Argumentative Essay: Physician Assisted Death

The word suicide gives many people negative feelings and is a socially taboo subject. However, suicide might be beneficial to terminally ill patients. Physician- assisted suicide has been one of the most controversial modern topics. Many wonder if it is morally correct to put a terminally ill patient out of their misery. Physicians should be able to meet the requests of their terminally ill patients. Unfortunately, a physician can be doing more harm by keeping someone alive instead of letting them die peacefully. For example, an assisted suicide can bring comfort to patients. These patients are in excruciating pain and will eventually perish. The government should not be involved in such a personal decision. A physician- assisted suicide comes with many benefits for the patient. If a person is terminally ill and wants a physician assisted suicide, then they should receive one.

Physician-assisted suicide can be described as the act of a terminally ill individual obtaining a lethal prescription in order to exercise their right to die with dignity. Though physician-assisted suicide is highly controversial, it is legally practiced in a small number of states within the United States. Much of the controversy surrounding physician-assisted suicide relates to the social, political, and ethical questions and considerations concerning the practice. Regardless

Suicide is one person’s personal decision; physician-assisted suicide is a patient who is not capable of carrying the task out themselves asking a physician for access to lethal medication. What people may fail to see however is that the physician is not the only healthcare personnel involved; it may include, but is not limited to, a physician, nurse, and pharmacist. This may conflict with the healthcare worker’s own morals and there are cases in which the patient suffers from depression, or the patient is not receiving proper palliative care. Allowing physician-assisted suicide causes the physician to become entangled in an ethical and moral discrepancy and has too many other issues surrounding it for it to be legal.

Did you know, about 57% of physicians today have received a request for physician assisted suicide due to suffering from a terminally ill patient. Suffering has always been a part of human existence, and these requests have been occurring since medicine has been around. Moreover, there are two principles that all organized medicine agree upon. The first one is physicians have a responsibility to relieve pain and suffering of dying patients in their care. The second one is physicians must respect patients’ competent decisions to decline life-sustaining treatment. Basically, these principles state the patients over the age of 18 that are mentally stable have the right to choose to end their life if they are suffering from pain. As of right

Some physicians are using a lethal combination of drugs and or euthanasia on patients with or without their consensus. Euthanasia/active euthanasia (sometimes called “mercy killing”) occurs when a person, usually a physician or nurse, performs an act (e.g., administering a lethal injection) to end a patient’s life. Additional descriptors for euthanasia include “voluntary” (i.e., the patient requests euthanasia) (tcmd/euthanasia/2009).

Patient assisted suicide, death with dignity, euthanasia or patient assisted death; whichever one that is used, they all mean the same tragic thing. The life of another human being is more than what comes to eye. For years now, everyone has been arguing whether physicians have the right to assist with patient assisted death. The man who started this epidemic was known as Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Kevorkian was a pathologist who assisted the acute and critically ill with ending his or her life. After Kevorkian spent years battling the legality of his actions with the courts, he ended up spending eight years in prison. Today, there are only 7 locations that allow physicians to do this: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Montana, Colorado, and Washington DC. At the start of this whole situation, doctors would attempt to use very high dosages of analgesic, pain relieving medication, to end a patients life; however, that ended very quickly. Shortly after that time, doctors would use the same drugs administered for lethal injections. Typically a three step process: the first shot induces unconsciousness, the second shot causes muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, and the final shot causes cardiac arrest, which ceases heart contractions. Currently, doctors use a drug called

Although controversial, physician-assisted suicide laws affect thousands of people across the country annually. Physician-assisted suicide is the process in which a doctor prescribes a lethal dose of medication, usually painkillers or sedatives, to a patient to end their own life (Euthanasia Glossary, 1999; United States, n.d.). In many states in which physician-assisted suicide is legal, the patient must be at least eighteen years old, terminally ill and have

According to research, 66% of adults here in the United States believe that a doctor should allow a patient to die under certain circumstances. Physician assisted death is currently legal in Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Other states such as Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are considering legislation to allow physician assisted deaths for people with terminal illnesses. (Gordon, Serena). Physician assisted death needs to be legal because of how much it has evolved over time; it has many advantages, and the obligations that doctors are responsible

Physician assisted suicide has been practiced over the past couple centuries and is beginning to spark the interest in many people who suffer from terminal diseases. Physician assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one 's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician ("Physician-assisted Suicide"). Starting in the early 1800 's, physicians did all they could to save the lives of their patients which included copious bloodletting and huge doses of poisonous drugs to induce vomiting and defecating with no regulation (Weir 34). Many of these patients that were treated

Physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill is one of the most debated policies in America. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is only considered a when a patient has a terminal illness and expresses their right to end their life with a physician. This scenario typically takes place when a patient is suffering severely from a terminal illness and it is only a matter of time before they will die. Advocates for PAS have typically had a loved one who is or was suffering through their final stages of life. Each individual state has specific laws and policies regarding the process of PAS; however, the requirements for a patient to be considered for PAS are similar (Death with Dignity, n.d.).

Physician-assisted suicide is “the voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide is the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life” (MedicineNet.com, 2004). Many times this ethical issue arises when a terminally-ill patient with and incurable illness, whom is given little time to live, usually less than six-months, has requested a physician’s assistance in terminating one’s life. This practice with the terminally ill is known as euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia is a controversial topic

In the discussion of Physician-Assisted Suicide you have to make sure that you use the right terminology and make sure that it is clear. Some of the greatest dangers of facing chronic and terminally ill patients are a grey area regarding PAS. There is a strict process to practice PAS. Despite the stringencies, the Council of Ethical and Judicial Affairs (1992) found that 28% of PAS cases in the Netherlands did not meet the specific criteria. The evidence suggests that some of the patient’s lives may have ended involuntarily or prematurely. The problem can be fixed with advance directives. These directives can be written by competent individuals explaining their decision to be aided in dying when

Terminally ill individuals suffer during their last days, so most of them decide to end their lives. Physician-assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one’s own life by the administration of a lethal substance. Some believe that if the physician-assisted suicide is legal in the country, it will give the insurance companies more money, also that some physicians will end patients live without their concern; however, terminally ill individuals shouldn’t suffer and live with pain, likewise the patients live with their body deteriorating and that is not quality of life.

There are several reasons why physician-assisted suicide is such an ongoing argument between people in this day and age. Whether they want it legalized or don’t want anything to do with it, it’s safe to assume that this topic is rather controversial in our society. In the debate titled “Doctor-Assisted Suicide Is Unethical and Dangerous” written by Ira Byock at the New York Times, he states, “Legalizing assisted suicide fixes nothing. The principle that doctors must not kill patients stands. Two moral wrongs don’t make a right” (Byock, 2015). Some may agree with Byock, but others truly believe that the patient should be able to make a choice about their end-of-life treatment and no one else should be able to tell them otherwise.

Some feel that physician assisted death is unethical as medical doctors take the Hippocratic Oath which states, “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect” (MedicineNet). The Hippocratic Oath has been used for a long time and has not evolved in the way that medicine, technology or society has. The Hippocratic Oath also states, “First do no harm” (MedicineNet). When medical doctors oversee assisted deaths they are not harming the patient. They are overseeing the patient in one of the scariest, dramatic, or peaceful times in their life. They are