Barron Shaw
Who Decides?
In the Journal Of Medicine & Life 3.1, Manu takes the definition of suicide from both the Oxford and Random house Webster dictionaries. (Manu,52) Both dictionaries state that suicide is killing oneself on purpose. Euthanasia, on the other hand, is physician-assisted suicide. A team of doctors and nurses come together and make the decision whether or not a patient is sick enough to make the decision if they should live. (Manu,52) Many sick people feel like their sickness has no hope, a lot of diseases have no cure and living with a disease that will eventually kill you will always make a person want to give up. The idea of being able to be put out of one’s misery is the whole point of someone becoming a doctor. Being
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In order for a patient to be granted the opportunity to participate in Euthanasia, a team of doctors and nurses must come together and decide whether the patient is eligible to receive the medication to perform such acts. A lot of doctors feel like it is a serious sin to want to assist in killing patient. Doctors and nurses battle with their oath to do what’s best for the patient and what the patient wants and their own personal beliefs. Although doctors and nurses have their oaths to the patients, they have their own beliefs and needs a religious person. Not all medical examiners have religious views but some have morals that don’t agree with suicide. Death is always something no one wants to deal with. Doctors will do everything possible before they have to give up. Including their oath, physicians also have a commitment to the religion they have chosen. The “rules” of religions can be very tricky and confusing. Religious and Personal views is always a hard battle to fight. No one wants to go against their religion and feel as if they may not make it to a higher place because they had an oath to do what was best for the patient. Suicide is always a subject that no one wants to really discuss. Giving up on life and not wanting to fight harder for the one thing you are given freely is one of the biggest insult to the human race. Religions feel as if a person should live as long as God wills them to. No one should end their life before it is their time. Although Doctors have their oaths, they also have their values. It is often forgotten that the doctor who is giving this medicine to the patient is dealing with their own personal issues with suicide. It is a doctor’s job to make sure the patient lives through whatever circumstance they may not think they will make it through. Having to give up on a patient because there is no cure or someone may not be able to go through the process is
The history of physician-assisted suicide began to emerge since the ancient time. Historians and ancient philosophers especially had been debating over this issue. Thus, this issue is no longer new to us. However, it seems little vague because it has not yet been fully told. The historical story consists of patterns of thought, advocacy, and interpretation on whether to legalize assisted death. "Only until June, 1999, the United States Supreme Court issued decisions in two cases that claimed constitutional protection for physician-assisted suicide, Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacoo v. Quill, by a single 9-0 vote covering the case (Bartin, Rhodes, Silver, 1). They also say that this decision mark the beginning of long period debate, which will not be fully resolved (1). Hence, the debate began by professionals from different aspects, especially the physicians themselves.
Diane: A Case of Physician Assisted Suicide. Diane was a patient of Dr. Timothy Quill, who was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Diane overcame alcoholism and had vaginal cancer in her youth. She had been under his care for a period of 8 years, during which an intimate doctor-patient bond had been established.
gotten to the point where they feel as if there is no point in living.
Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is a very important issue. It is also important tounderstand the terms and distinction between the varying degrees to which a person can be involved in hastening the death of a terminally ill individual. Euthanasia, a word that is often associated with physician assisted suicide, means the act or practice of killing for reasons of mercy. Assisted suicide takes place when a dying person who wishes to precipitate death, requests help in carrying out the act. In euthanasia, the dying patients may or may not be aware of what is happening to them and may or may not have requested to die. In an assisted suicide, the terminally ill person wants to die and has specifically asked for help. Physician-assisted suicide occurs when the individual assisting in the suicide is a doctor rather than a friend or family member. Because doctors are the people most familiar with their patients’ medical condition and have knowledge of and access to the necessary means to cause certain death, terminally ill patients who have made
"With the stroke of a pen, California Gov. Jerry Brown made it legal for physicians in the state to prescribe lethal doses of medications if their terminally ill patients wish to end their lives. Brown signed the "End of Life Act" into law on Monday, and in doing so California joins four other states — Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana — where patients' right to choose doctor-assisted death is protected either by law or court order."
According to Ira Byock author of “Doctor-Assisted Suicide Is Unethical and Dangerous” she suggests that, “When doctor-induced death becomes an accepted response to the suffering of the dying people, logical extensions grease the slippery slope.” (Byock, 2014). If the practice of assisted suicide became more pronounced, Ira believes that instead of these doctors doing everything to the best of their ability to help their patient they might choose to give them the option of death with dignity. The patient may be terminally ill, but it is still never okay for the doctor to just give up simply because assisted suicide is “easier”. This law promotes the idea that the doctor and families can give up on recovery earlier than the patient’s time. This can give doctors too much power. There may also be pressure from insurance companies and the government on these doctors for them to take this road rather than sustaining the life of their patient. Also people who have religious beliefs can be completely against this because they believe that our lives are a gift
Physician assisted suicide is murder. Using euthanasia, increased dosage of morphine or injecting patient’s with a lethal combination of drugs to slow his/her breathing until he/she dies is also murder. Physician assisted suicide is morally wrong. The classical theory for physician assisted suicide is utilitarianism because according to Mosser 2010, “utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines the moral value of an act in terms of its results and if those results produce the greatest good for the greatest number.” Utilitarianism will solve the physician assisted suicide problem if all of the physicians will stand by the oath they say. According to the Hippocratic Oath doctor says, “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect.”
