...EUTHANASIA and ASSISTED SUICIDE Euthanasia also known as “mercy killing” and assisted suicide are worldwide controversial issues. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the word euthanasia comes from Greek, meaning easy death (eu: easy, thanatos: death). Euthanasia means to end the life of a person who is terminally ill or suffering from severe pain, in a deliberate way. At the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) webpage, in the section Ethics guides, under the title of Forms of Euthanasia, Religions and Death? (2009), different types of euthanasia are described, such as indirect, active, passive, voluntary, involuntary and non voluntary. On the other hand, assisted suicide is usually performed with the help of a health professional; that is why; it is usually called Physician Assisted Suicide (or PAS). The main controversy is over the different opinions on whether it is the sick patient’s decision or if it is a legal, ethical or religious issue to be considered by a third party. In order to practice assisted suicide in a country where it is legal, many factors should be present, such as the moral and religious beliefs of the patient and the physician or the patient’s family and the physician, as well as the legislation of the country where it is going to be carried out. At present, in countries where euthanasia is not legalized yet, it is very difficult to obtain legal permission to practice it. As regards the ethical field, it is the...
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...One of the most public and controversial social issues today surrounds the issues of euthanasia. A review of current legal and scientific materials, also, demonstrate that this challenge is a complex and contentious one that crosses various perspectives and hypothetical orientations. Therefore main point of research will cover perspectives of human euthanasia for doctors and etic of assisted suicide among people depending on religious aspects of every religion. There are different euthanasia laws in each country. This is consequence of divisive public controversy over the moral, ethical, and legal issues of euthanasia. As of October 2015, human euthanasia is legal only in the Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia and Luxembourg. Assisted...
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...Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma, Impact of Voluntary/Assisted Euthanasia Luellen Lawler, Soma Philip, Annamma Anto, and Janice Haddock Team Green, Grand Canyon University Ethical Decision Making in Health Care 437 V Dr. Ann Leslie Claesson September 01, 2012 Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma, Impact of Voluntary/Assisted Euthanasia There are several topics in the field of biomedical ethics that are controversial and by nature require careful examination of one’s own values and viewpoints. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of voluntary or assisted euthanasia and the ethical implications it entails in relation to the profession of nursing. Nurses have the responsibility to act in their patient’s best interests. However, that may become difficult in the event that a patient asks for help in the task of ending his or her own life. There were two case scenarios provided for review concerning the topic of voluntary or assisted euthanasia. The common ethical implication among nurses involved in these particular cases seems to be the ambivalence they experience in relation to their level of involvement. Although nurses worldwide are confronted with euthanasia requests from patients, the views of nurses on their level of involvement in euthanasia remains unclear (Dierkx de Casterle, Verpoort, De Bal, & Gastmans, 2006). It stands to reason that palliative care nurses in particular, would have the highest frequency of experience with patients who are...
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...voted and passed a law to legalize assisted suicide, called Death with Dignity Act in 2009. This law is for terminally ill patients, diagnosed by their physician to have less than six months to live. There are several steps before the patient is allowed to receive the medication for assisted suicide .“The patient must be a resident of the state, be at least eighteen years old, declared mentally competent to make the request, and two doctors have to certify that he or she has less than six months to live” ( Medical News Today, 2009 ). The representative for Compassion and Choices, an aid in dying advocacy group for assisted suicide, is very supportive of the new law, which gives terminally ill patient other option and helps he or she decide how they wish to live their last days. The Death with Dignity Act allows physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medications to the terminally ill patient. Barbara McKay is terminally ill from advance ovarian cancer and she said “I have watched both my parents suffer with few choices at the end of their lives. I want to be able to decide what time and the way I wish to die.”(Medical News Today,2009). Death with Dignity Act has placed a considerable load of ethical and unethical consequences of emotions on the health care professionals, who will be performing this request. Death with Dignity Act passed, many health care facilities been deciding whether to opt in or stay out of the assisted suicide. Cassie Saucer, from the Washington...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide Jason July 9, 2012 Most states in the United States make euthanasia, also known as physician-assisted suicide, a felony crime, punishable by years of imprisonment. Euthanasia is a very notorious issue within the medical and legal systems; which has been in debate for almost two million years. The word ‘euthanasia’ comes from the Greek origin and means “good death, or easy death.” (Pozgar, 2010) When considering a physician acting in the best interest of the patient, the “legal system must ensure that the constitutional rights of the patient are maintained, while protecting society’s interests in preserving life, preventing suicide, and maintaining the integrity of the medical profession.” (Pozgar, 2010)Euthanasia is a highly controversial issue, especially when patients and their families recognize the quality of life being greatly decreased, with no end to the pain and suffering, the real problem occurs for both the patient and family, but for the health care professionals as well. Surely we all remember Dr. Jack Kevorkian, one of the most controversial and most publically followed physicians held liable for his actions in physician-assisted suicide. The medical staff is trained to save lives, preserve life, treat illness, and bandage wounds, so it would be considered very unethical for any medical profession to aid in euthanasia. “The prohibition against killing patients ... stands as the first promise of self-restraint sworn to in the...
