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Physician-assisted suicide IS RIGHT OR WRONG
Case of physician assisted suicide
Case of physician assisted suicide
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Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is a very tough topic to assess in the medical field. This form of so-called treatment is performed all around the world. The physician can prescribe a medication to a patient of a dosage that would end up taking their life. It is completely up to the patient to do the rest. It is not legal in the state of Alabama and not really anywhere other than a handful of places. There are a lot of different views on this topic, why or why not it should be legalized. Some people believe that this act should be a felony. I, on the other hand, believe that if a patient wants an out of all their pain and suffering then they should be allowed to have the right to do so.
Some of the patients that will consider this method are terminal. That includes cancer and dementia along with other illnesses. These patients are very ill and have weighed out all other options. Some may think that that this method is selfish for the family members but what would that family really be going through if that said patient did not do the physician-assisted suicide? Families would be watching their loved one waste away in a hospital bed with a huge hospital bill to pay
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at the end of it all. Or with dementia they do not even know who their loved ones are. Yes, there are treatments for cancer like chemotherapy.
In the end, cancer is not curable. Chemo is very hard on a person’s body I know from experience. If the patient is on chemo for a long period of time organs can eventually shut down. So, therefore, if cancer does not end up killing the individual then the chemo will. Some cancer patients do not even have the choice of receiving chemotherapy. When this choice is not an option anymore it is because cancer has developed and has spread all over the body. When this has happened the patient is usually given a timeline of how long they have to live. This is why (PAS) would be a reasonable option for them. They know they are going to die and instead of those last excruciating months of being sick they would go in peace before it got unbearable for
them. For dementia patients, there is no certain kind of treatment. Their minds just are not the same anymore. They lose of track of who they are or who anyone is. They get easily confused and could be in danger if they got lost in a store one day because of the fact they do not know where they are how they got there or who they are. Just regular daily life would no longer be fit for them anymore. Most individuals end up getting sent to an assisted living home because family members cannot take care of them anymore. That in return would end up costing the family a fortune, which why a patient might make the decision for (PAS) before their mind got so bad that they did not have control of their life and body anymore.
Imagine a family member being extremely ill and suffering from day to day. When they decide they cannot take the pain any more, would you want them to pull through for you or would you fulfill their dying wish and let the doctor pull the plug? Could you even make a decision? Many people would not allow such an event to happen because with all the pain and confusion the patient is enduring may cause confusion and suicidal tendencies. However, there are people who believe otherwise. This is called physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is a controversial topic that causes much debate. Though it is only legal in the three states Oregon, Washington and Montana, there are many people who are for it and think it can be necessary. Even with morals put aside, Physician-assisted suicide should be illegal because it will be a huge violation of the oath every doctor must abide by, there would be no real way to distinguish between people who are suffering and the people who are faking or depressed, and it causes a lot of confusion to people with new diseases or new strands of disease that does not have a clear cure.
Derek Humphry, in Lawful Exit, defines PAS as a physician "providing the means by which a person can take his or her own life." The means, to which he refers, is a toxic substance and the directions for administration, which will produce death. Humphry argues for legal reform in order to make such acts lawful, calling them: "...the ultimate civil liberty, the freedom to select one's own manner of dying without interference from others, but with help if we choose." My academic research on Minerva 2000 produced 0 hits on the topic: US Practice of Physician-Assisted Suicide.
As any individual can imagine, there is a lot of suffering and pain in most, if not all hospital settings. At times, no amount of medication or experimental treatment can change an individual’s mind on the quality of their life, such that the only way to end their suffering is to die, hence physician assisted suicide. Defined as a patient taking their own life with the help of a physician, this assisted suicide practice is highly controversial and illegal in most but California, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Vermont. Putting the law aside, the morality of the practice itself is still questioned.
gotten to the point where they feel as if there is no point in living.
