Physician assisted suicide—or euthanasia—has been a topic of extreme controversy for years now. According to examiner.com, this debate could date back as far as the sixteenth century. Some believe that it is a necessary practice that would allow terminally ill patients to die quickly, painlessly, and with dignity, while others believe that it is a destructive and murderous practice that could potentially blur the lines of right and wrong within the medical community. While many believe that it is within our rights as humans to die as we please, the rest believe that the right to be killed does not exist. This paper will highlight both the pros and cons of legalizing human euthanasia. The pros of physician assisted suicide are relatively obvious. …show more content…
To quote an article from care.org.uk, “we do not have to kill the patient to kill the symptoms.” The same article brings up another interesting point; if we give doctors the right to euthanize we will potentially give them the right to decide whether or not a patient’s life is worth living, and thus open the doors to the possibility of involuntary euthanasia. According to terrisfight.org, in the Netherlands—where euthanasia is legal—up to 61% of the lethal injections given in 1990 were not discussed with the people receiving them despite the fact that 27% were fully competent. Cases were reported where doctors administered lethal injections to people who were simply diagnosed to be chronically depressed. As a result of all of this, thousands of citizens of the Netherlands carry “do not euthanize me” cards in case of being unexpectedly admitted to the hospital. According to care.org.uk, there are also cases in the Netherlands where doctors have not documented or recorded their patients dying from physician assisted suicide at
Introduction People have moral and ethical values that assist them in making decisions about their healthcare on a daily basis. What if a person found out that they had a terminal illness and only had months to live? What if those few months would be filled with treatments, pain and suffering, tear filled family members, and high cost medical bills? Physician- assisted suicide remains a debated topic which causes physicians, nurses and those involved to take a look at what they value and what they are willing to do in order to carry out a patient’s wishes.
The concept and ideology behind Physician-Assisted Suicide within the contemporary generation has become an exceptionally sensitive and controversial issue as multiple factors conglomerate to define if Physician-Assisted Suicide is justifiable within the grounds of ethical understanding and moral principles. The idea concerning PAS is based on the grounds of rational and irrational thinking as in if death is a rational choice above all other alternatives (Wittwer 420).
Two major reasons for why doctor assisted suicides should be stopped
In the Newsweek article, “Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Always Wrong,” by Ryan Anderson, it is stated that the legalization of assisted suicide “would be a grave mistake.” Anderson provides a few examples of why assisted suicide is detrimental. One, he states it leads to an endangerment of the weak and disenfranchised in societies. His outlook is that the purported safeguards of eliminating risk has mainly been nonexistent, which in some countries like the Netherlands who has legalized physician assisted suicide (PSA), has lead to doctors administering lethal injections to patients without request. Two, Anderson, sees assisted suicide as a compromise in the practice of medicine.
The topic of Physician-assisted suicide, or physician aid-in-dying, is a highly debated topic, especially when it comes down to whether this action be legal or not. The definition of Physician-assisted suicide can be defined as the act of intentionally killing yourself with the aid of a medical professional, such as a physician. The practice of Physician-assisted suicide still remains illegal in forty-five states excluding the states of Oregon, Vermont, Montana, California, and Washington. Although states have tried to make this practice legal, the practice of Physician-assisted suicide has become a crime in most. The practice of Physician-assisted suicide should not be illegal.
The debate on whether or not to legalize assisted suicide in every state has caused many uproars in the field of health care. Elements that factor into the controversy of this practice include ethicality, legality, and autonomy. Questions about the issue include: should the patient have the autonomy to select the system of assisted suicide, is it morally
Instead of doctors taking the easy way out, they should work to find a solution to nurse the patient back to health. Physician-assisted suicide is wrong because it is murder, it puts an emotional burden on hospital employees and family members of the patient by taking part in a purposeful death, and it goes against the religious view that
Physician assisted suicide is by far one of the most controversial topics that has arose in the last decade. As such, there are many moral and ethical arguments both for and against the act of physician assisted suicide. Because of this, it is important to explore in detail the arguments made both in favor and against physician assisted suicide so that one can better grasp what exactly this sort of act entails. In his book “Understanding Assisted Suicide: Nine Issues to Consider”, Seattle University School of Law professor John B. Mitchell highlights many key points of why physician assisted suicide should be legalized.
Current Issues Surrounding Death A hot topic in today’s media and in discussion is the idea of physician assisted suicide and end of life care. There are several legal, ethical, social, and political issues surrounding this idea, which makes it a controversial topic. This paper will discuss some of these issues and explore the idea of physician assisted suicide and end of life care in more detail. Physician assisted suicide is defined as, “suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information (as a drug prescription or indication of the lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of how the patient intends to use such means or information (Merriam-Webster, 2015).
It is believed that once practicing physician-assisted suicides becomes an acceptable concept in society, the next steps will easily be taken toward unethical actions such as involuntary euthanasia. Edmund D. Pellegrino, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Ethics at Georgetown University claims that our healthcare system is too obsessed with costs and principles of utility. He defies the belief that the slippery slope effect is no more than a prediction, by reminding the outlooks and inclinations of our society. Furthermore, he believes there comes a day that incompetent patients and those in coma won’t be asked for their permission to use euthanasia. The Netherlands is another example of such misuse.
Physician-Assisted Suicide Physician-assisted suicide is when a doctor provides the means and the information necessary for a patient to end his life. A bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide was recently signed into law in California, and four other states have also legalized physician-assisted suicide. While many people may say that physician-assisted suicide should not be legal, the fact of the matter is that assisted suicide is a way to end a terminally ill patient’s suffering, and therefore should be legal. All doctors must abide by a very strict code of medical ethics. One of the biggest arguments against physician-assisted suicide is that it violates the Hippocratic oath, which is a code of medical ethics which all new doctors must swear to.
Historically, as in ancient Greek and Roman times, euthanasia and physician assisted death (EAS), in all forms, were not only regularly practiced, they were quite common among all classes (Ian Dowbiggin N. pag.). Hippocrates developed The Hippocratic Oath at around 300 B.C. and included the passage that physicians should not perform EAS even when asked. It took until the Christian movement for this to become the preferred method for practicing medicine. Euthanasia and physician assisted death are becoming more accepted in modern times, once again.
The Right to Die has been taking effect in many states and is rapidly spreading around the world. Patients who have life threatening conditions usually choose to die quickly with the help of their physicians. Many people question this right because of its inhumane authority. Euthanasia or assisted suicide are done by physicians to end the lives of their patients only in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, New Mexico and soon California that have the Right to Die so that patients don’t have to live with depression, cancer and immobility would rather die quick in peace.
INTRODUCTION Euthanasia alludes to the act of deliberately close a life keeping in mind the end goal to assuage torment and enduring. There are different euthanasia laws in each country. The British House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics defines euthanasia as "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering".[1] In the Netherlands, euthanasia is understood as "termination of life by a doctor at the request of a patient"". Euthanasia is sorted in diverse ways, which incorporate voluntary, non-voluntary, or automatic.
Have you ever imagined one of your loved ones suffering from a painful illness? Have you ever wanted that person to die and rest in peace? This is called Euthanasia, which means the termination of a patient’s life who is suffering from excruciating pain and a terminal disease. Euthanasia came from the Greek for good (“eu”) and death (“thanatos”) “good death”(Sklansky, (2001) p.5.) There are more than four types of euthanasia such as active euthanasia, which means that death is caused directly by another person by giving the patient a poisonous injection.