Physician Assisted Suicide Case Study Essay

A woman was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (the same
disease that Stephen Hawking has) 5 years ago. This is a condition that destroys motor nerves, making control of movement impossible, while the mind is virtually unaffected. People with motor neurone disease normally die within 4 years of diagnosis from suffocation due to the inability of the inspiratory muscles to contract. The woman's condition has steadily declined. She is not expected to live through the month, and is worried about the pain that she will face in her final hours. She asks her doctor to give her diamorphine for pain if she begins to suffocate or choke. This will lessen her pain, but it will also hasten her death. About a week later, she falls very ill, and is having trouble breathing.
With motor neurone disease it attacks the nerves, in the brain and spinal cord. This means messages gradually stop reaching muscles, which leads to weakness and wasting. In the case study the

patient is the advanced stages of the disease with her health declining and does not want to die in pain. She does ask her doctor for diamorphine for her pain if she begins to suffocate. With euthanasia it means that the doctor would act directly, for instance by giving a lethal injection, to end the patient’s life. As for physician assisted death it would be when the doctor supplies information and/or the means of committing suicide.

Reading this case study, I thought it would be considered physician assisted death, but after reading more I learned the difference between the two which is very important to know in working in the health care field.

When a person is dealing with a terminally illness they need to research the right to die, this also affects not only the patients, but also the doctors and loved ones.
The issues in the euthanasia debate usually revolve around patients who are terminally ill and/or suffering intractable pain. The patient must fully think about every aspect of what euthanasia would involve. I think that once a patient is seeking to end his or her life due to illness; they must have a will in place and also note the reason why they want to end their life. Euthanasia does raises lots of worrying ethical dilemmas like in what condition euthanasia can be justify, is there any ethical difference among killing someone and letting them die, is there any right to end the life of an individual who is suffering from serious

pain.
I feel that a person should have the right to die on their own term. Many people want to die without feeling pain. Euthanasia is not legal in all states, so the patients must understand that they may have to move to a different state for this request to be fulfilled. There will always be arguments for and against euthanasia, but open dialogue is best.