Physician-assisted suicide is defined as a physician providing either equipment or medication, or to inform the patient of the most available means, for the purpose of assisting the patient to end his or her own life. The people’s opinion support PAS according to a poll given in 1998. The majority 33% of people agreed that Physician assisted suicide should be made legal in a variety of circumstances, and 32% agreed with making it legal in select cases. (Gallup)
In conclusion, all should firmly believe that physician assisted suicide should not be legalized in any state. Although it is legalized in Oregon it is not wise for any other state to follow that example. By now, all should strongly believe the growing public support for PAS still remains a very dangerous trend. The role of our physician is that of a healer, not a killer. It must be understood that in some cases the only way to relieve someone from their pain is to let them go. On the contrary, each human life has an
The patient might just be waiting for the disease they have caught to kill them, but it does not always go so quickly . ¨Ending a patient's life by injection, with the added solace that it will be quick and painless, is much easier than this constant physical and emotional care¨ (Ezekiel Emanuel, 1997, p. 75). If a patient is terminally ill and will not get better, it allows them to end the suffering. If the physician has to keep a constant eye on the patient and they need constant care and the patient is not getting better, the option is there if they want to end all of it they can. Sometimes dealing with all of the physical care like medications and not being able to live completely normal with a disease is hard. It can get extremely hard and stressful that all the patients can think about doing is ending it, this alternative gives the patient a painless option. According to Somerville (2009), ¨… respect for people's rights to autonomy and self determination means everyone has a right to die at a time of their choosing¨ ( p.4). The patient deserves to choose whether they want to keep fighting or if they cannot go any farther. The patient should not have to push through a fight they have been fighting and know they cannot win. According to Kevorkian ¨the patient decides when it's best to go.¨ Nobody tells the patient when they have to end their lives, they understand their body and know
Physician-assisted suicide refers to the physician acting indirectly in the death of the patient -- providing the means for death. The ethics of PAS is a continually debated topic. The range of arguments in support and opposition of PAS is vast. Justice, compassion, the moral irrelevance of the difference between killing and letting die, and individual liberty are many arguments for PAS. The distinction between killing and letting die, sanctity of life, "do no harm" principle of medicine, and the potential for abuse are some of the arguments in favor of making PAS illegal.
Oftentimes when one hears the term Physician Assisted Suicide (hereafter PAS) the words cruel and unethical come to mind. On October 27, 1997 Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act, this act would allow terminally ill Oregon residents to end their lives through a voluntary self-administered dose of lethal medications that are prescribed by a physician (Death with Dignity Act) . This has become a vital, medical and social movement. Having a choice should mean that a terminally ill patient is entitled to the choice to pursue PAS. If people have the right to refuse lifesaving treatments, such as chemo and palliative care, then the choice of ending life with PAS should be a choice that is allowed.
Physicians Assisted suicide is a topic many people are not fully informed about. Physician assisted suicide, or PAS for short is when a physician can legally prescribe medicine for a patient to take in order to medically kill themselves. I believe that PAS should be talked more about in order for more people to understand how bad or grave it can be to a family and to our world.
This article relates a lot to the religious spectrum of what it means to participate in physician assisted suicide. This type of argumentative essay seems to be an argument of evaluation because it is evaluating criteria and measuring it against certain standards. In this case, it is the standards of the Catholic Church as well as the standards that doctors practice and the morals they carry. It also is an argument of definition. There is scientific data but the facts can be provoked with certain evidence or proof.
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.
Physician-assisted suicide should be legal because it is the individual’s decision to choose on his or her life. While family members and friends will be affected emotionally by his or her decision, it is ultimately the individual that chooses to end his or her life. While they may persuade the individual not to, that right to live should be based on the individual. In addition, people can choose to not have the right to choose to die, this is just an option to shorten the individual’s time of suffering. Should an individual want to end his or her life, and the peers do not, then that could be considered refusing that individual’s wishes. Physician-assisted suicide is a choice and should be given as an option to individuals especially like Craig who is suffering with an incurable disease and an inevitable death.
Issue: Should Physician assisted suicide (PAS) or euthanasia be legalized for patients who suffer from terminal illnesses?
I believe that physician assisted suicide is a wrong moral decision based of biblical Truth. In the Bible, the concept of the sovereignty of God and the value and dignity of human life is often clearly expressed. Simply put, we do not have the final say in our own lives, and only God has the authority to end a life.