Physician Assisted Suicide Informative Speech

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Recommended: Should the US legalize physician assisted suicide

Imagine if you have a best friend and they are terminally ill and their physician told them they have 1 more month to live. Your best friend is constantly suffering from incredible pain and they wish to end their life because they don't want to suffer anymore and they ask you to help them die, would you do it? Would you help relieve your best friend's pain by helping to kill them? As crazy as that might sounds, this happens in real life. This is called Physician-Assisted Suicide, also known as PAS, it the suicide of someone ending their life with a help of a physician. Many people, like myself, believe that the person ultimately has the right to decide whether they want to live or die. Others believe that PAS is going against the …show more content…

in 2014. She was diagnosed with stage 4 malignant brain tumor and was told she had 6 months to live. Near the end of her life, the symptoms were getting worse. She was suffering from head and neck pain, frequent seizures, and also stroke-like symptoms; she decided that she didn't want to suffer anymore and that's when she chose to end her life. Patients who are terminally ill and are soon to die, should not have to suffer from pain and if they decide they want to stop the hurting by ending their lives, they should have the right to do so. Patients can die with dignity rather than have the illness reduce them to a shell of their former selves and that's Brittany wanted to do, she died with …show more content…

Tony O'Brien of Marymount University Hospice and Cork University is against physician-assisted suicide. Reilly, C (2013) stated that Dr. O'Brien quoted, "A change in the law would alter the "whole culture of care and the basis on which doctors have provided care to patients over the generations". Dr. O'Brien made it clear that no person or physician was entitled to take any measure aimed at ending a person's life. Y. Tony Yang, ScD, LLM, MPH, from the Department of Health Administration and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, is also against physician-assisted suicide; he said it should never be an option. Dr. Yang stated that patients already have the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment and that they can end their lives in ways that do not have to involve with physicians. He also mentioned that it would be an issue of trust because since the time of Hippocrates, physicians are sworn to heal and not harm their patients. They have a good point on their views on physician-assisted suicide however, when there is nothing a doctor can no longer do for a terminally ill patient who is due to die, they should follow and respect the patients' wishes. The basic principles of their profession is doing everything they can for their patients, and doing what’s best for them. Sometimes assisted suicide is what a patient wants, and is the most humane thing to do, and the doctor should respect

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