Arguments Against Euthanasia Research

Euthanasia is a controversial topic regarding whether or not physician-assisted suicide should be further legalized. Euthanasia is the act of a medical doctor injecting a poison into a patient 's body in order to kill them. Some argue that euthanasia should be legalized to put people out of pain and misery. However, others argue that some people with terminal illnesses would do anything to live longer and believe that it is a selfish and cowardly act. Euthanasia is disputable because of the various ethical issues, including, but not limited to: murder and suicide illegality, the Hippocratic Oath, and medical alternatives. As someone who has had many traumatic experiences and who wants to become a doctor, I am very passionate about the well-being of my future patients and the responsibility to do no harm to them. For these lawful, logical, and personal reasons, euthanasia should not be legalized.

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

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.

Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) has grown into quite a contentious topic over the years. According to Breitbart and Rosenfeld (1), physician-assisted suicide can be defined as “a physician providing medications or advice to enable the patient to end his or her own life.” One may find many articles that are written by physicians, pharmacists, patients, and family of patients who receive PAS; from there, it is possible to gain a better understanding of what PAS is and how it has become a rising issue in the United States. For readers who have not heard about PAS and what it entails, it is important to understand that this is a debatable topic that should be approached lightly and non-aggressively in the United States when factors such as offering terminally ill patients the right to end their suffering, the likelihood of overall healthcare cost to decrease, and the comparison of palliative care to physician-assisted suicide are examined.

Physician-assisted suicide may change the perception of illness, disease, and pain. Because of this, physicians, patients, and family members may give up on recovery early (Westefeld, et al., 239). In contrast of cooperating in the death of a patient, people will seek to avoid it. This avoidance and denial of death may cause physicians to abandon their patients. This problem would be worsened by legalizing physician-assisted suicide because it would encourage the use of physician-assisted suicide when their disease worsened (Shannon & Kockler, 190). Legalizing physician-assisted suicide would also change the perspective the patient has about him or herself. The moral question of suicide is whether humans should have this responsibility over their own lives. Many argue that this act defies human dignity and that physician-assisted suicide exceeds human responsibility. Also, many people would assume sympathy in this situation, but some people may judge the patient for their use of physician-assisted suicide because it is using suicide to relieve pain (Shannon & Kockler, 191).

Physician assisted suicide consists of a doctor intentionally providing a patient with the means to commit suicide. It continues to be a controversial issue that is facing our state’s legislatures and is presently legal in only four states including Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and just recently, California. Anna Gorman, an author for Kaiser Health News, published an article in USA Today titled “Disabled Right Advocates Fight Assisted Suicide Legislation.” Gorman’s article explains the dangers of a proposed legislation in California that would legalize prescriptions for terminally ill patients to end their lives. The bill was passed and will be effective for ten years. In her article, Gorman interviews four people who believe that physician

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

The process of assisted suicide, or physician-assisted death, is a hotly debated topic that still remains at the forefront of many national discussions today. Assisted suicide can be described as the suicide of patient by a physician-prescribed dose of legal drugs. The reason that this topic is so widely debated is that it infringes on several moral and religious values that many people in the United States have. But, regardless of the way that people feel, a person’s right to live is guaranteed to them in the United States Constitution, and this should extend to the right to end their own life as well. The reasons that assisted suicide should be legalized in all states is because it can ease not only the suffering of the individual, but the financial burden on the family that is supporting him/her. Regardless of opposing claims, assisted suicide should be an option for all terminally ill patients.

Imagine being diagnosed with a life-ending disease and experiencing such excruciating pain that doctors say cannot be healed. Pain is a terrible thing to experience, especially when it is permanent. What can be done to relieve that pain? What if the only option to rid the pain from the patient is death? No one knows how that feels until it happens to them, that is why assisted suicide is used. Assisted suicide is a practice throughout most of the United States that terminates the lives of dying patients. This process is when patients are in agonizing pain that is too overwhelming to bear; therefore they beg physicians to end their lives. Physicians have the ability to end a patient’s life by withholding medication or removing the patient from a life supporting device. Patients have to meet certain requirements before the procedure can be completed. Many people wish that this practice was legal, but there are others that do not believe in it. Legalized physician assisted suicide is not common in all areas throughout the United States. There are many different views about physician assisted suicide, and the subject is a rather touchy one to discuss. There are many details about this issue that many people are not informed about like the past situations dealing with assisted suicide and physicians, areas that allow the procedure to be done, and the rules and regulations that patients have to meet before anything can be done.

