Essay On Physician Assisted Death

I see Physician assisted suicide as moderately unethical because it allows doctors to take a life into their own hands and causes them to go against everything they trained for in medical school and onward years of school. A doctor never totally knows what is going on with a patient and unless the patient has a terminal illness the signs of pain may not be as obvious. PAS tests a doctors moral values and the oaths that the doctors took to never harm their patients. While it may be hard to bring up discussions of death and pain that patients are experiencing, I feel that it is a conversation that needs to be had before PAS is discussed. There is also a psychological impact on doctors, trying to decide how to help the patients that are unhealable

Quill and Sussman explain” …majority of physicians favor legal access to PAD [physician assisted death], but only about 30% would be willing to directly provide such assistance even if legally permitted. Medical professionals have a Hippocratic Oath that states they will never bring harm to a patient. There are mental implications for a doctor that must take a life. In the article “Report Details Effects of Physician-Assisted Suicide on Doctors” published by National Right to life News states “In the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been practiced for years, doctors reported many negative feelings associated with euthanasia.” Doctors would be going against their oath in taking the life of a patient, it’s against what they have been taught as medical professionals. In the Netherlands where assisted-death is legal the doctors must face the moral implications after the treatments, but the choice for the patient is still present. With the choice of death present the discussion and practices of assisted death can be evolved. Quill and Sussman wrote that numerous doctors support assisted death, but in states where it where illegal “Nonetheless, several imperfect studies of the practice in the U.S. suggest that in states where PAD is illegal it [assisted death] may account for as many as 1-2% of deaths. Doctors in some cases still feel the need to end their patients

Although assisted death gives an option for suffering patients, it violates the doctor’s Hippocratic oath. A portion of the oath states: Doctor’s will not give a deadly medication or suggest anything in that matter (Hippocratic oath). Even though most doctors swear to this oath, it does not take their privileges away if broken. The oath is more of a symbol to the duties a doctor is responsible for. A doctor’s job is to cause no harm, but another part of their job is to care for their patient with respect and

Physician assisted suicide has been an ethically intense subject to many people for decades. The U.S. sees this as an illegal and immoral way to end one’s life while many other countries find it is perfectly legal and moral. The determination of its true standing is one that will probably take many more decades to fully understand.

Being terminally ill is like being a grenade. When having an illness like this you feel that you have to cut everyone off so you don't hurt the ones you love. Either way, the person who is terminally ill knows they are going to die so why not give them a choice to go when they know it's right rather than them going at a random time during the time frame they were given. “I'm a grenade and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?”, From this quote it not only shows how one feels when they are ill but also shows that they are unsure when they are going to go, Point two on why Euthanasia should be made legal across the country.

A patient has the right to die if they have an advanced health condition that it’s not curable such as a terminal disease, and has less than six months to live.

In a poll done in the United Kingdom, close to half of the people asked if they would help a terminally ill family member end their life said they would (Voluntary Euthanasia Society, 2004). At the end of life, ones’ goal is relief of pain and suffering. Palliative care is provided at the end of life and with this; patients continue to experience uncontrolled, intolerable, and unrelieved pain. (Bruce, Hendrix & Gentry, 2006).

All doctors take an oath known as the Hippocratic Oath at the beginning of their career stating that they will do whatever they can for a patient in order to help them, but helping is not always keeping them alive. “Ending a person’s life upon request with a purposeful goal is hardly a malicious act, therefore it is inaccurate to compare euthanasia to murder” (Starks et al.). Another issue that many people see in physician assisted death is that it gives doctors too much power. However, the only power that it gives them is to fulfill someone’s final wishes. Another valid point is that vital organs can be saved. There is a long list of people that are in need of a kidney, lung, heart, and liver transplant. However, with physician assisted death the organs can be preserved and be transplanted to someone who has been long waiting for a transplant (Messerli). Once again, we have to put the needs of the living before the

Each person has the right to control his or her body and life, and if they happen to be terminally ill, the right to choose when and how they die should be entitled to them. For most patients, they have illnesses that make them incapable of moving, or communicating properly. Many can’t participate in pleasurable activities, and feel undignified. They live each never-ending day in agony, only to wait for the next, knowing that each second leads them closer to their escape from suffering. By refusing people the “right” to end their own lives, we’re increasing that pain and indignity to an awful extent.

Euthanasia is defined on dictionary.com as the act of putting an animal or person to death painlessly or allowing them to die rather than permitting them to suffer through an incurable and possible painful disease or condition; to die a painless death. As humans we make decisions on a daily basis whether an animal should be euthanized or not depending on the outcome of certain tests performed on the animal. So why is it so hard to accept the same guidelines for a human life when that person may be stating how painful the situation is for them? Physician assisted suicide is not immoral because a terminally ill person should have the right to die with dignity. If the person has a terminal illness they should have the right to choose to not go through the suffering the disease may entail. Some people may also look at it from a financial point of view. The cost of a fast painless death is better than a long expensive fight that may be painful and finish with the same results, death.

Terminal illness is a very devastating and sad part of life. Every day thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer, brain tumors, and life threatening diseases. The physicians taking care of these individuals try their best to care for them, offering chemotherapy treatments, radiation, and different medications to treat these illnesses, but unfortunately, they are not always effective. Sometimes the illness just takes over and the patient no longer has a chance to live. They are just lying in a hospital bed, suffering, waiting for their inevitable end at the hands of their disease. In these instances, many patients would beg their family and doctors to just let them die because they were in unspeakable agony. In these instances, Euthanasia

Patients who suffer with a terminal illness are put through countless rounds of treatment, hospital visits, and even in-home care. Day after day these people must endure massive amounts of medical treatment knowing that in the end, all that the treatment is doing is prolonging their suffering. For these patients, there is no cure, so why should they continue to endure treatment that is doing nothing but keeping them in a state of distress? Physicians do so much to try and

One who is not terminally ill does not know the pain and suffering of being terminally ill. Some described the pain as unbearable and intolerable. Why should someone be destined to live in this much pain? In some states and countries where this action is legal, they are not compelled to. They are given the option of assisted suicide. On the contrary, some believe this option is inhumane and unethical. This is still a constant controversy happening in America and around the world. No one should be compelled to endure the pain of their illness if there is no cure, which is why assisted suicide should be legal with the patient's request.

The history of physician assisted suicide is a long one filled with many details, history, and much debate. Being that the topic of a physician being able to euthanize a patient has been around since the first practices started. To illustrate this, it says in the Ancient Hippocratic Oath, which states the conduct and obligations to doctors, holds a physician to “neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor make a suggestion to this effect”(Emmanuel 2). Showing that since the beginning of the practice, doctors were told that it was not their right to take a patient's life or encourage the patient to go through with this plan, no matter the circumstance. This is because it is not their right to take a life that is not their own, even if the patient is dying. In the event that a physician were to take a life, it is murder. What is the difference between a person taking someone’s life on the street or in an office? There is none, a life is a life no matter by who

Doctors say that assisted suicide is morally wrong for both a patient and a doctor and is against their pledge that they took as physicians. They believe that they should never have to “kill” or end a patient’s life with drugs no matter what kind of condition they are in: