Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide : A Patient 's Choice

Assisted suicide is also known as physician-assisted suicide because the physician assists the patient. Assisted suicide is suicide committed by a patient who is suffering from a disease, by taking the lethal drugs provided by a doctor for the purpose of committing suicide. When assisted suicide takes place it is the patient who ends his/her life not the physician. Before assisted suicide a physician provides an individual with information, guidance and means to take his or her own life with the intention that they be used for this purpose. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are different due do a big factor of what happens during them.

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.

In order to understand assisted suicide, it is necessary to first know about Euthanasia. Euthanasia refers to the act by which an individual is put to a painless and easy death. This term has been originated from the Greek expression for "fine demise". However, scientific advancements and progressions in the medicinal field have now increased the possibility of prolonged life in patients who are hopeless about recovery. Thus, life can be preserved by using extraordinary means like intravenous nourishment, respirators, and artificial life-saving machines. Thus, the term negative euthanasia has been derived referring to this life-saving process. On the other hand, the term positive euthanasia has arisen due to the actions that are taken to cause death actively. The third term i.e. passive euthanasia is used in conditions where antibiotics, drugs, or surgery (common treatment methods) are suspended. It is also used in situations when there is a supplication of a large quantity of lethal pain medication which is considered necessary. Passive euthanasia has been regarded as a common practice among U.S. hospitals and physicians since the beginning of the 20th century ("Euthanasia," 2009).

Assisted death is practiced in two different ways: euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The difference between the two is who is preforming the act of killing. “Euthanasia is preformed by the physician causing the death. However, during physician-assisted suicide, the physician gives the patient the materials need to kill themselves” (Boer, 24). Euthanasia is either voluntary or active. Voluntary euthanasia is performed by a doctor or physician that provides a lethal injection to end the life of a patient who has requested to die. Active euthanasia is preformed by someone who is not a doctor or physician. Physician-assisted suicide is slightly different from euthanasia in that the doctor

Assisted suicide is suicide with help from another person (such as a doctor) to end suffering from severe physical illness. “‘Physician-assisted suicide should be a lawful medical procedure for competent, terminally ill adults, because it is a compassionate response to

Assisted suicide is a highly controversial topic. Assisted suicide is when, upon request, a doctor prescribes a lethal dose of medication to a terminally ill patient so that the patient can kill him or herself. In other words, a doctor provides the means for a patient to commit suicide. A form of assisted suicide is euthanasia. Euthanasia is when the doctor intentionally kills the patient with the intentions of ending the patient’s suffering; mercy killing. Although there have been many Supreme Court rulings on assisted suicide and the practice of euthanasia, it is legal in some states like Oregon and Washington. The practice of assisted suicide is done under the term “terminally ill.” There is no

Assisted suicide also known as euthanasia is where a terminally ill patient can request a doctor to administer a drug that will end the patient's life. Many people agree with assisted suicide because they like having that option open to them while terminally ill. But that is not the right choice you must live with dignity. Assisted suicide should be illegal because it has not been successful in other countries, doctors have taken advantage of assisted suicide, and it is still taking away a human life.

Assisted suicide consists of the physician or practitioner prescribing and providing the medical information in order for the patient to commit the life-ending act. For example, the practitioner may prescribe sleeping pills and provide information on the lethal dose which the patient carries out. This is different from euthanasia, which is the physician or practitioner administering a lethal dose of a medication at the voluntary and competent request of the patient (MacLeod, Wilson,

“Euthanasia is directly or indirectly bringing about the death of another person for that person’s sake; it is thought to provide a benefit or a good for the person by ending a life deemed no longer worth living-a situation that typically arises when someone has an incurable or terminal disease that causes great suffering or when someone experiences an irreversible loss of consciousness,” (Vaughn, 2010, p. 292). “Related to, but distinct from, active voluntary euthanasia is physician-assisted suicide-the killing of a person by the person’s own hand with the help of a physician,” (Vaughn, 2010, p. 293). In all states in America expect one it is illegal. There is a lot of controversy surrounding euthanasia and physician assisted suicide, from supporters of many different theories.

Assisted suicide is when one helps another kill themselves with full knowledge of what is happening. For example, a relative obtains a lethal drug and provides it to another to assist in them dying. Euthanasia can also be explained as Physician-assisted suicide. This occurs when a patient has requested the doctor to assisted them in death, and the doctor proved them with a lethal dosage of drugs.

When considering assisted suicide there are several different definitions that may fall into this general term. Often times “assisted suicide” is confused with “euthanasia”. Tamayo-Velazquez, Simon-Lorda, & Cruz-Piqueras (2012) claim: “’Euthansia’ refers to the direct administration of a lethal agent to a patient by another party (a doctor) with a merciful intent after patients’ explicit informed request. ‘Physician assisted suicide’ refers to a patient’s willful and intentional ending of his or her own life with the assistance of a physician” (p. 678). In recent years, there has been a lot of news coverage concerning the assisted suicide of Brittany Maynard. Brittany was a 29 year old woman diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She became actively involved in trying to develop an aid-in-dying law in her home state of California. Alternately, euthanasia involves a physician or other medical

Every year, seriously injured patients would rather opt out of life rather than living miserably throughout the rest of their lives. Assisted suicide is the suicide of a patient suffering from an incurable disease, caused by taking lethal drugs given by a doctor. One problem people have with this is that there is barely a difference between assisted suicide and murder. Euthanasia should be legal. People should not have to suffer slowly if they could choose to stop the pain by taking their lives.

Assisted suicide is the act of allowing a terminally ill patient take his/her own life with a drug called Euthanasia. It is a way of painlessly dying, instead of being forced through months of suffering. Many see it as a sin, or just don’t think that physician assisted suicide should be legal. “Euthanasia for some carries a negative connotation; it is the same as murder.” (www.lonestar.edu)Some people feel this way because of religion based beliefs. “For others however, euthanasia is the act of putting someone to death painlessly, or allowing a person suffering from an incurable and painful disease or condition to die by withholding extreme medical measures.” (www.lonestar.edu). Euthanasia is the drug prescribed for physician assisted suicide. It is a drug that helps put incurable patients to death peacefully.

Euthanasia is defined as the “act of deliberately ending a person's life to relieve suffering,” while assisted suicide is someone who “deliberately assists or encourages another person to kill themselves” (NHS, 2014). Euthanasia can be done actively by deliberately ending someone’s life or passively by withholding treatment necessary to maintain life (NHS, 2014). Euthanasia and assisted suicide are largely seen as murder, but is legal in some countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Mexico and some American states, including Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington (State-by-State Guide to Physician-Assisted Suicide, 2014).

Euthanasia is when someone take away someone else life under the impulse of compassion in order to relieve their suffering from an incurable disease in which death is inevitable. Assisted suicide is basically the same thing as euthanasia, but the difference is how the action is performed. In euthanasia, the physician administers the lethal medication himself and in assisted suicide the patient administers himself the medication recommended by the physician. There are three different form of euthanasia: voluntary euthanasia, non-voluntary euthanasia and involuntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is when death is cause because the