A Case On Proactive Death Such As Physician Assisted Suicide

Who gets to make the choice whether someone lives or dies? If a person has the right to live, they certainly should be able to make the choice to end their own life. The law protects each and everyone’s right to live, but when a person tries to kill themselves more than likely they will end up in a Psychiatric unit. Today we hear more and more about the debate of Physician assisted suicide and where this topic stands morally and ethically. Webster 's dictionary defines Physician assisted suicide as, suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or by information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of the patient 's intent (Webster, 1977).

1. (problem – PAS): In today’s society, Physician Assisted Suicide is one of the most questionable and debatable issues. Many people feel that it is wrong for people to ask their doctor to help them end their life; while others feel it is their right to choose between the right to life and the right to death. “Suffering has always been a part of human existence.” (PAS) “Physicians have no similar duty to provide actions, such as assistance in suicide, simply because they have been requested by patients. In deciding how to respond to patients ' requests, physicians should use their judgment about the medical appropriateness of the request.” (Bernat, JL) Physician Assisted Suicide differs from withholding or discontinuing medical treatment, it consists of doctors providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication to aid in the use to end their life.

In the video “Brittany Maynard Explains Why She’s Choosing Physician-assisted Suicide at 29”, Brittany Maynard takes a very strong position for assisted suicide. Her video reached a large audience when it was released in 2014, as she was the first person to not only openly support assisted suicide, but also then use it herself when she chose to die at age 29 due to her terminal brain cancer. Her purpose is to show people that choosing assisted suicide doesn’t mean someone is suicidal, but rather that they want to choose to die peacefully rather than in a degrading and painful way, like the one her future with stage four brain cancer would bring her. Maynard states, “There is a difference between a person who is dying and a person who is suicidal. I do not want to do. I am dying.” Maynard takes a significantly more personal and emotional take on the issue, comparable only to Jennifer Medina’s article in the New York Times where she interviews patients who have decided to use physician-assisted suicide to end their lives. However, Maynard shows a much more personal perspective in her explanation of why she chose to move to Oregon to obtain a lethal prescription under Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, and the struggles she went through in coming to that conclusion, as opposed to

Should physician-assisted suicide be legal? Physician-assisted suicide should be legalized. People should finally have the choice if they wanted to. It could relieve suffering and help whoever wants to die peacefully. It could help a lot of people in the world. 79% of people say that physician-assisted suicide be legal. However it should not be legalized.

I believe physician assisted suicide should be legal because it is your right and better to do it with a doctor than by yourself at home.

Do you think physician-assisted suicide is necessary? In most states physician-assisted suicide is legal but other states want it to be illegal. In the 5 states that is legal, want their patients to have the right to die the way they choose. But in the other states don’t like physician assisted suicide because is cheaper and it harm the patines even more. While some people believe it’s a harm and a sin, physician-assisted suicide should be legalized because it’s economic, patines rights and it’s a calm way to die.

The Declaration of Independence stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This shows that all Americans are secured with indisputable rights which must include the right to live life as well as end it if need be. Even though Physician Assisted Death is not listed in the Constitution, the Tenth Amendment states that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” However, in forty-four states, terminally-ill patients do not have the right to die. Physician Assisted Death is when a terminally-ill patient undergoes counseling before a trusted doctor can prescribe a lethal dose of drugs for the patient to terminate his life peacefully. Having Physician Assisted Death available as an option to terminally-ill will allow patients to exercise their inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness, relieve them from unbearable pain, and lessen the agony of the patient’s family.

The federal legalization of physician-assisted suicide is a conflict of ethics. This is one reason the problem has yet to be resolved. There are multiple sides to this argument. Some people want the government to mandate the legalization of physician-assisted suicide while others believe the practice to be morally unacceptable. Then there are those who do not have enough knowledge on the issue to have an opinion at all. This issue that needs to be brought to Americans’ attention sooner rather than later, because more Americans are being given the opportunity to vote on the topic.

