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Legal and Ethical Issues Involving Assisted Suicide
Ethical dilemma assisted suicide
Legal and Ethical Issues Involving Assisted Suicide
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PATIENT After passing through the four stages of death and dying the last stage a person arrives at is acceptance. Accepting the fact they are sick with a non curable disease. That individual goes through a lot of personal issues with keeping up with their well being. First of all they are experiencing constant pain throughout their body, and uncomfort. Whether it’s the medication, or the eqipment they have to use to spare them more time, it’s irratating to constantly have to worry and stress about. Speaking of stress, they are constantly stressed with their life and tired of having to deal with the extra work to stay alive every day. An acedemic journal by Oluyemisi Bamgbose (2004) discusses the debate on euthanasia. He quotes about the comfort of the patient “A problem arises, however within the same sphere of medical sciene, where it is considered a burden to continue stustaining the life of a patient who, whether by reason of severe pains...would be...better off dead”(pg.112) When it gets to the point of the deciding factor of euthanasia, the patient is the one who is struggling …show more content…
There are so many hospitals overflowing with patients who desperatly need help, it almost seems like a waste to take up a bed with someone who is not going to leave the hospital alive and doesn’t want to be suffering any longer. It’s not fair to waste these resources on a patient who is willing to to die out of misery while their bed could be used to save someone else with a chance to live.
Nurses There are so many people with sicknesses with hopes of being cured with the help of a hospital bed and properly trained nurses that’s its unfair that they won’t get a chance because one nurse has to have minimal care on a someone. Now a days nurses are trained will more skills then keeping a dying patient comfortable like changing their bed sheets and getting them water.
Anyone can be diagnosed with a terminal illness. It doesn’t matter how healthy you are, who you are, or what you do. Some terminal illnesses you can prevent by avoiding unhealthy habits, eating healthily, exercising regularly and keeping up with vaccinations. However some terminally ill people cannot be helped, their diseases cannot be cured and the only thing possible to help them, besides providing pain relieving medication, is to make them as comfortable as possible while enduring their condition. Many times the pharmaceuticals do not provide the desired pain escape, and cause patients to seek immediate relief in methods such as euthanasia. Euthanasia is the practice of deliberately ending a life in order to alleviate pain and suffering, but is deemed controversial because many various religions believe that their creators are the only ones that should decide when their life’s journey should reach its end. Euthanasia is performed by medical doctors or physicians and is the administration of a fatal dose of a suitable drug to the patient on his or her express request. Although the majority of American states oppose euthanasia, the practice would result in more good as opposed to harm. The patient who is receiving the euthanizing medication would be able to proactively choose their pursuit of happiness, alleviate themselves from all of the built up pain and suffering, relieve the burden they may feel they are upon their family, and die with dignity, which is the most ethical option for vegetative state and terminally ill patients. Euthanasia should remain an alternative to living a slow and painful life for those who are terminally ill, in a vegetative state or would like to end their life with dignity. In addition, t...
Although nurses do not wield the power of doctors in hospital settings, they are still able to effectively compensate for a doctor’s deficits in a variety of ways to assure patient recovery. Nurses meet a patient’s physical needs, which assures comfort and dignity Nurses explain and translate unfamiliar procedures and treatments to patients which makes the patient a partner in his own care and aids in patient compliance. Nurses communicate patient symptoms and concerns to physicians so treatment can be altered if necessary and most importantly, nurses provide emotional support to patients in distress.
There are several important ethical issues related to euthanasia. One is allowing people who are terminally ill and suffering the right to choose death. Should these people continue to suffer even though they really are ba...
Suffering in pain and knowing that there is no hope is a horrible thing to experience as we live. Lying on a hospital bed in misery and grief because of a condition or illness that is hopeless is completely depressing to anyone. Euthanasia is one of the most controversial issues in society due to the difference in people’s point of views about dying. Although the lives of many patients can be saved with the latest breakthroughs in treatments and technology, we are still unable to find treatment for all diseases, and these patients have to go through painful or treatments that have greater risk than benefits only to prolong their life with little or no chance of full recovery. These patients struggle with physical and emotional pain for the reason that they feel like they are worthless because they can’t move or decide rationally. Euthanasia should be an option to certain terminal ill people because it allows them to choose whether they want to die or live a painful life.
I personally feel that the life of a person is well above all policies and regulations and if an attempt to rescue him or her from death at the right time remains unfulfilled, it is not the failure of a doctor or nurse, it is the failure of the entire medical and health community.
The article I chose discusses the continual change in the roles of nurses. The article also poses a concept that nursing now is not based on caring, but medicine. “By accepting continual changes to the role of the nurse, the core function of nursing has become obscured and, despite assuming medical tasks, the occupation continues to be seen in terms of a role that is subordinate to and dependent on medicine.” (Iley 2004) Nurses are taking a more professional role, and more tasks are being delegated to assertive personnel. Therefore, with all these changes occurring, the role of the enrolled nurse is unclear. “Previously, having two levels of qualified nurse in the United Kingdom had been seen as problematic for health service managers and nurses themselves, and the ending of enrolled nurse programs in 1992 helped to solve this problem.” (2004) The study in this article gathered the characteristics of enrolled nurses and differentiated the groups converting to registered nurses, groups in the process of conversion, and groups interested or not interested in conversion. This study reveals the situation of enrolled nurses in context of continuing towards the professionalization of nursing. “The data from this study support the possibility that the role of nurses as direct caregivers is seen as a positive dimension of the work they undertake.” (2004) The findings imply that nurses need to get back to being caregivers, instead of concentrating on obtaining professional status in medicine.
