Assisted Suicide Persuasive Speech

Secondly, the patient should be capable of making and communicating health care decisions for him or herself. Thirdly, the patient must be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months.  Interested patients must also provide the request for termination in writing to the physician. In addition, physicians are expected to inform patients to alternative means of care including hospice care and other medications. Only after precautions evaluation, the laws then permit patients to make the ultimate life ending decision.

Math and Chaturvedi (2012) observe that a common claim on euthanasia is the idea that most patients with chronic illnesses do not want to be a burden to their loved ones. In such instances, the patients come to consider it as the best alternative. It is regarded as an honor to the “right of living” through accepting the “right to die” (Math & Chartuvedi, 2012).

The process of deciding when a terminally ill patient should die lies within the patient, family members, and the

5. What is (are) the potential disease or disorder? Include (a) a justification for your decision, (b) the causal agent, and (c) the mode of transmission.

There has been an increase in the interest of euthanasia and assisted suicide for the terminally ill in recent years (Williams 1997). The most obvious reason for someone wanting to end their life is to end the suffering they are going through once the illness goes beyond being bearable.

Imagine a frail elderly woman laying in the nursing home in pain. This woman is 80 years old and has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and her heart cannot withstand treatment via radiation or chemotherapy. She has less than six months to live. Day in and day out you pass her room and hear her crying out from the immense pain. The pain medications are no longer working. She’s tired of fighting, tired of hurting, and tired of waiting to die. After consideration and discussions with her family she has decided to ask the doctor to help and end her life. The doctor feels remorse for the elderly lady and wants to help but cannot decide if it is the ethical thing to do because he knows that what he’s

Suffering at the end of life stems from multiple sources, including unyielding pain, depression, loss of personal identity, loss of control and dignity, fear of death, and/or fear of being a burden on others (AAHPM, 2007). The overwhelming symptoms lead many terminally ill patients to ask their doctors to help them die (Gorman, 2015). According to Dr. R. Sean Morrison, professor of geriatrics and palliative care medicine at Mt. Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York, “their choice shouldn’t be an assisted death or living with intractable suffering” (as cited in Gorman, 2015). The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) (2007) strongly recommends that medical practitioners

Let us first take into consideration and calculate the patient’s pleasure versus pain. With a prognosis of six months, the patient must be in a current state of pain and insecurity emotionally and/or physically. On one hand, there could be a possibility that the patient could experience pain in saying goodbye to loved ones. On the other hand, the pleasure the patient will feel from the security of knowing all pain ceases after death can be noted as a higher pleasure. In addition, the patient will experience happiness knowing their autonomy is the sole administrator of death, thus being able to experience the security of patient autonomy. Consequently, the patient would experience an overall pleasure from the role patient assisted

A person who is dying of a terminal illness is faced with only one certainty; they will die from this disease. A doctor can say roughly the amount of time that a patient has, but they exact date and level of pain is hard to determine. Many may look to a physician for the answer on if they should/shouldn’t choose PAS, however, the only role a physician plays is giving the medical diagnosis and working with the patient to get what the patient feels is the best option. Therefore, the decision the patient makes doesn’t make the physician a moral guide, but rather a person doing their job. The last big decision people who are terminally ill have is when/how to die and it has to be their own and it has to be respected.

It is more important to help a person suffering from mental illness to recover, before they are legally allowed to make such a terminal decision, and after a “thorough and comprehensive attempt to improve their life we have still not made living acceptable to them, we need to allow assistance to die” (Purdy, 2015). The exclusion of mental health as a condition, ties into the safeguard of type of condition. The 2007 British Attitude Survey shows that 84% of respondents agreed that a doctor should “definitely” or “probably” be legally allowed to end a patient’s life at their request” if they are suffering from unbearable pain and terminal illness (p39). However, if assisted dying were to be legalised extending this right to those suffering from painful chronic illnesses or severe disabilities should also be considered, if these individuals make the request, sufferer from terrible quality of life and show no sign of recovery. For example, it seems immoral to allow a cancer patient to request assisted dying, but not allow a paralysed individual, like Tony Nicklinson, to request the same consideration.

One of the reasons opponents may propose against physician assisted death and Euthanasia has to do with the consent of the patient. There is a worry that because the patient is in an insurmountable amount of pain their judgment will be altered. Conversely, if the patient is not in insurmountable pain, then they are too inebriated from pain medication to make an intelligible decision. In either of the proposed situation the patient is unable to give consent knowledgeably (Class notes, 10/28). This argument, however, disregards the possibility of finding the balance of medication and pain for a patient to create a rational decision. Through discovering a balance of tolerable pain, the patient is then able to create

Physicians should respect the patients decision to abandon life continuing treatment, deliberately causing death is morally impermissible.

There are some ethical dilemmas evident in this scenario, starting with an End of life dilemma, refusal of care and informed consent.“End of

Humans have the obligation to provide and care for their loved ones, whether it is their child or parent. For this reason, having the ability to take away one’s own life because of health related issues should be carefully thought out by the family and affected person. As individuals grow older, the body naturally degenerates and its effects can be very painful for the person and their family members. There are many views regarding how a family and the affected person should go about the ultimate decision of taking one’s own life. John Hardwig believes that as we grow older there is a “duty to die” before one 's illnesses would cause death, in the absence of any terminal illness and sometimes when one would prefer to live. In his essay, “Is There a Duty to Die?” he explains why he thinks that there is a need to take away one’s life to benefit others. Felicia Ackerman disagrees completely in her essay, “For Now Have I My Death: The “Duty to Die” versus the Duty to Help the Ill Stay Alive.” She believes instead that there is a, “duty to aid” and the amount of aid ultimately depends on the family circumstance. Ackerman’s view is illustrated by Jerome Groopman, MD in The Anatomy of Hope where he talks about a man named George Griffin and his success in the fight of a very serious and rare stomach cancer through family support and hope. The decision to take away one’s own life may be very challenging and complex, but there is an absolute obligation for the family to be involved

Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal focuses on patients and their end of life care. On a visit to Lou Sanders, Gawande asked, “What makes life worth living to you?” and Lou hesitated before answering, “I have moments when I would say I think it’s time, maybe one of the days when I was at a low point…” As people near death, they have this innate fear of dying where they may want to have every intervention possible. However, patients nearing the end of their life due to medical issues often have clouded judgment and may not be in a position to determine what step they want to take next or may even be a minor, legally unable to make decisions. In any case, family members or a guardian of the patient should be responsible for making end of life decisions for the patient.