Physician-Assisted Suicide In The United States

Physician-assisted suicide is the act of a medical doctor providing a terminally ill patient with a prescription for medication the patient ingests with the intention of ending his or her own life. The debate regarding the ethics, or honorable standards, of physician-assisted suicide has been ongoing for centuries. In the United States, only five states have legalized physician-assisted suicide. Those states are Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont, and California, this law is also known as the "Dying with Dignity Act." To have dignity means to be noble or worthy; to "Die with Dignity" means being given the choice to die at will without others witnessing the patient suffer. In the state of Tennessee physician-assisted suicide is a Class D

Many terminally ill patients believe it is important to have the option to die with dignity as opposed to suffering during their final days. Personal autonomy is defined as the ability to make decisions for oneself and seek a course of action in his or her life; this plays an important role in the debate over an individuals right to die. Dying with Dignity should not be mistaken for hospice, or palliative care, which is defined as medical care for individuals suffering from a terminal illness, concentrating on providing relief from the symptoms of the illness. It is commonly used to insure the patient is comfortable and pain-free during their final days. Palliative care is mandatory to be offered to patients considering physician-assisted suicide. "Between 1994 and 2013, hospice use surged, with 1.5 million Americans receiving hospice care in 2013, compared with only 246,000 in 1994, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization." This statistic begs the question as to whether more patients are seeking physician-assisted suicide as oppose to palliative care considering the number of Americans utilizing the services has dropped significantly in the past twenty

A qualitative approach is beneficial to confirm the views of the community this law would effect; a series of questions pertaining to the Dying with Dignity Act will be administered as well as important information such as whether the subjects were raised in Tennessee or elsewhere and why an individual is for or against this particular law. Tennessee is a conservative state, therefore a correlation analysis is beneficial to determine which factors strengthen their stance, whether it be religion or their own experience with terminal illness. A meta-analysis will also be performed to determine the impact the law has had on individuals who live in the states where this law is already put into effect, examining annual statistics such as the average age of individuals who choose physician-assisted suicide and the terminal illness the patient was diagnosed with. The research methods used will not only give insight into the community itself, but will also compare strengths and weaknesses in the law as it is practiced in the United States today. According to FoodRisc Research Centre, "By mixing both quantitative and qualitative research and data, the researcher gains in breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration, while offsetting the weaknesses inherent to using each approach by itself." It is important to use different research avenues