The American Medical Association (AMA) formally rejects the validity of physician-assisted suicide. In appropriate times it

“A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running” Groucho Marx. The argument that physician-assisted suicide would dampen the value of life can go both ways. How is life valued when a patient doesn’t have much life to live? For a patient to be eligible, as stated earlier, they must be diagnosed with a terminal illness and six or less months to live. So though assisting these patients’ results in dying a premature death, the question is how much value is there in these last months of their lives? Every patient is different, and some use their last 6 months to go and do the things they’ve always wanted to do. Unfortunately, not every terminally ill patient is mobile or capable of taking care of himself or herself. It should be the right of the patient to die with dignity rather than being forced to live in a withered away body. The question is what’s more important: quality or quantity? For some of these patients it’s much more comforting knowing they have the option not to suffer, they can live their last little bit full of life before losing control of their bodies.

The majority of people believe that life is granted by God and is only God who has the moral authority to take it away. However, it is not once or twice we have heard of people requesting physician assisted death or doctors carrying out euthanasia. The legislation to permit physician assisted suicide has been debated about comprehensively (NZIMANDE, 33). The physician assisted suicide is a situation where one is assisted to die by a physician after consultation. It should be noted that in physician assisted suicide; the physician does not do the killing; he/she only assist the patient in dying. The help can be through advice on the drug to use or a much easier way to die. The physician assisted suicide is not

Many legal, ethical and personal issues and dilemmas have been identified in relation to physician- assisted suicide and euthanasia. Issues such as whether physician- assisted suicide or euthanasia is ethically acceptable, or what criterion is legally and socially necessary to determine whether a person can receive assisted suicide measures to end ones life. A variety of literature reviews have been created to address this topic and generate knowledge and information for health care professionals. With this in mind, there are many phrases associated and utilized synonymously with the term physician- assisted suicide that need to be addressed such as physician- assisted death, euthanasia, and aid in dying, however each has been defined separately throughout the literature. Westefeld et al., (2013) and Landry, Foreman and Kekewich (2015) define physician- assisted death as voluntary termination of life through the administration, from the person requesting termination, of a lethal dose to end ones life. The Canadian Medical Association (2014) refers to euthanasia as “the practice of knowingly and intentionally performing an act with or without consent, that is explicitly intended to end another person life” (p. 2) by a physician. Lastly, aid is dying is the request of a prescription for medication; provided by a physician, that patients can self-administer to end ones life peacefully (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2013). For

Throughout many years, Individuals have struggled with the thoughts of physically harming themselves, which usually leads to suicide. Depression and anxiety are a disease that takes over human-beings self-determination. Many young individuals reach the point of believing, if they were no longer alive the world they are associated with will no longer be dark and evil. Also, older individuals believe if they take their own life, then they will not suffer anymore. Recently in some states, they passed the right to have physician’s helping with planning their client’s death. Physician assisted suicide means the voluntary notion of a person who wants to terminate their own life by ingesting toxic

While terminal illness is tragic, physician assisted suicide is not a cure. Terminal illness can be hard to cope with for the patient and the patient’s family, but taking pills to help and taking pills to die are two very different methods of healing. A few months, a few weeks, a few days, no matter the time the person has left they can take that precious time to mend broken moments, ease suffering of family, and experience things they may not have had a reason to experience before being diagnosed. Everyone dies, it is inevitable and a consequence of sin, but suicide should not be a reason for someone to die. Everyone that dies leaves a broken-hearted person behind at the same time, assisted suicide steals a person of the time they could be

Medical professionals face a countless number of challenges on a daily basis. It is important for each individual to reflect upon their own beliefs and morals so that, when caring for patients, it is easier to handle these challenging issues. One of these difficult issues is assisted suicide. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) has been an important ethical concern in medicine in recent years. It is important to understand the various forms of assisted suicide, the legality of assisted suicide as well as the implications it may have for patient as well as healthcare professionals alike.