Physician-assisted suicide for psychiatric patients has become a highly debated ethical issue. In the United States, only a handful of states allow for assisted death (“Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts”). Growing awareness for mental health has stirred conversation about whether physician-assisted suicide should be extended to individuals with severe mental illness. For physicians, the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice are in direct conflict with autonomy. Does the idea of “do no harm” outweigh the potential emotional benefit patients receive from choosing to no longer suffer from their mental illness? This paper will argue that given the moral consequences, physician-assisted suicide for psychiatric disorders, …show more content…
Every mental illness and person are different, so it is difficult to determine who can decide if physician-assisted suicide is the right treatment for them. Medical ethics state that physicians must uphold the principle of beneficence where they create the greatest amount of good for their patients (Munyaradzi 2). For individuals with psychotic disorders, a key factor them are hallucinations and delusions. This could impair one’s ability to make a decision for their health (“Understanding Psychosis”). A major factor in decision-making is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This region guides behavior, working memory, and inhibition (Barch and Sheffield 224). In psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, there is evidence of impaired activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Barch and Sheffield 224). This inability to properly regulate the activity of this region could impact decision-making, such as pursuing physician-assisted suicide. While personality disorders are consistent over time, some disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, are characterized by impulsivity (Brodeur 18). This could also make providing an accurate understanding of one’s wish more difficult (Brodeur 17). For physicians to perform assisted suicide on their patients, there must be complete clarity on patient wishes, and having a mental illness that produces …show more content…
Deontology would argue that the physician has a moral responsibility to respect their patient’s best interest and wishes because this framework claims actions as good or bad regardless of the consequences (Terry 190). People that are considered for assisted death have tried other treatment measures that have not worked (Van Veen et al 621). There is evidence showing a reduction in grey matter tissue, majorly impacting the superior temporal gyrus in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (Anderson et al 5). Grey matter does not regenerate (“Grey Matter”), so treatment may not be able to compensate for this tissue loss. Mental illness, including personality and psychotic disorders, is a risk factor for premature death. For individuals with mental illness in New Zealand, the most common cause of premature death is suicide (Monasterio 77). Legalizing physician-assisted suicide could allow individuals with suicidal ideation to die peacefully. While this is a relevant and compelling position, it is not sufficient. Every case of mental illness is different, so they all need to be considered independently (Brodeur 19). A different deontological take would be that the physician would be violating the idea of what it is to be a physician by participating in assisted suicide. The moral line between helping someone die with dignity and helping a physically healthy individual die
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).
Many times in life we are faced with difficult decisions, but is it you who are making the decisions, or is someone else making the decision for you? When it comes to ending a person’s life, because of a terminal illness, it should be the patient’s decision. Physician-Assisted Suicide or PSA has been an issue for many decades, questioning its morality, and the legal issues it could face if legalized. The history of self-assisted suicide dates back to the Roman and Greeks, where scholars approved of the decision to hasten death due to illness.
Commentary On A Medical Dilemma Physician-assisted suicide is a large moral controversy in the medical field. Jukka Varelius explains the key points about the dilemma on whether medical patients should have the right to ask doctors to terminate their lives, in order to end their suffering. In “Voluntary Euthanasia, Physician-Assisted Suicide, and the Right to do Wrong”, the author addresses how assisting suicide is morally wrong in our society, but yet patients insist that they have the moral right to end their lives if they are in agony and facing significant torment due to their ill status. Jukka, in his point of view, outlines the multiple problems that go along with the main conflict, such as should a doctor be forced to end a suffering patient’s life even if the physician does not wish to do so and should the patient have the ability to ask for euthanasia even if there is still a possibility that the patient’s status can improve. Mr. Varelius does a successful job portraying the key points in this conflict, but does not strongly support any side in the
In this oath there is a line stating: “I WILL MAINTAIN the utmost respect for human life.” Allowing physicians to assist in suicide could blur the sacred relationship between doctors and patients for good. Patients could fear that that may be receiving lethal drugs instead of being provided the appropriate care. The critics of the assisted suicide procedure argue that such a process devalues human life and tends to promote suicide as an alternative to personal suffering. It blurs the line between healing and dying.
