PAS
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Dec 6, 2023
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Uploaded by cbro17
Running head: WHO GETS TO DECIDE?
1
Physician-Assisted Suicide: Who Gets to Decide Whether We Live or Die?
Catherine Breaux
PHI 103 Informal Logic
Daniel Wagner
July 13, 2018
WHO GETS TO DECIDE?
2
Whenever Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is mentioned, one word that generally comes
to mind is Euthanasia.
However, unlike euthanasia, where the physician administers a lethal
dose of medication, with PAS, the patient is given access to the medicine, and they choose when
to take it.
In America, PAS is authorized in eight of the fifty states, to include Washington D.C.,
and California (Quill, & Sussman, 2018).
While PAS is also used in various countries
throughout the world, America has begun to voice their concerns on the topic.
With state
legislatures beginning to consider legalizing PAS, the subject has become widely controversial.
PAS gives patients the opportunity to take their lives into their own hands and is not a decision to
be made lightly.
Not every patient is given this option, and it is one that is reserved for those
who have a terminal diagnosis.
Throughout this paper, the PAS discussion will be viewed on
both sides, the positive and the negative.
Argument Against Physician-Assisted Suicide
Premise 1:
Allowing patients to choose death can result in the abuse of the legal system,
and in some cases leading to murder.
Premise 2:
In the past couple of decades there has been a tremendous improvement in
end-of-life care.
This care gives patients peace of mind and allows them to live out their
days virtually pain-free.
Premise 3:
PAS is a violation of the Hippocratic oath, it is the role of the physician to
heal and comfort their patients, not kill them.
Conclusion:
There are a variety of end-of-life care options available to terminal patients.
The authorization of PAS is unnecessary and could jeopardize the physician-patient
relationship.
WHO GETS TO DECIDE?
3
Support for the Argument Against Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS)
A study done by The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance found that out of 114 patients who
requested information on PAS, 36 of those patients are those who "have loss of autonomy, the
inability to engage in enjoyable activities, and loss of dignity," (O'Rourke, O'Rourke, & Hudson,
2017).
There can be no guarantee that PAS when authorized, would not be abused by both
physicians and the family of the terminal patient.
With PAS authorized, the physician-patient
relationship could be greatly affected because "the physician may feel obliged to list PAS as an
option, and the patient may feel obliged to consider it," (O'Rourke et al., 2017).
PAS abuse is not
limited to the medical profession but can be a possibility with family members as well.
Those
who would gain financially from the death of their loved one could pressure the patient into
choosing PAS.
Hospice care, Voluntarily Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED) and Palliative
Sedation are all acceptable end-of-life care treatments that are available to terminal patients.
Hospice care is an option that is given to patients who have six months to live.
Through this
option, patients are offered counseling and pain management to make their last few months
comfortable (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 2017).
It is recommended that
VSED is done while in hospice care so that the patient can be monitored adequately.
Through
this option, the patient decides to stop eating and drinking to speed up the dying process and can
be managed in order to prevent pain.
Palliative Sedation, is an option in which the patient is
given medication that renders them unconscious and leaves them pain-free until their final
passing (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 2017).
These and other forms of
end-of-life care make it so that the patient can spend the rest of their days virtually pain-free,
negating the need for PAS.
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