...Euthanasia refers to the painless killing of a patient with an incurable and painful disease. One form of euthanasia is physician-assisted suicide. “Physician-assisted suicide is when a doctor assists a competent adult to voluntarily end his or her own life” (Roberts). “Physician-assisted suicide remains a very controversial topic throughout the country. Terminally ill patients, physicians, and pharmacists often have different beliefs about the practice” (Fass). If this form of euthanasia was legal in the United States, people could be put out of their misery. Also, it would be safe because it is watched over by a physician. Not many people consider physician-assisted suicide a reasonable way to pass away because they have never been so close...
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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 Letithia Terry PHI103: Informal Logic Kurt Mosser June 6, 2011 Assisted Suicide Assisted Suicide is when the physician provides the necessary means or information and the patient performs the act. Euthanasia is where the physician performs the intervention defined as the “act of bringing about the death of a hopelessly ill and suffering person in a relatively quick and painless way for reason of mercy (as cited in Mosser 2010). Physician Assisted Suicide has grown to be a controversial issue and one of the major disputes is; can an incurable ill patient be able to choose Physician assisted suicide? This phenomenal dilemma has risen debates on rather to legalize PAS or keep it illegal because of the different issues concerning the different religion, moral and ethical views people have on the topic. In this essay I will discuss issues of why many people and I believe assisted suicide should be legalized. There are different laws around the world concerning physician assisted suicide and only a few states that has legalized the procedure. In 2005, there were only four places in the world that open and legally authorize assistance in dying patients: “Oregon (since l997, physician-assisted suicide only); Switzerland (1941, physician and non-physician assisted suicide only); Belgium (2002, permits 'euthanasia' but does not define the method and the Netherlands (voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide...
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...be a 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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...Seminar 5 First Draft – Physician Assisted Suicide INTRODUCTION In my term paper I am going to be answering the question is Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) ethically justified? The debate on Physician-Assisted Suicide has been a topic of debate for many years. Born and raised in Michigan I remember all of the news on Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisting terminally ill patients in their death and the controversy on it. The dilemma is whether or not a physician should be allowed to assist a person in ending their life even if they are terminally ill. According to a recent article on The New York Times website, New Mexico just legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide for terminally ill patients. This ruling would make New Mexico the fifth state to allow physicians to prescribe to their terminally ill patients a fatal dose of medications to end their life (Eckholm, 2014). Proponents of Physician-Assisted Suicide believe that terminally ill people should have the right to choose go to the doctors and ask for their help to end their lives and stop their suffering. Of course there would have to be certain steps taken to make sure they were making the right choice. Many supporters of Physician-Assisted Suicide believe that there should be some psychiatric evaluation to make sure that the patient is of a sound mind in their decision to end their life. Opponents of Physician-Assisted Suicide believe that a person does not have a right to end their own life and that it goes against...
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...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, the more they will...
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...Assisted suicide Assisted suicide 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 (Somerville 47). Assisted suicide has been a highly controversial issue nowadays. In some countries it is legalized. Some people hold the opinion that assisted suicide is not considerable due to the fact that life is valuable than any substances, but I think assisted suicide should be legalized and put into practice because it will benefits all people involved. In the next paragraphs, I will talk about what are the advantages about assisted suicide. First, assisted suicide can release the pain of the dying patient who suffers terribly from the incurable disease. The most well-known method of assisted suicide is Euthanasia. The word “Euthanasia” comes from Greek words, means dying with happiness. In China, Euthanasia means, when the incurable patient nearly dying, suffering with extremely pain for both spiritual and physical, if the patient and his or her families ask for Euthanasia and the doctors allowed, the patient could get Euthanasia in a humanistic way. So we can safely conclude that Euthanasia or assisted suicide is not killing people, but helping them getting rid of the intolerable suffering. Second, assisted suicide will also reduce the great financial pressure for the families on living, because a great deal of money has...
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...Physician-assisted suicide is a controversial issue at the forefront of American society. The idea is that if someone has been diagnosed with a terminal illness they should have the option to end their own life through a quick and painless drug administered by a physician. Many terminally ill patients believe this gives them a sense of control and gives them an option to end the pain of dealing with their illness. The opposition of physician-assisted suicide are those who believe that suicide is immoral and forcing a physician to administer this procedure would unfair. While many are now in favor of physician-assisted suicide there are still those who oppose it for moral or religious reasons. Many believe that the practice is morally wrong because it...
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...PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE: LEGALITY AND MORALITY Wednesday - May 8th, 2002 By Martin Levin, 107 Irving Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (617)-497-6828 mlevin@levinlaw.com On Sunday, June 21, 1992, Jennifer Cowart, age thirty-two, and her brother George Kowalski, age twenty-eight, traveled to Pensacola Beach, Florida, for a day of relaxation. At the end of the day, Jennifer and George were heading back to their vehicle when Jennifer noticed a go-kart track. The two entered the track, bought tickets, and began riding. Within one minute, Jennifer’s go-kart bumped into one of the side guardrails, flipped on its side, and burst into flames. Jennifer was seat-belted in the go-kart and could not get out. George tried to run into the fire to save his sister, but the flames were too intense. Bystanders attempted to use a fire extinguisher, but it did little to lessen the inferno. Jennifer was trapped in the burning go-kart for two minutes when her seat-belt finally burned through and she fell to the ground. George grabbed his sister and pulled her away from the fire. Jennifer was alive. She was lying on the asphalt alert, oriented, and coherent. She had suffered 3rd and 4th degree burns covering ninety-five percent of her body. She was suffering the worst pain imaginable. At the scene, Jennifer begged the rescue personnel to “let me die.” Instead, Jennifer was flown to a burn center in Mobile, Alabama, where she remained for one year until she was overcome by an infection...
