The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide

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Assisted suicide has numerous complexities surrounding the act. Webster’s dictionary definition of Assisted Suicide is:suicide committed by someone with assistance from another person: Physician -Assisted Suicide. Physician - assisted suicide (PAS) involves a doctor who helps a person either with knowledge or the means to commit suicide. Several countries allow physicians to actually help in the suicide of patients, Canada,Belgium, the Netherlands,Luxembourg, and Switzerland. The United States has six states which allow medical aid in dying. This practice is allowed if a terminally ill patient has 6 months or less to live. They will be given a lethal dose of medicine to self administer to end their life. The six states include: California,Colorado,District of Columbia,Montana(via court decision)Oregon,Vermont, and Washington.(CNN) Physician Assisted Suicide is different from Euthanasia. Euthanasia is illegal in most of the United States. The main difference in euthanasia the physician or another third party is giving the lethal dose of medication, in assisted suicide it is the patient’s decision to give the lethal dose of medication to themselves. Debates over the ethics on euthanasia and physician- assisted suicide dates back to the ancient Greece and Rome. Ether was developed in 1870’s. Samuel Williams first proposed using anesthetics and morphine to end a patient’s life. hical problems presented at the end of life are becoming more complex. Many religious

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