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Case study of physician assisted suicide
Case study of physician assisted suicide
Case study of physician assisted suicide
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More than 5 years ago, I found myself in the exact same position that Susan Wolf had found herself in with her father. In my case, it was the end of life care for an elderly aunt who had no other family and as such, became a part of mine. She was my ward in a way, fully reliant and dependent on me in so many ways due to her advanced age. I thought that she was a very healthy person and could possibly go on living forever since she was under constant medical care. But all the medical care that the doctors could provide for her could not remove the nagging pains that seemed to be ravaging her fast aging body.
It was because of that physical manifestation of pain that led my mother and I to bring her to a Chinese holistic healer who treated her with some sort of secret Chinese medical injection. His clinic was clean and his instruments seemed well disinfected. I had no idea that by bringing her to this doctor, we would be opening the gateway to death for her. He administered his injections into her twice that month. On the second injection, she developed an uncontrollable fever and could no longer get out of bed without assistance. She was hospitalized that weekend. The doctor's diagnosis was clear. She had Sepsis and it had spread throughout her blood, there was no way she could be saved. She was going to die a slow and painful death as the infection ravaged her body and her biological systems shut down.
She was told of the diagnosis. We did not hide the fact that she was given a diagnosis that she would be going home a vegetable, if she ever made it out. She made her decision that day, she wanted to go home. And so she did. She was no longer able to move anything other than her head by that point. She was bedridden and needed...
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...eave her father's bedside when she knew that he was going to fade into the night permanently on that night. It was the final act of a loving daughter for her dying father, be there to seem him off into the light. She owed him at least that.
In the end Euthanasia is not something that should be frowned upon or looked at as a crime. Instead, it should be looked upon as a final act of respect for the human being who lived his life well and now knows that it is time to set his life to an end.
Works Cited
Wolf, Susan. (2008). Confronting physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: My father's death. Hastings Center Report. 38(5), 23-26. Retrieved from EBSCO Host Database located at the Ashford Online Library
Xayne, Angelus Mykeal. (2011). Assisted Suicide. EzineMark.com. Retrieved from http://lifestyle.ezinemark.com/assisted-suicide-7d2e4b263783.html
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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
The problem of euthanasia, like abortion and other controversial dilemmas of our times, divides society almost the whole of the Western world on its supporters and opponents.
Humans, like all animals, attempt to evade death. Though death is usually seen as an unwanted end, some see it as an alternative to suffering. Most people cringe at the thought of suicide, but is euthanasia the same thing? Do human beings have the right to choose death?
The controversy over euthanasia has recently become highly publicized. However, this issue is not a new debate. Society has voiced its opinions on the subject for hundreds of years. Euthanasia, which is Greek for "good death", refers to the act of ending another person’s life in order to end their suffering and pain.1 Two forms, passive and active euthanasia, categorize the actions taken to end the person’s life. Passive euthanasia involves removing a patient’s life support, withholding food and water, and discontinuing medical treatments. Active euthanasia includes any direct action taken to cause the death of the person, such as administrating a lethal drug.2 The debate over this issue stems from moral, ethical, and religious beliefs. All of these standpoints either side with the patient dying a natural death or from an accelerated death by euthanasia.
Euthanasia in a controversial topic that does not get enough attention. It is literally a life or death situation. The legalization of Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted-Suicide is plea of all terminally ill patients for freedom. It gives those patients the right to die with dignity and to end all the pain and suffering that comes with dying from a disease. Why should people’s loved ones be forced to go through all the pain if it can all be ended with one treatment? Many people ask: what is euthanasia? Why would a person want to end their life? How would that person’s family feel about the procedure? These are all common questions that have answers; people just do not do research to find their answers. Euthanasia is not a bad thing; it’s the process of helping a person become free of pain and suffering.
Although there are different forms, the practice of euthanasia is the process of ending an individual’s life. The different forms of euthanasia are Active and Passive euthanasia. There are also different ways that a physician may perform this type of procedure. This course of action may be taken in situations for speeding up the death, typically for medical patients who are severely ill. Some people, depending on their personal views may define it as putting someone out of their misery, where others would refer to euthanasia as being an assisted suicide. All forms of euthanasia are continuously spawning a wide variety of deviating ethical affairs. Issues pertaining to euthanasia include the legitimacy debate of assisted suicide, especially in the state of California.
Assisted suicide brings up one of the biggest moral debates currently circulating in America. Physician assisted suicide allows a patient to be informed, including counseling about and prescribing lethal doses of drugs, and allowed to decide, with the help of a doctor, to commit suicide. There are so many questions about assisted suicide and no clear answers. Should assisted suicide be allowed only for the terminally ill, or for everyone? What does it actually mean to assist in a suicide? What will the consequences of legalizing assisted suicide be? What protection will there be to protect innocent people? Is it (morally) right or wrong? Those who are considered “pro-death”, believe that being able to choose how one dies is one’s own right.
meaning “ a gentle and easy death” which evolved to mean “the actions of inducing
Euthanasia, the intentional and direct killing of a patient by a physician or another party, most commonly done by useful lethal injections. Originally done to compassionately end pain or suffering. Imagine society where people live in constant fear for their lives. They would never live life to the fullest, or know what was coming in their future. Imagine life where hospitals do not treat people to save their lives, but kill people for their illnesses because someone determines whether their lives are worth living or not. Society argues that it is the right choice, but when put in the situation directly, it is much harder. Once a life is gone, it is gone. It is not a little decision to make. Literally a life changing choice. Society should accept people for their disabilities, and not dispose of them because they are too much of an inconvenience; therefore, euthanasia is wrong because a “slippery slope” or a rapid upcoming to even murder may happen, if legalized, each and every life is valuable, and euthanasia is an unnatural death.