the voters of Massachusetts soundly defeated Ballot Question 2 on Election Day. Dealing a significant setback to the expansion of the assisted suicide movement throughout the United States by Compassion & Choices (the organization formerly known as the Hemlock Society), a diverse coalition of disability rights organizations, medical associations, nurses' groups, community leaders and faith-based organizations united in this effort. "Tonight was a huge victory for those of us in the disability rights community that have worked for so long against assisted suicide," noted John Kelly , Director of Second Thoughts – People with Disabilities Opposing Question 2. "This vote confirms that Massachusetts voters saw through the rhetoric and outright misinformation put out by those supporting assisted suicide. Opposition to assisted suicide cuts across all partisan and...
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...Exploratory essay “Physician assisted suicide” Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is the voluntary termination of one's life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. It is legal in a few countries like the Netherlands. In the United States it is legal in only the state of Oregon. It is a very controversial topic with 3 different opinions groups. The group of people who are for it, those who are opposed to it and there is a third neutral group which is composed of medical associations. The first group is composed of the pro PAS .They argue that there are some patients who experience terrible suffering that can't be relieved by any other of the therapeutic techniques nursing has to offer, and some of those patients desperately seek deliverance. For pro PAS, PAS is not about doctors killing patients , but it is about patients whose pain cannot be relieved. Physicians who consider it merciful to help a patient to die by writing a prescription are not criminals. Supporters of PAS feel It is cruel to leave patients who need such help to find for themselves solutions to end their own lives, solutions that can be traumatic when human assistance can be available. The physicians have obligations, but when a cure is impossible and palliation has failed to achieve its objectives, there is always a remaining obligation to relieve suffering. If the physician has used all available...
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...are on the verge of suicide? Well the only answer would be to commit it but what if that person can't find the guts to go through it alone. Well then they ask for assistance. This is called assisted suicide. Assisted suicide or in other words euthanasia is the killing by an act of an independent human being for their own benefit. There are many kinds of definitions that one must argue the fact of, what is euthanasia. Well you would have to keep reading farther on. Euthanasia can either be voluntary or non voluntary, when it then becomes murder. But what it is not is that it's not euthanasia unless the death is intentionally. It is not medical actions or withdrawing treatment. But in this essay I will give you the most frequent pros and cons of this issue. My view is that there should be allowed assisted suicide. As many people might know is that many people are against euthanasia than most others. Some examples of people being against it would be that it demeans the value of human life, which the human life could have many different views as people understand the concept of actually doing it. Anyway, in many cases, many religions do not allow the potential suicide and the killing of others. Also it would violate the Hippocratic doctors oath. Some people also believe that someday a miracle might actually happen. Lastly people think that doctors are given too much power, and by some miracle might be wrong or unethical. Also people think that assisted suicide could be mandated...
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...Assisted suicide is a very controversial issue with numbers of pros and cons that can affect both national and international codes of ethics. Assisted suicide is emotional and controversial which ranks up there with abortion. The main thing we need to come up with is that is it morally ethical to kill someone even if the person is in pain. And there is way we can answer that without stating all the pros and cons it comes with. Let's start by saying that it goes against religious views and also against medical ethics if it is the doctor or nurse doing the assisted suicide. If the patient is suffering at the end of his life people have the right not to suffer. It should be considered as much of a crime to make someone live who with justification does not wish to continue as it is to take life without consent. Activists often claim that the laws against assisted suicide are government mandated suffering. But this claim would be similar to saying that laws against selling contaminated food are government mandated starvation. Laws against assisted suicide are in place to prevent abuse and to protect people from dishonest doctors and others. They are not, and never have been, intended to make anyone suffer. The legal right to die some people refer to the liberty interest implicated in right to die cases as a liberty interest in committing suicide we described it as the right to die and determining the time and the manner of one's death and hastening ones death for an important...
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...be informed of the options available in end of life care. This paper will present a debate about human euthanasia. Euthanasia will first be defined. Support for each side of the debate will be presented. Each side will be provided with questions from the opposing side, with the opposing teams response presented. Each side will then present a closing statement, again to support their side from the result of the debate. Euthanasia defined Euthanasia is the practice of mercifully ending a person's life to free someone from a deadly disease. The word euthanasia comes from the Greek word "good death." The term euthanasia is being used synonymously with the term Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS), although they are not one and the same. PAS generally refers to a practice in which the physician provides a patient with a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient's request, which the patient intends to use to end his or her own life (University of Washington School of Medicine, 2010). Voluntary active euthanasia means a deliberate intervention, by someone other than the person whose life is at stake, directly intended to end that life. The patient must be competent and terminally ill and must make a fully voluntary and persistent request for aid in dying. The term "mercy killing" is often used in place of "euthanasia" to emphasize that such an act is directly intended as an act...