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...that can demand that we make split decisions. Some decisions are reversible whereas others, such as Physician Assisted Suicide, are concrete. While some view it as a solution or being a form of relief from intolerable pain, Physician Assisted Suicide should not be legalized. The reason for this is because patients shouldn’t make final decisions filtered by frustration. Other reasons are that Assisted Suicide can also give patients the idea that losing all hope is Ok. Although It’s fair to feel hopeless. The positive mindset can have great benefits to our health. Finally, many times it is the wrong approach to a much deeper problem. Hidden mind altering moods or emotions such as Depression can cause illogical reasoning. These are only a few reasons while Physician Assisted Suicide should be legalized. Frustration is an emotional state that a person experiences while under distress. It is also one of the many leading causes for attempting to find an “easy way out”....
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...Sue Rodriguez was a 42 year old woman living in B.C. who was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a terminal illness that caused her a lot of pain and suffering (Smith, 1993.) She wanted to end her life with the assistance of a qualified physician. However, Section 241(b) of the Criminal Code made assisted suicide an indictable offence (Smith, 1993.) She said “if I cannot give consent to my own death, whose body is this? Who owns my life?” and was inspired to work to change the law (Smith, 1993.) Sue Rodriguez put in a lot of time and effort to try to change the law. She applied to the Supreme Court of British Columbia for an order declaring s. 241(b) invalid under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Smith, 1993.) The B.C. court dismissed her application so she then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada (Smith, 1993.) In the Supreme Court of Canada, Sue Rodriguez argued that s. 241(b) violates sections 7, 12, and 15 of the Charter (Smith, 1993.) Section 7 of the Charter granted her right to life, liberty, and security of person (Smith, 1993.) She argued that s. 241(b) prohibited a person from aiding her to end her life when she could not do so without assistance, thus depriving her of liberty (Smith, 1993.) She was also deprived of her security of the person because s. 241(b) deprived her of her ability to control decisions about her body which caused her physical pain and psychological stress (Smith, 1993.) Sue Rodriguez also argued that s. 12 of the...
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...“Definitions of Euthanasia,” physician-assisted suicide is when a, “Medical doctor helping patient to die by prescribing a lethal overdose.” Although there are many guidelines that have to be followed for a patient to be considered for physician-assisted suicide, it still should not be legal. Kayla Asbury argues in her article “The Right to Die: Benefits of Physician-Assisted Suicide” that, “dying with dignity is a right everyone should be afforded.” However, many people argue that physician-assisted suicide is not moral and should not be preformed under any circumstance. In Asbury’s article she time and time again explains why she believes physician-assisted suicide should be legal. Asbury’s main argument...
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...“New York senator proposes law to allow terminally ill to seek suicide with doctor support” Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan state senator is seeking to make New York the fifth state to permit assisted suicide for the terminally ill. This proposed law would permit doctors to prescribe a lethal medication to terminally ill adults who voluntarily wish to end their life. This bill intends to give mentally capable adults to take control over their end-of-life options. His proposals are modeled after Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act”, where a patient seeking suicide would be at least 18 years of age, and given 6 months to live. His legislation faces tremendous opposition from religious groups in particular, who believe that Hoylman’s bill implies there is something undignified about a natural death. In addition, they say those who are diagnosed with months to live often defy expectations, as there are human errors to medical examinations. In addition, patients diagnosed frequently become depressed, and make decisions on clouded judgments. Along with New York, California and New Jersey are also discussing this debate. There are several ethical dilemmas to consider surrounding the issue of a “physician-assisted suicide”. It is important to consider all the stakeholders involved, the victim, his/her family, the doctors, and society impacted by this precedence. Who has the most say in matter? I believe the victim, doctors and society are the largest shareholders. In addition, we must consider...
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...human being for his or her alleged benefit. There are four types of euthanasia listed by Levine: active euthanasia, passive euthanasia, voluntary euthanasia, and non-voluntary euthanasia. The controversy is not life ending, but when death is inescapable, how far should one go in accelerating it? On October 27, 1997 Oregon enacted the Death with Dignity Act which allows terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose (Oregon 2012). The Act requires the Oregon Department of Human Services to collect information about the patients and physicians who participate in the Act, and publish an annual statistical report. Many objections that arise on this topic is the act allowing patients to commit suicide? The Eighth Annual Report on Oregon's Death with Dignity Act states under the Act, ending one's life in accordance with the law does not constitute suicide (ProCon 2012). The Death with Dignity Act legalizes physician-assisted suicide (PAS), but specifically prohibits euthanasia, where a physician or other person directly administers a medication to end another's life. In 1997 Oregon became the first state to permit physician-assisted suicide. On November 5, 2008 the state of Washington voted to allow legal assisted suicide according to the Oregon model. There is no specific federal law regarding either euthanasia or assisted suicide. All 50 states and the District of...
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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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