Throughout the course of history, advances in medical technology have prolonged the length of life and delayed death; however, terminal illnesses still exist and modern medicine is often unable to prevent death. Many people turn to a procedure known as Physician-Assisted suicide, a process by which a doctor aids in ending a terminally ill patient’s life. This procedure is painless and effective, allowing patients to control their death and alleviate unnecessary suffering. In spite of these benefits, Physician-Assisted suicide is illegal in many places both nationally and internationally. Despite the fact that Physician-Assisted suicide is opposed by many Americans and much of the world on ethical and moral grounds such as those based on

Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) is a measure taken to end the suffering of terminally ill patients. It should be a right granted to all citizens who are suffering from a degenerative, painful, or fatal condition that would cause them to be unable to enjoy their lives. There are multiple definitions within the medical and legal communities about assisted suicide, but in general, the utmost debate is when a suicide is assisted by a physician as opposed to private citizens or family member. Even though the benefits of assisted suicide for the terminally ill individual are incredibly significant, the debate is not free from questions about the responsibilities of the medical community such as those offered by enthusiasts

Physician-assisted suicide is one of the most controversial procedures in all of modern medicine, and the ethics of the practice have been in question for several years. It is legal in five states in the United States and many countries around the world. The operation involves a trained physician intentionally supplying lethal doses of drugs to a patient who administers the drugs to his or herself. It is a practice that is commonly confused with euthanasia. In euthanasia, the physician is the primary source of administration for the lethal doses because he or she injects the drugs into the patient. There are many reasons as to why one may feel inclined to end his or her own life. The most common of these could be severe depression or terminal illness. These people and patients often find themselves in a deep hole that is impossible to climb out of. Their last resort is to end their physical and emotional pain.

Although euthanasia can be seen as defying the natural process of one’s death and going against fate, voluntary euthanasia should be legalized as it requires the patient’s authorization and gives them the right to die, choosing their own future. Derek Humphry - founder of the Hemlock Society and the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization, mentions that “Even if a hopelessly ill person is requesting assistance in dying for the most compassionate reasons, and the helper is acting from the most noble of motives, it remains a crime in the Anglo-American world” (Humphry 2). As a society with the basic understanding of compassion, it is difficult to grasp the fact that a doctor that attempts to relieve a patient of their unbearable suffering,

A moral decision, is any decision when the consequences will affect your relationship with God, yourself, and others. An example of a moral decision is, avoiding anything to do with a certain race, because of a prejudice against that race. All humans have dignity, every person was made in the image and likeness of God, we must respect them as we would want them to respect us, otherwise, we are disrespecting the creation of God. We can not fall to the prejudices of certain races, and we must love everyone. Every person has dignity, whether they are of a different culture, race, or mindset. A definition of Euthanasia is; “The painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable, painful disease, or in an irreversible coma. The practice is illegal in most countries,” via Google dictionary. The practice of euthanasia fails to uphold the dignity of human life and practice Christ like love.

“The mercy killing of patients by physicians, whether called “active euthanasia” or simply “euthanasia,” is a topic of long-standing controversy” (Mappes, Zembaty, and DeGrazia 59). “Although active euthanasia is presently illegal in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, proposals for its legalization have been recurrently advanced. Most commonly, these proposals call for the legalization of active euthanasia. There are some who consider active euthanasia in any form intrinsically immoral and, for this reason, oppose the legalization of active euthanasia. Others are opposed to legalization because of their conviction that physicians, in particular, should not kill” (Mappes, Zembaty, and DeGrazia 63). Others are also opposed to legalization because of the concern with the “adverse social consequences” (Mappes, Zembaty, and DeGrazia 63). For those very reasons, active euthanasia is not an acceptable form of euthanasia.