...Physician-Assisted Suicide SOC 120 Professor Harrison 29 July 2013 Physician-Assisted Suicide Imagine a frail elderly woman laying in the nursing home in pain. This woman is 80 years old and has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and her heart cannot withstand treatment via radiation or chemotherapy. She has less than six months to live. Day in and day out you pass her room and hear her crying out from the immense pain. The pain medications are no longer working. She’s tired of fighting, tired of hurting, and tired of waiting to die. After consideration and discussions with her family she has decided to ask the doctor to help and end her life. The doctor feels remorse for the elderly lady and wants to help but cannot decide if it is the ethical thing to do because he knows that what he’s being asked to do is considered physician-assisted suicide. How is physician-assisted suicide any different than regular suicide? Does the fact that a person is terminally ill make it right? Who gets to decide if it is right? These are questions people may ask themselves when deciding whether or not they think physician-assisted suicide is ethical. Whether it is requested or not, many would say it is unethical for a physician to deliberately cause death to a person. Physicians take an oath to first do no harm. Others may say that a person has the right to make his or her own decisions about his or her life. In this paper, I will explore each side of physician-assisted...
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...most controversial topics in the world today is assisted suicide. There are many aspects of this subject that could be discussed. However, the most argued aspect of assisted suicide is whether it should be legal or not. Some people think assisted suicide should be legal to help put terminally ill individuals out of their misery, while others believe assisted suicide should be outlawed because it contradicts morals and religion. Assisted suicide should be legal because it is morally right to help others die the way they want to. Assisted suicide occurs when a doctor decides to help, or assist, a patient in suicide, usually by prescribing patients medication. One of the most common drugs used by doctors is sleeping pills. The doctor will give the patient sleeping pills and direct the patient to take an excessive amount of them. This ensures that the patient passes away as peacefully as possible (Welsh-Huggins). Many doctors that assist in suicide use pentobarbital, which is a very strong sleeping aid. This pill is always available for prescription use, but very few doctors prescribe it due to the numerous amounts of deaths associated with it. This is part of the reason why many doctors use pentobarbital for assisted suicide. When this medication is taken in excess it ensures a peaceful death while sleeping. Passing away peacefully while sleeping is another reason why assisted suicide should be legal. Some believe that assisted suicide is ideal for patients who are terminally ill...
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...Physician-assisted suicide is; suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information (as a drug prescription or indications of the lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of how the patient intends to use such means or information (Merriam-Webster, n.d). For over ten years, there has been much controversy about the ethics and legality of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) not only in the United States but also worldwide. In 1997, the Supreme Court had a unanimous ruling that there was not a constitutional right or a constitutional ban to PAS. Since then almost every other state have opposed legalization of PAS. There are many terminally ill people that feel assisted suicide should be their choice, not something left to the government for debate. Assisted suicide should be legal in all states because those who suffer with a terminal illness that want to die should be able to end their life peacefully instead of living in agony. Almost everyone that lives in the United States has rights; the right to free speech, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but those that are dying from a terminal disease do not have many rights. They do not have a right to seek help to end their pain and suffering. They lose the right to be in charge of their own life. The pursuit of happiness seems to not exist for those that wish to end their life. For some having their pain and suffering ended would make them “happy” because they no longer have to live with pain...
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...Against Assisted Suicide Physician Assisted Suicide is met with much opposition from medical professionals and patients alike. Some of the main arguments people have against assisted suicide is based solely on the idea that it is “morally wrong.” There are arguments about how doctors could potentially kill the wrong people, (Feldman, 1998) referring to assisting suicide for mentally ill patients rather than terminally ill. Some argue that doctors are supposed to be healers and it’s not a healer’s job to end a life. (Feldman, 1998) Arguments about how legalizing assisted suicide for the terminally ill could potentially mean legalizing suicide for whomever requests it. (Feldman, 1998) The number one argument against assisted suicide, however, is that assisting in another person’s suicide would be playing God. (Feldman, 1998)...
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...Amanda English 1102 Professor Turner December 9, 2014 Assisted Suicide: Should it be Legal? Imagine getting the news that you only have a few months left to live. And during those few months pain begins to take over your entire body to the point you cannot bare it. Eventually you are bed ridden in a hospital, unable to do simple tasks without the aid of someone else. Life is no longer about living, but about that agonizing path that will soon lead you to death. Nobody wants to spend the last few months of his or her life suffering in pain, powerless and incapable of being independent. Someone that is suffering to this extent may come to the point where they decide that they do not want to live anymore. Assisted suicide, by definition, is suicide committed with the help of someone else. Many times it is also sometimes referred to as physician-assisted suicide in light of the fact that a doctor will provide them with the lethal dose of a drug required to kill a person. Numerous people will argue that assisted suicide is morally wrong while others will agree that if someone is truly sick and suffering, that they should be allowed to make that choice themselves. Because of the fact that if someone is suffering to the point that they want to end their life, then I believe that if they request it, patients should have access to this method. The more people learn about what assisted suicide is, the type of people that are seeking this method, and benefits of taking this route...
