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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sick and in pain is considered one of the hardest things to do. Living with a disease you know will eventually kill you will make you want to give up and make it your own decision. When looking up the definition, moat people just see it as suicide. Euthanasia can be seen as a sin or the devil’s work to some and a crime to others. It is illegal to kill someone and/or to attempt to commit suicide. For a person to commit suicide and their doctor and nurses help them may be considered illegal. The aftermath of when a person dies is a factor over looked when deciding whether or not to use euthanasia. Any sickness that would make one consider Euthanasia would make them forget about the way their family might feel. The debts and heartbreaks are often unconsidered. The pain that the patient is going through seems to be more important. Euthanasia can be considered murder if one considers the laws, morals and long term implications. All states in the United States have laws stating what is permitted of doctors. “In 10 states, desired treatment, food, or fluids necessary to prevent the patient’s death must be given until the transfer can be completed.” (NRL News Volume 33). According to NRL News, an unwilling provider may insist that the patient be transferred in order to receive the care the patient needs. Euthanasia isn’t just illegal in the United States. It is also uncommon in other countries as well. “Killing to relieve a person of intolerable suffering and assisting a person to take their life for the same reason is unlawful in the United Kingdom.”(Griffith 273) Countries such as Belgium and Netherlands have made Euthanasia illegal. Euthanasia isn’t seen as a practice at all in some places. In the United States, there are only two states that allow euthanasia or physician-assisted dying. “Death With Dignity Acts allow people who are terminally and/or hopelessly ill to ask their doctors for lethal medication. Patients must make two verbal requests and one written request that is fully witnessed. Two doctors must agree on the patient’s ‘diagnosis, prognosis and the patient's capability’. The patient must administer the lethal medication themselves” (Death With Dignity). If one decides that suicide is the way they want to die, some states have made it where a person must be sure that is what they want to do, doctors must agree on this decision as well as the patients. Deciding on physician-assisted suicide can be a difficult one but is a definite one. The patient, doctors and everyone around that person should be sure of what is going to be done. “Oregon was the first state to pass a Death With Dignity (DWD) Act which it did in 1994 after a Citizen Initiated Referendum” (Death With Dignity). Although there was an act in 1994, this act wasn’t implemented until 1997. According to Dying with Dignity, the law is reported as having had no effect on the overall death rate in that state. In 2003, forty-two people used the law to receive physician-assisted suicide. After Oregon, Washington soon followed and soon will Montana. “(1) "Adult" means an individual who is eighteen years of age or older. (2) "Attending physician" means the physician who has primary responsibility for the care of the patient and treatment of the patient's terminal disease. (3) "Competent" means that, in the opinion of a court or in the opinion of the patient's attending physician or consulting physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist, a patient has the ability to make and communicate an informed decision to health care providers, including communication through persons familiar with the patient's manner of communicating if those persons are available. (4) "Consulting physician" means a physician who is qualified by specialty or experience to make a professional diagnosis and prognosis regarding the patient's disease. (5) "Counseling" means one or more consultations as necessary between a state licensed psychiatrist or psychologist and a patient for the purpose of determining that the patient is competent and not suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder or depression causing impaired judgment. Washington has many definitions of each part of Physician-assisted suicide”( THE WASHINGTON DEATH WITH DIGNITY ACT). The Acts on Euthanasia in the United States seem to cover all the bases in allowing a person to commit suicide. A person can’t just decide they don’t want to live anymore and ask ktheir doctors for help. In the states that Euthanasia is legal, it seems that choosing whether or not a person lives cannot happen hastily. “On 31 December 2009, the New York Times reported that the Montana Supreme Court has said that nothing in state law prevents patients from seeking physician-assisted suicide. This will make Montana the third state that will allow the procedure as soon as the legislature acts”(DWD). In all the 50 states, only 3 of these states allow Euthanasia. Mainly because America is based off of religious values, most religions believe suicide as a sin and the doctor who allows it is a murderer. This can be a difficult thing to deal with as a religious person. “Thou shall not commit murder.” Exodus chapter 20 verse 13, states murder is defined as the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. Euthanasia to religious people is considered murder. Doctors and Nurses get together and determine if physician-assisted suicide is what is needed for a patient. The religious views of a patient is also a factor in euthanasia decision making. Religions take committing suicide or killing someone as a serious sin. Taking a life is considered something that cannot be up to a human being, God is the only person who can decide when a person stays on earth. “Life is understood as a gift—for people of (Christian) faith even recognized in an analogous way and in thankfulness as God’s gift”( Jans 484). Life is celebrated every day, it is hard to believe that someone would want to end something so wonderful. Religions see life as a gift. No one should have that gift taken away from them. A person should hold on to the life they are given whether they want it or not. Many religious people feel as if God can fix anything you ask him to. According to Christian, Miriam Allen, there is nothing you can’t ask God for and he won’t give it to you. A person who is very sick and feels as if they don’t want to live anymore, Christians should ask their God for peace. “Each life should be seen as a gift of God and that, as a result, human life cannot be treated lightly” (Jans 478). More than just the patient suffers from the decision of Euthanasia.
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
heartbreaking for more than just the patient. Family and friends are bothered by death. Although it may seem like an easy way out of a saddening situation, patients requesting physician-assisted suicide don’t realize the hurt and pain they are inflicting on the people they leave behind. “Is it right and moral to kill out of compassion?” (Manu, 58) Not all people think that Euthanasia is wrong. Euthanasia isn’t always a way to gain space in the hospital. Some patients feel as if they don’t want to take the pain anymore. Older patients who have been in pain for a long time want to give up. Euthanasia to some patients is a way out. A way to let go of all the pain and hurt that comes with being sick. A lot of doctors feel for the families who will lose a loved one but the patient is their number one concern. There are so many diseases without cures and leave people suffering. Patients see no other way but to die. Choosing to die because one is very sick and sees no way out of suffering is not a good enough reason for religions. Times aren’t always easy, but when one believes in a higher power, they believe they can depend on someone to make it better. Life is not determined by what one wants, when you die is determined by God. “Until the end willed by God” (Jans478). Some people don’t have religious views about suicide but they do feel a certain way. Michel de Montaigne states that suicide must be considered a matter of personal option and suicide is a rational option in some circumstances. “For example, a young AIDS patient would like to live, but cannot bear the idea of physical and mental disability given by this illness quite a long time before dying, Therefore, he may decide to hasten the moment of death, avoiding this time lapse.”(Jans52) According to Jans, Saint Thomas D’Aquino (aprox. 1225-1274 A.D.) condemned the suicide using three principles:• Life is but a gift from God and only God can take it back • Suicide is against the natural will to live • Suicide afflicts other persons too. Although meant for many reasons, many people have many intakes on Euthanasia. “Suicide afflicts other persons too.” (Jans,53) The definition of Euthanasia is physician-assisted suicide. Suicide is not just about the person and how they feel. A person who is considering suicide should also consider the people in their life. Their family, their doctors and others, how would they feel?
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
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 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.”
Johnson, S. M., Cramer, R. J., Conroy, M. A., & Gardner, B. O. (2013). The Role of and
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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?