“If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality” (Socrates ). Death. The means to an end. Game over. Do we as humans have a choice in the matter of choosing life or death, or is that all left up to a higher power? Which is a highly debatable question that has no exact answer. Where should we draw the line in deciding who has that right, the patients, after all it is their life, the family or should it be up to the doctors, the ones who have to partake in ending one’s life? When searching for the solution a person must contemplate their beliefs and the many perspectives of people who could possibility sway his/her choice. In doing so, patients religion, values, and traditions come into play. The main reason behind the argument is , what is suicide? "suicide is death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with any intent to die as a result of the behavior"(CDC). Conversely the option of death should be granted to a patient who is suffering from severe injuries or a situation involving a predicted death, unless otherwise stated in their wishes beforehand.
Johnson, S. M., Cramer, R. J., Conroy, M. A., & Gardner, B. O. (2013). The Role of and
Should physicians be able to assist patients who are terminally ill end their lives? Physician assisted suicide is a very controversial subject. In today’s society, people who commit suicide are known as “insane,” a person who takes prescription pills is known as a “drug addict” or “criminal.” However, when a doctor honors a patient’s request for a lethal dose of medicine, (which the patient will inject themselves) to end their life in peace is considered to be a murderer. However, when a physician unplugs a terminally ill patient who is on life support at the patient’s request is just doing their job. However, a person whose quality of life is nonexistent and are faced with a terminal illness should have the right to decide to seek physicians assistance.
Doctors prefer to never have to euthanize a patient. It is a contradiction of everything they have been taught for a doctor to euthanize someone, because a doctor’s job is to do everything in their power to keep the patient alive, not assist them in suicide. The majority of doctors who specialize in palliative care, a field focused on quality of life for patients with severe and terminal illnesses, think legalizing assisted suicide is very unnecessary. This is due to the fact that if patients do not kill themselves, they will end up dying on a ventilator in the hospital under the best possible care available, with people around them trying to keep them as comfortable as possible. Legalized euthanasia everywhere has been compared to going down a slippery slope. Officials believe that it could be done over excessively and the fear of assisted suicide numbers rising greatly is a great fear. This is why euthanasia is such a controversial subject worldwide. But, even though it is a very controversial subject, euthanasia is humane. Every doctor also has a say in whether or not they choose to euthanize a patient or not, leaving only the doctors who are willing to do this type of practice, for euthanizing patients. Medicine and drugs prescribed by a doctor for pain or suffering can not always help a person to the extent they desire, even with the help of doctors
whilst, euthanasia is defined as; an intentional means of causing the death of a person, the motive being to benefit that person or protect him/her from further suffering.
Every culture has a taboo against murder, including our own. The practice of physician assisted suicide is wrong across all religious and cultural groups. According to Leon R. Kass, M.D., the taboo against doctors killing patients, even on request, "is the very embodiment of reason and wisdom. Without it, medicine will have lost its claim to be an ethical and trustworthy profession." Before a physician is allowed to practice medicine, he/she takes the Hippocratic Oath, which is described by Encyclopedia Britannica as " a pledge to prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt". This oath has been practiced for more than 2000 years. If a doctor breaks that promise and helps a patient to purposely die, then the oath has meant nothing.
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.
People believe physicians should be able to aid in this process because they have valuable knowledge on how the body works, “… knowledge that can be used to kill or to cure” (Callahan 74). This argument contradicts the moral meaning of medicine. Indeed, the word "medical" comes from the Latin word “mederi,” which means "to heal." Medicine is understood to heal, cure, or comfort people, not kill. As a matter of fact, in the International Medical Code of Ethics and the American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics fully states that the act of euthanasia violates their role and shall not be performed. Just because of the mere fact that physicians have the knowledge and medical equipment to kill does not indicate a physician should be permitted to perform euthanasia. Dan Brock states, “… permitting physicians to perform euthanasia, it is said, would be incompatible with their fundamental moral and professional commitment as healers to care for patients and to protect life” (77). Dan Brock also raises the question, if euthanasia became a common practice that was performed by physicians, would we eventually fear or lose trust in our physicians?