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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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...Mechell Andaya PHI 208 Instructor Michael Larson right to die Mechell Andaya PHI 208 Instructor Michael Larson right to die Using assisted suicide is a personal decision that a person makes to end suffering. As this can change and take an affect a family mentally. The medical procedure that uses euthanasia they use in assisted suicide are carried out by patients with terminal illnesses like irreversible brain tumor (glioblastoma), has no control over how long the pain will last. This is issue is as controversial as well as it has good and bad to it. Many do believe that a person is physically suffering in pain they have the right to die by their own decision. Assisted suicide is not legal in most state and it should be legal for those who are suffering from terminal illness. With anything that is good will always have a down side. Because there is only a few states that it is legal and with that a doctor could lose their license to assist those in places where it is illegal. We know that the issue is with a Senate bill that any type that involves any assisted suicide to include euthanasia or lethal injection. This bill protects assisted suicide. There are advantages with assisted suicide. Physicians that conducts assisted suicide is they give you the decision on how you should end your life. Others argue because on people’s beliefs and opinions on this controversial topic. Some do believe that it is a human right. And in the couple of states that is legal, Doctors...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide: Why It Should Not Be Legalized Samantha Davis PHI 208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning Prof. Paige Erickson November 30, 2015 When considering what physician assisted suicide is and what the long term effects could be of legalizing it in all fifty (50) states, one would need to ask if a physician should be given the right to administer a lethal dose of medication to a patient with the sole intent of ending said patient’s life? In 2006 the United States Supreme Court held in “Gonzalez v. Oregon (2006) that the Federal Controlled Substances Act does not allow the U.S. Attorney General to prohibit doctors from prescribing regulated drugs for use in PAS (Physician Assisted Suicide)” (Gloth, n.d.). There are many people that feel as if there is nothing morally wrong or right with “killing” or “allowing” someone to die so to speak, by way of a lethal dose of medication or injection. Physician assisted suicide is a means to bring an end to a terminally or chronically ill patient’s life by administering some form of medication either by injection or by mouth. While this could be considered one of the most pain free options, it is still not a viable reason to commit suicide. A Utilitarian would argue that by doing what causes the greatest happiness to a person should be done. When looking at physician assisted suicide from this view it is easily understood that PAS (Physician Assisted Suicide) is a means to an end, an end of a life. By forcing an end to the...
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...Assisted Suicide Suffering from an illness that is terminal can last weeks, months and even years, or it can take one massive decision on taking yourself away from the pain with assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is when a patient that is terminally ill, and qualifies for the procedure, asks for medication to take their own life to stop the pain. In the United Sates, forty six states do not give the option for assisted suicide, which means there are millions of people suffering from incurable illnesses, waiting to die. Many people try killing themselves on their own, because they are not a citizen of a state that allows assisted suicide. I believe that killing yourself unassisted is worse than killing yourself with provided medication. Assisted suicide should be legal, because it allows suffering people to decide when they want to overcome the pain. Assisted suicide is not like any ordinary suicide. It is a suicide to relieve pain from a patient who only has so long to live. To receive assisted suicide, the patient has to qualify to all of the requirements. Out of the four states that have legalized assisted suicide, three of them involve the same requirements. Oregon was the first state to legalize assisted suicide on November 8, 1994. “An adult who is capable of making choices, is a resident of Oregon, and has been determined by the attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and who had voluntarily expressed his or her life in...
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...Assisted Suicide and euthanasia 1 Assisted suicide is a very controversial subject. Everyone has an opinion on the matter and it is likely that everyone will not agree on the matter. I have always been of the opinion that god gave us life and is the only that should take it away. However, I have never been in a terminally ill state and do not know the feeling of living everyday in unbearable pain. I can only imagine what a person is going through in this matter and can understand why they would wish to be dead. My opinion of assisted suicide being wrong is based on my moral belief and that fact that I do not think I could ever been able to commit such an act. Because of how I feel, it seems morally wrong for anybody else to commit such an act as well. Since taking my class on ethical behavior, I have come to realize that what one believes to be morally correct is not necessarily how another person may feel. This belief is called moral relativism. “Moral relativism is whatever anyone claims to be morally acceptable is morally acceptable, at least for that person” (Ruggiero, 2008). “For years, doctors have been prohibited from assisting patients in taking their own lives. Dr. Jack Kevorkian gained world attention by assisting in several suicides to dying patients; he was sentenced to over 60 years for his efforts, despite the gratitude of the patients and their families....