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...drinking alcohol in public places, with alcohol consumption in the home being mostly unregulated. Some countries also have different age limits for different types of alcoholic drinks. PRO Lowering Drinking Age 18 is the age of adulthood in the United States, and adults should have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption. Turning 18 entails receiving the rights and responsibilities of adulthood to vote, smoke cigarettes, serve on juries, get married, sign contracts, be prosecuted as adults, and join the military - which includes risking one's life. [5] [6] CON Lowering Drinking Age The right to drink should have a higher age of initiation because of the dangers posed by drinking. Many rights in the United States are conferred on citizens at age 21 or older. A person cannot legally purchase a handgun, gamble in a casino (in most states), or adopt a child until age 21, rent a car (for most companies) at age 25, or run for President until age 35. Drinking should be similarly restricted due to the responsibility required to self and others. [24] EUTHANASIA refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering.[1] PRO Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide CON Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide 1. Right to Die PRO: "The right of a competent, terminally ill person to avoid excruciating pain and embrace a timely and dignified death bears the sanction of history...
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...In 1937, the Nebraska legislature voted down a bill legalizing voluntary active euthanasia in the U.S. Only two years later, the New York legislature rejected a bill that was also aimed at the legalization of euthanasia in the United States. “In 1991 the Washington State Initiative Bill legalizing voluntary euthanasia was narrowly defeated.” (6) In 1994, Oregon passed a law to allow doctors to prescribe lethal drugs, but an injunction prevented it from taking effect. As of today, euthanasia is illegal in almost every country. In fact, it is only legal in the state of Oregon and the Netherlands. These are the only two places in the world where laws specifically permit euthanasia or assisted suicide. Oregon permits assisted suicide while the Netherlands permits both euthanasia and assisted suicide. In 1995, Australia’s northern territory approved a euthanasia bill which went into effect in 1996, but it was overturned by the Australian Parliament in 1997. “Also, in 1997, Columbia’s Supreme Court ruled that penalties for mercy killing should be removed.”(4) This ruling will not go into effect though until guidelines are approved by the Columbian Congress. In Belgium, lawmakers have agreed on the provisions of a key article in a draft proposal to legalize euthanasia. “The proposed bill would not only allow doctors to euthanasia terminally- ill patients, but...
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...In their article “Assisted Suicide: An Overview” found online at EBSCOHost Connection Library, authors M. Lee and Alexander Stingl explain assisted suicide in the point of view of two parties, pro, and con. “Assisted Suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations, doctors should be allowed to help patients actively determine the time and circumstances of their death.” Stated in the article by Lee and Stingl, morality plays a key role in whether or not physicians have a right to assist patients in the final decision for their death. In the thesis above, the authors did not choose a bias on whether assisted suicide is right or wrong and leave it to the audience to decide, based...
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...Should physician-assisted suicide be legal? While I believe if one chooses to end his or own life through physician assistance for reasons that they chose, the choice should be up to the individual. Physician-assisted suicide should be at one's discretion. “Assisted Suicide, also called Voluntary Euthanasia, is currently a contentious issue in many countries. Because Euthanasia is legal in a few modern democracies: the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland. In the Netherlands, voluntary euthanasia has been legal since 1983, with some 3,000 people requesting it each year. In Australia, assisted suicide was legalized in the Northern Territory with the backing of a substantial majority of the local population, but was then overthrown by the Federal Senate before anyone could actually use the new law. However, in Oregon and California, state legislation has been passed to allow for euthanasia in special circumstances and within a heavy regulatory framework in which third party ethicists attempt to ensure the appropriateness of euthanasia cases. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is illegal in most countries around the world. In the United States, Dr Jack Kervorkian – nicknamed ‘Doctor Death’ for his actions beliefs – has campaigned for a change in the law for many years, and assisted in the suicide of at least 45 people.” (Brooks) Physician assisted suicide has always been an ongoing argument. It can be both inductive and deductive depending on the premise. I will be looking at the...
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