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...thousands of years, most Christians and Jews have always opposed suicide. With this being said, one may think that most of my biases could be a result of my religious background. However, in reality, I have actually become very open-minded about the overall concept of euthanasia. While doing my topic proposal, my religious beliefs were overriding my conscious. In order to continue my research, I overcame my biases but trying to imagine myself in the place of a terminally ill person facing death, or envisioning a family member trying to come to terms with there on death. This was not easy for me as it was difficult to not say “No, you shouldn’t attempt any form of suicide, which is a one-way ticket to hell.” But, I have come to the realization that some don’t have the strength to suffer any longer than they already have or continue to feel as if they are a burden to their loved ones. I feel that in physician assisted suicide, to completely understand why someone would want to commit such an act, you have to put yourself in that person’s shoes. This can be difficult when dealing with such a controversial subject. In almost any situation it is true that if you have never personally been in the same type of situation, it may be easy to disagree with them. However, I feel like suicide is a heavier topic because it is literally life or death. I am choosing to write about the legalization of physician assisted suicide because this topic intrigues me in a way that I almost cannot understand...
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...Assisted Suicide Shanette Anfield PHI200: Mind and Machine Troy Epps July 31, 2012 Assisted Suicide Assisted suicide is an ethical issue that not only has an effect on the individual, but it also reflects on the society where the individual lives. Euthanasia is an act of someone else ending someone’s life. Assisted suicide is the act of the individual having help in ending their own life. “Physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is slightly different than euthanasia; in using PAS, the patient is provided the means for terminating his or her life, but the patient, not the doctor, ends the life in question” (Mosser, 2010, Chp. 2.3, para. 31). However, not all assisted suicides may involve a doctor. In the United States, Oregon was the first state to pass an assisted-suicide law. Washington is a state that has as recently as 2008 adopted an act that allows residents that have less than six months to live to request a legal dose of medication. Eleven states, including Alabama, Idaho and North Carolina ‘have no enactments which criminalize aiding, abetting, assisting, or counseling suicide” (“Assisted Suicide,” 2010, para. 1-7). Several other states such as Alaska, California and Florida “criminalize aiding, abetting, and/or assisting suicide” (“Assisted Suicide,” 2010, para. 8). I am a Georgian and our law states that any involvement in an assisted suicide is a felony. The main conflict of assisted suicide...
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...families, doctors and other caregivers. For the patient of this particular case, Mrs. Jones did not choose to get terminal cancer; however, she has also not chosen whether to be given an extra dose of a narcotic to end her life. Although, she is a single mother, her family should be contacted and consulted as well as other caregivers for their opinion and decisions. In Mrs. Jones’s case, she is probably not considered to have decision-making abilities due to the stage of her cancer and the decision may need to be made for her. However, it is the responsibility of the Cancer Center to make sure the patient receives considerate and respectful care and act that they act in the patient’s best interest. 2) Identify and explain at least three ethical considerations. Health care has traditionally been based on the assumption that life is an important and essential good and that it should be preserved whenever possible. Prevention of premature or avoidable death is seen as part of the goal of health care. However, the principle or duty to...
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...COMS 321 – Rhetorical Discourse 18 Jun 2015 DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS: LET’S CALL PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE WHAT IT IS I have conducted a descriptive analysis from an article written by Karin Klein, Editorial Writer of the Los Angeles Times, published on February 17, 2015. Klein tackled the topic “Let’s call physician-assisted suicide what it is”. The newly written Senate Bill (SB) 128 would “allow physicians in California to write lethal prescriptions under tightly controlled circumstances” for the terminally ill but will not call it as “suicide” nor will it be reflected as such on death certificates. Klein’s editorial is focused on the these two major flaws of the bill written for the terminally ill who are looking for a dignified way to end their life by allowing them access to lethal prescription drugs if the bill is passed. The bill is mirrored after the State of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act law passed by its legislature in 1997. Klein’s purpose, at the time of her writing the editorial, was to reach out to the legislators and advocates of the bill, her audience, to modify the bill by naming it as it is, “a physician-assisted suicide” and reflecting it as such in death certificates. The tone and approach to her writing was straight to the point while at times satirical, stretching how the definition of “suicide” can have a different connotation in the eyes and perspectives of the advocates of the bill. Klein seeks to appeal to the writers and proponents of the...