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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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...Assisted Suicide Assisted suicide is a form of self-inflicted death in which a person voluntarily brings about his or her own death with the help of another, usually a physician, relative, or friend. It is also a form of euthanasia in which a person wishes to commit suicide but feels unable to perform the act alone because of a physical disability or lack of knowledge about the most effective means (Medical Dictionary). Is Assisted Suicide ethical or unethical? Is it wrong to decide what we want to do with our own body or are we obligated to do what others say or tell us what to do? Who will suffer the most; will it be me, you, family or friends? We could say everyone will suffer in their own way but the real question is could we do what we want to do or do we need to think about others before taking action, who has more of the right to choose? We are born free, we are born to have our own opinions, and we are born to make choices for ourselves whether they were right or wrong for us at that time, at that moment or in our lives. We have the right to choose what we want done with ourselves not anybody else but us. There is no reason on why our freedom of choice is to be taken away just because someone wants to intervene. If we are the one who is suffering the most in pain and being miserable what happiness is there? Yes loved ones will be upset but the one who is hurting the most is the one who is suffering the most pain and being the most miserable. No happiness could...
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...Assisted Suicide Teresa Grass PHI200: Mind and Machine Instructor: David Tredinnick June 25, 2012 My point of view on assisted suicide I believe it a sin. In the Holy Bible the “Ten Commandments” it is written “thou shalt not kill.” I stand on the concept that dismissing a person life before it’s his/her time is truly not right. I believe that no matter whom you or what position you may hold doesn’t give you the right to play God. Due to the obvious extent of self-interest that an individual have in their own personal choices; in this day in our culture people as usual try to seek out assured circumstances in such an upright and surprising ways. It was once said that for the ones that are extremely disabled this type of reaction bring forth a common sense of expectation. I do believe that this not right at all because even when a person is suffering under countless circumstances, they desire for this person to go through life-threating operations along with the pain and suffering. It should be that person owns choice for Euthanasia but only during those cases that are so extreme. Suicide has become a vital part of our everyday lives, but through assisted suicide from doctors we have the aptitude to keep suicide to a lessor level to the families that are involved. Assisted suicide is wrong. It is stated in the Ten Commandments “thou shalt not kill”, so with this said I believe that Assisted Suicide is definitely wrong. Many may say that the bible...
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...End of Life: Assisted Suicide PHI208: Ethics and Moral Reasoning Instructor: Shawn Lorenzen September 29, 2014 Moral and ethical debates attempted to resolves controversial issues but never seem to end with everyone agreeing. Often these ethical and moral debates are complex, involve opinions persuaded by religion or customs, and have legal implications to consider. Physician assisted death is one of these very complex and controversial issues that all people will never agree on. Many questions arise in the debate of physician assisted death such as patients’ rights, physicians controlling the right if someone lives or dies, a patience’s mental state, a family member’s rights, religious beliefs of the parties involved and the law. Philosophers attempt to explain the different theories that people will use to argue their belief systems in terms of logic and reasoning. For example, some people may take the position of a deontologist who would argue that it is our moral duty to support and sustain life therefore assisted suicide should not be allowed. Unfortunately, this very emotional thought provoking debate is not a “black and white issue,” as most ethical arguments are not. In the situation of physician-assisted death, I disagree with the deontologist point of view that it is immoral for a physician to assist a patient in suicide. I believe as some relativist due, that as long as the patient is fully capable of making this decision and the patient is in a constant state...
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...Legalizing the Right to Your Own Life The term assisted suicide refers to the practice of a physician giving a patient, per their request, a prescription for a lethal drug which the patient would consume as a means of ending their own life. Assisted suicide should be legalized for any and all people who seek this out in order to put an end to their life. People deserve to have a right to their own bodies and lives, so if they choose to put an end to it, they should not be restricted in their access to a way of doing so. Much of the debate over whether assisted suicides should be legalized has to do with whether people have the right to die along with the right to live, whether or not people should have to suffer, the Hippocratic Oath that physicians have to abide by, and religious standpoints. Many of these arguments have an ethical grounding, and deal with the morality of the action of a suicide. Originally, assisted suicide was known as, or synonymous with euthanasia, which is the killing of a person out of and by a doctor’s mercy for that person. Many people tend to equate euthanasia with physician assisted suicide because both involve having the help of a physician. However, physician assisted suicide differs from euthanasia because it requires the patient’s consent and an evaluation of the patient before the patient is given a prescription for lethal drugs. The practice of an assisted suicide where it is currently legal, involves a patient who is terminally ill, and has...
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