Assisted Suicide - Introduction

sit in pain due to their sicknesses. Should these people have to go through all

Now that I’ve demonstrated that my ethical theory can be used to make educated decisions in situations that we can potentially face daily, how does my ethical theory fit with issues of life or death? My ethical theory focuses more on issues that an individual will face in their everyday life. It does not directly deal with issues of life and death; however you can still go through the core concepts to make a decision. For instance, let's take a look at assisted suicide.

The thoughts of assisted suicide are very mixed. Some people believe that it is a great way to put terminally-ill patients out of the their pain and suffering. They see it as a way for a person to die with dignity after suffering from a painful disease. Others think it is beyond morally wrong for a doctor to intentionally end a patient’s life. They feel that a doctor should not have unnecessary deaths riding, on their shoulders the rest of their career. Assisted suicide goes way beyond the beliefs of medicine and is morally wrong in so many ways.

A woman suffering from cancer became the first person known to die under the law on physician-assisted suicide in the state of Oregon when she took a lethal dose of drugs in March, 1998. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act passed a referendum in November, 1997, and it has been the United States ' only law legalizing assisted suicide since then. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, more than 4,000 doctors have approved of the assisted suicide law (cited in "The Anguish of Doctors,” 1996). The law allows terminally ill patients who have been given six months or less to live and wish to hasten their deaths to obtain medication prescribed by two doctors. The most important thing to notice is that this law does not include those who have been on a life support system nor does it include those who have not voluntarily asked physicians to help them commit suicide. The issue of doctor-assisted suicide has been the subject of the heated dispute in recent years. Many people worry that legalizing doctor assisted suicide is irrational and violates the life-saving tradition of medicine. However, physician-assisted suicide should be legalized because it offers terminally ill people an opportunity for a peaceful death and recognized the inadequacy of current medical practice to deal with death.

Laws vary differently across the U.S. and one in particular is only available in Washington state, Physician-Assisted Suicide Law. The law allows people that have been diagnosed as terminally ill to have the option of medical assisted suicide. It allows the patient to go through a process of requests to be prescribed a lethal dose of medication to die peacefully and without pain. The law protects doctors from being criminally prosecuted by the family for abiding the ill family member with the requested drug. The law can be used across the whole country because I do believe that death shouldn’t have to be painful, as long as the estate is ready and the person is of sound mind, it can be an option should be available to those individuals. The

Physician assisted suicide is defined as a doctor intentionally killing a person by the administration of drugs, at that person’s voluntary and competent request. Research has been conducted in different countries to determine under what conditions this practice is acceptable. Most health care practitioners agree that this is only suitable when the patient in question is suffering from a terminal illness. This study is aimed to examine whether a physician’s responses would differ if physician assisted suicide became legal. A positive relationship is expected to be recorded between the numbers of “yes” responses if this practice was legal in the state of Texas.

The choice for the patient to choose should be left up to their decision, and some states have embraced this practice. Oregon instituted the Death with Dignity Act in 1994 which gave adult patients with a terminally ill diagnosis a choice to obtain a prescription to end their life (Death with Dignity, 2017). Since the onset of this ground breaking law, the concept of physician assisted suicide has soften and the general consensus has slowly began to shift.

Many patients consider assisted suicide as an effective alternative solution. Since 1994, patients with a terminal illness within four states including California have a legal right to end life on their own terms in a human and dignifying way with the help in the form of physician – assisted suicide for the purpose of avoiding agonizing suffering if as individuals in society truly own ourselves. Patients who are physically able to swallow the medication in the form of a pill, are prescribed lethal drugs. Unlike Euthanasia, which is in a form of lethal injection that is not legal in the United States, lethal injections are administered by a physician with or without a patient’s consent (Green, "Physician-Assisted Suicide Laws by State), whereas physician – assisted suicide is only given to patients with a terminal diagnosis that is administered themselves privately whenever they choose and can only be prescribed. Physician – assisted suicide is seen as an affordable option for those who cannot afford medical bills, medication or hospice. Though there are states that allow a patient to die with dignity and expresses freedom of choice These same laws that are banned in other states which also argue that states who does not allow physician – assisted suicide violates the rights of the

On 11/19/16 at 1156 hrs, I was dispatched to Carrollwood 4068 78th Ave Apt 5, Pinellas Park 33781. Reference the complainant’s daughter receiving text messages from her daughter’s boyfriend stating they were going to committed suicide.

There have been many debates over time of if suicide is murder, but what about Assisted Suicide? Assisted suicide is when a person helps another person end their life. Helping with the death of someone who wanted to die. Act Utilitarianism sets basis of right or wrong based on if the action causes more pleasure or pain overall. Every person is accounted as equal. This means if an action brings pleasure to one person but harms two people. The action would be deemed as bad because it brings about more pain. This analysis will attempt to answer the lingering questions about Assisted Suicide by using the theory of Act Utilitarianism.

Assisted suicide is a very controversial subject in the healthcare world and like most things there are a lot of areas that are not written in black and white. Though assisted suicide is only legal in five states it is still practiced all across the United States. In most cases, little to no information is provided to the families and the terminally ill patients on what assisted suicide truly is and what it not. It all has to do with the intent, but most conversations are reduced to a wink or nod and a type of unspoken understanding that prevents healthcare providers from being prosecuted, but in the process leaving the family members confused and with unanswered questions. If the same practices continue, in the future healthcare providers will have to deal with the challenges of sidestepping questions and leaving the families in the dark during one of the most emotional and intense time of their lives.

My subject is about assisted suicide and how it affects people, I chose this subject because I wanted to find out why people would even consider this an option in life. I first started reading articles about some cases where it has been common at or which states allowed this type of practice. My topic is important because it affects someone’s life, it also affects the people in the person life. The reason I picked this topic is because when I first read the title I was shocked that someone wanted to die, that they wanted to end their life so fast but I soon realized a lot of things, it’s basically a complicated subject and it has its pros and cons. Assisted suicide is legal in Oregon and it was legalized in California September 2015(Ian

Assisted Suicide is one of the most debated and opinionated topic in the world today. Currently, the law in the UK has criminalised assisted suicide, with a maximum sentence of 14 years . Kevin Yuill opposes those who are in favour of legalisation. By referencing the floodgates argument he believes that more people who are not in a critical condition will use assisted suicide, thus exploiting the system and leading into a transition to involuntary euthanasia. He also touches on the flaws in the compassionate grounds theory and the breakdown in doctor patient relationships. Alternatively, other theorists and pro legalisation campaigners such as Tony Nicklinson and Ilora Finlay look at the beliefs of autonomy, compassion and individual dignity where if legalised it can end a wide area of unnecessary suffering.

Assisted suicide is an ongoing affair that has gained relevance due to recent events. For example, Brittany Maynard who decided to take her own life on November 1, 2014 at the age of 29. This caused a major uproar in the United States, much of America was split between the decision of Maynard, those who supported her cause were for the Death with Dignity Law, while the opposing crowd were a variety of religious organizations that condemned Maynard for advocating such cause. This dilemma has defy the beliefs of many Americans, and it appears to be a continuation of church versus state. In today’s age there seems to be a separation of religion in the modern home, and this has caused a major shift in how we evaluate things. Instead of looking to the church for guidance, we are using technology and science to validate our values.

United Stated has always had a great debate over the topic of assisted suicide and euthanasia and whether or not it should be legalized. In 1997, President Clinton signed the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997 which clearly stated that using Medicaid, Medicare, military and federal employee health plans, veterans’ health care system and other federally funded programs to commit assisted suicide was restricted and taxpayer money also could not be used in support for legal assistance on the issue of assisted suicide.