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...greatest human freedom is to live, and die according to one’s desires and beliefs. Death with dignity is a national organization located in Oregon, which is non-partisan, non-profit that has led the legal defense and education of the Oregon law for nearly twenty years; however, the actual law for death with dignity was not passed until 1994 and due to legal issues, it became effective later in 1997. The Board of Directors for Death with Dignity Movements are some of the most esteemed medical, legal and scholarly experts, which are responsible for the political defense of the Oregon law and the promotion of death with dignity initiatives in other states. The Oregon Death with Dignity act has given patients what others might think or find deplorable a chance to die with dignity in their own terms. The Act allows mentally competent terminally ill adults who have six months or less to live receive, under strict safeguard, a prescription for life ending medication The goal of the Death with Dignity National Center is three fold: defend dignity, mobilize dignity, and preserve dignity. To Defend Dignity, the Death with Dignity National Center works with an “extensive and costly legal defense of the Oregon law, as well as coalition building providing the flexibility to rapid response to both legal and political challenges” (DWDNC, 2011). A second goal of the Death with Dignity National Center is to mobilize dignity. In mobilizing dignity, the Death with Dignity National Center “provides...
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...hospital due to medical complications, bad health, or many other circumstances. Some peoples time living comes to an end suddenly or even within a date the doctors have predicted based on the health of a particular patient. Recently, many patients have took the route of asking a doctor to “Pull the Plug”, otherwise known as “Assisted Suicide”. Assisted Suicide is the process in which a doctor or physician will help a patient decide on the circumstance and time of their death, while still being considered ethical. Assisted suicide is an exceptional decision a person can make to end their life, as harsh as it may seem, but still being humane. A person should not have to suffer and go through the complications of medical procedures and medicines, when in the end their chances of living are very slim. There is much controversy that surrounds the procedure of physicians assisting people on their death. Some of the arguments that are mainly found are the points of Rojas 2 “Euthanasia” and the “Hippocratic Oath” doctors and physicians sware to when...
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...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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...An Economic and Law Based Analysis of ‘The Right to Die’ What constitutes as the ‘right to die’? According to US Legal Inc., the “right to die” refers to a variety of issues associated with the decision of whether or not an individual should be allowed to die when it is possible for them to continue living with the aid of life support, or in a debilitated state. More specifically, it refers to the idea that an individual diagnosed with a terminal illness, committing suicide before death occurs, should be permissible with their right to refuse an extension of life through artificial or heroic efforts acknowledged. In this term paper, analyzed, are the economic issues and concerns associated with the fight for the ‘right to die’ in Canada. Explored,...
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...Assisted Suicide Yusuf J. Shalah HSA 515 Dr. James Coon 1. Explain how the Patient Bill of Rights applies to the situation. With regards to this situation, the Patient’s Bill of Rights was established to contribute to more effective patient care, and to ensure that care is considerate and respectful, and more importantly, to ensure a health care ethic that extends that respect to a patient’s role in decision-making about treatment choices and other aspects of their care. “These rights can be exercised on the patient’s behalf by a designated surrogate or proxy decision maker if the patient if the patient lacks decision making capacity, is legally incompetent or is a minor.”(Aha, 1993) Mrs. Jones, in our scenario, is a patient evidently suffering from a terminal illness possibly in its latter stages, or possibly a fresh diagnosis. In either situation, from the information provided Mrs. Jones has made no declaration, or request, agreement to receiving an extra dose of a narcotic which could potentially end her life. Thus, Nancy nurses’ decision to administer this extra dose is not only capable of killing her, but is also premeditated. There is no consideration to her wishes, those of her family, and a blatant disregard of any other health professionals involved. If you are to be justified in helping someone to die (assisted suicide), the person you are going to ‘help’ must have made it clear that they want to be killed. “A unilateral decision that is...
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...the Bible, the assistance of a physician in medical suicide directly violates the ancient Hippocratic oath, and it is for this reason that many physicians refuse to support legalization of the practice. The Hippocratic oath is a promise, regarding the ethical standards of medicine, that all physicians swear to uphold. The classical oath asserts that “[the physician] will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will [the physician] make a suggestion to this effect]” (Ruggles). On these grounds the oath, developed in the late fifth century BC, directly prohibits the practice of physician-assisted suicide. It is for this reason that some physicians so vehemently oppose...
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