In the world, 7.2 to 7.5 million people die from terminal illnesses each year (“We've Got Answers.”)Euthanasia, the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma, would end suffering. Euthanasia is illegal in most parts of the world but in the Netherlands it accounts for about one in 30 deaths. Even though many people find euthanasia unethical, it can be used to end the increase of medical bills after the patient passes, patients have the right to decide when they die, and it ends the suffering of the patient.
In the essay “The Morality of Euthanasia”, James Rachels uses what he calls the argument from mercy. Rachels states, “If one could end the suffering of another being—the kind from which we ourselves would recoil, about which we would refuse to read or imagine—wouldn’t one?” He cites a Stewart Alsop’s story in which he shares a room with a terminally ill cancer patient who he named Jack. At the end of the recounting, Alsop basically asks, “were this another animal, would not we see to it that it doesn’t suffer more than it should?” Which opens up the question of, “Why do humans receive special treatment when we too are animals?” We would not let animals suffer when there is a low chance of survival, so why is it different for us humans?
As patients come closer to the end of their lives, certain organs stop performing as well as they use to. People are unable to do simple tasks like putting on clothes, going to the restroom without assistance, eat on our own, and sometimes even breathe without the help of a machine. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. “Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations, Medical practioners should be allowed to help patients actively determine the time and circumstances of their death” (Lee). “Arguments for and against assisted suicide (sometimes called the “right to die” debate) are complicated by the fact that they come from very many different points of view: medical issues, ethical issues, legal issues, religious issues, and social issues all play a part in shaping people’s opinions on the subject” (Lee). Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is considered murder, it goes against physicians’ Hippocratic Oath, violates the Controlled
Patients seek relief from symptoms such as unremitting severe pain, breathing difficulties such as choking and suffocation, nausea and vomiting. When a patient refuses treatment or is taken off of it they will endure endless amounts of pain and suffering before they actually die. If the patient is given lethal medication, the death would be much swifter and peaceful. Euthanasia in Greek means “painless, happy death” as stated in http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/commentary-case-against-physician-assisted-suicide-right-end-life-care. Patients feel as if their bodies are turning against them. They realize they cannot eat, drink, or even go to the bathroom by themselves. Patient’s whose lungs are failing have to be hooked up to a breathing tube acquiring massive doses of morphine for weeks to ease the pain until they pass. This is no different than PSA only the patient wouldn’t have to suffer as long. On the other hand physical pain is not the only form of suffering. One must take in to consideration the patient’s mental health. When the patient knows they are going to die and they understand more pain and suffering are to come the more humane way would be to let the patient choose to die peacefully. Also a patient that is psychologically suffering could decide to end their lives themselves in a non-peaceful manner. Doctors can allow the patient to end the
In Sullivan versus Rachel’s on euthanasia I will show that James Rachel’s argument is logically stronger than Sullivan’s argument. I will present examples given by both authors regarding their arguments and also on their conclusions about it. I will explain both of the author’s logical strengths and weaknesses in their arguments. I will give the examples given by both authors on how they prove their arguments to be true and later I will decide whose argument is stronger based on their strengths and weaknesses. I will give one of Rachel’s main strong arguments and one of Sullivan’s very weak arguments. I will also show if both of the author’s premises follow from the conclusion. And at the end I will give my opinion on my personal reasons on whose I think makes more sense in presenting their arguments.
Euthanasia has been an ongoing debate for many years. Everyone has an opinion on why euthanasia should or should not be allowed but, it is as simple as having the choice to die with dignity. If a patient wishes to end his or her life before a disease takes away their quality of life, then the patient should have the option of euthanasia. Although, American society considers euthanasia to be morally wrong euthanasia should be considered respecting a loved one’s wishes. To understand euthanasia, it is important to know the rights humans have at the end of life, that there are acts of passive euthanasia already in practice, and the beneficial aspects.
Life is viewed as a beautiful and fascinating experience, but once this wonderful appearance of life is taken away from you, the will to live diminishes. Although we would all love to live a long and healthy life, many people are unable to do so when diagnosed with a terminal illness. As the illness begins to take over your body and brings only pain and suffering, death, what most of us fear, sometimes looks a lot more peaceful than life. When someone is terminally ill, I believe that everyone should have the right to die when they no longer can live. In some states, these people are able to make the choice of ending his or her suffering by choosing euthanasia. The English medical word euthanasia comes from the Greek word eu meaning “good”,
Naturally you'd hope and expect the hospital to have enough resources to facilitate the return to health, or to prolong their lives,
More than likely, a good majority of people have heard about euthanasia at least once in their existence. For those out there who have been living under a rock their entire lives, euthanasia “is generally understood to mean the bringing about of a good death – ‘mercy killing’, where one person, ‘A’, ends the life of another person, ‘B’, for the sake of ‘B’.” (Kuhse 294). There are people who believe this is a completely logical scenario that should be allowed, and there are others that oppose this view. For the purpose of this essay, I will be defending those who are for euthanasia. My thesis, just by looking at this issue from a logical standpoint, is that if someone is suffering, I believe they should be allowed the right to end their lives, either by their own consent or by someone with the proper authority to make the decision. No living being should leave this world in suffering. To go about obtaining my thesis, I will first present my opponents view on the issue. I will then provide a Utilitarian argument for euthanasia, and a Kantian argument for euthanasia. Both arguments will have an objection from my opponent, which will be followed by a counter-objection from my standpoint.