Assisted Suicide: A Controversial Topic Assisted suicide, also known as physician-assisted death (PAD), has been a topic of controversy for decades. While some argue that PAD should be legalized to grant terminally ill patients the right to die with dignity, others believe it goes against the sanctity of life. This essay will explore the arguments for and against assisted suicide and offer recommendations on how to approach the issue. PAD is Important
HS 4812 Bioethics Discussion Post Unit 8 Compare and contrast euthanasia with physician-assisted suicide. Discuss your stance on physician-assisted suicide. Due to developments in biomedical research as well as the emergence of new fields in evidence-based medicine and bioethics, end-of-life care is a subject that is becoming more and more relevant. Medical professionals frequently discuss euthanasia and assisted suicide, two concepts that can be both comforting and upsetting depending on the situation. It has been possible to evaluate situations that have helped build helpful definitions for the legal regulation of palliative care and public policies in the various health systems thanks to the evolution of these terms and the events connected
This must be considered because a patient could live a better life if their mental illness is treated. However, if there is no mental illness or if the patient has an untreatable mental illness, then that patient might be better off dead. An untreatable patient’s desire to be killed by a physician should only be considered if it is to decrease the patient’s suffering; the idea of suffering was brought up by Hooker (Blackwell, 2014, p. 80). I will discuss two possibilities that can lead to a patient’s suffering. One, an untreatable patient can want to be killed by a physician because a patient does not want to suffer physically for the rest of their life and would like to die in the least painful way possible; the idea of suffering brought up by Hooker (Blackwell, 2014, p. 80).
The National Public Radio (NPR) once said and states, “Advocates of assisted-suicide laws believe that mentally competent people who are suffering and have no chance of long-term survival, should have the right to die if and when they choose. If people have the right to refuse life-saving treatments, they argue, they should also have the freedom to choose to end their own lives” (NPR Staff). As a patient’s pain grows increasingly worse, their only option is to adopt physician-assisted suicide. If there is no cure or chance of
Human beings have the right to live, and the right to die. If there was no right to die, living would be considered a duty. One’s sickness may desire them to not continue with life if their condition causes extreme pain, discomfort, lack of independence, and make living unbearable. Doctor assisted suicide is a popular controversy because sometimes it is not done with ethicality and lethal dose of pain medication is administered or certain treatments are withheld. However when carried out with ethicality, a pill or injection is administered in the proper amount to cause death.
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.
Patients have the right to the kind of treatment they want. 3) Conclusion a) Physician assisted suicide can help treat the terminally ill how they would like to be treated. b) The long history of assisted suicide speaks for itself in the matter of if it should be legal or
But if somebody comes after 10 or 12 years of depression and says they do not want to prolong their life under such conditions, then we might help them to die. We should not start from the premise that suicide should not happen.” At the moment, not much is being done to legalize euthanasia within the states, but in Australia, people are still fighting to keep the “Rights of The Terminally Ill” law
Assisted suicide is a rather controversial issue in contemporary society. When a terminally ill patient formally requests to be euthanized by a board certified physician, an ethical dilemma arises. Can someone ethically end the life of another human being, even if the patient will die in less than six months? Unlike traditional suicide, euthanasia included multiple individuals including the patient, doctor, and witnesses, where each party involved has a set of legal responsibilities. In order to understand this quandary and eventually reach a conclusion, each party involved must have their responsibilities analyzed and the underlying guidelines of moral ethics must be investigated.
“Knowing our rights to refuse treatment, as well as legal ways to bring about death if pain or distress cannot be alleviated, will spare us the frightening helplessness that can rob our last days of meaning and connection with others” (Wanzer, and Glenmullen 1). Many dispute that a patient with a severe illness is highly medicated, therefore it isn’t their mind speaking, but rather the
Physician assisted suicide’s legality is not up to those who do not wish to utilize it. If a person is enduring enough suffering, then they will find some form of exit to escape that pain. Whether it be, through, “…gross violence of a gunshot or a jump off a bridge”, PAD is the most humane way of ending suffering, yet it still is an illegal act in most of the United States. All that we ask is, “…for a dignified way to die” (3). Not only is the right to die under the care of a licensed and medically trained physician necessary and a given right to self-choice, but also it is the most moral way of doing so.