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Assisted Suicide : Right Or Wrong?

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Stacey Hillard
01/14/15
Nursing Roles I
Professor Rodgers
Assisted Suicide: Right or Wrong? The article I selected is called Assisted Suicide: Right or Wrong? By: Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez. This article talked about a researcher named Matthew Donnely. For over 30 years Matthew conducted research on x-rays. Matthew was diagnosed with a terminal skin cancer. During his battle with cancer he had lost his nose, his left hand, two fingers on his right hand and part of his jaw (Andre & Velasquez). Matthew’s condition was worsening. His body was deteriorating and he was in constant pain. Many days he lay in bed with his fist bald and teeth clenched from the pain (Andre & Velasquez). Matthew pleaded with his physicians to assist him in ending his suffering. The physicians refused.
1. Explain how you would decide if you were in the same situation.
If I were the physician in this situation, I would have also refused to assist in physician assisted suicide. Instead I would have provided the patient with comfort until the end. A physician has a responsibility to care for patients regardless if recovery is impossible. It is the physician’s responsibility to respond to the needs of the patient and to attempt to make the patient as comfortable as possible. A physician takes an oath of non-malfeasance which means to do no harm.
2. What values are reflected in your decisions?
As a human first with Christian beliefs, physician assisted suicide would be a moral issue for me. It is

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