Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide
Introduction
Euthanasia is when a patient suffering from a disease that cannot be cured is helped to die in a painless manner. Doctors help in such cases to kill patients without feeling much pain. It is an activity the permits the hopeless and injured people to die painlessly with reasons of mercy towards their suffering. Euthanasia is a Greek name that means easy death to individuals. The translation into the English dictionary has given the word the same meaning by Francis Bacon describing the mode of death as “after the fashion and the semblance of a kind & pleasant sleep.” The same meaning of attaining a painless death defines the word. In the medical field, Euthanasia is defined as a way of
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Such deaths have been on the rise in the recent years.
Contrary to the wish of the patients who suffer and wish to be helped in dying, some of the practitioners and state laws do not permit the exercise to be conducted. Patients are to help patients to recover from the diseases they suffer from rather than helping to cut their lives. The guidelines indicate that doctors are to help patients recover from illness. The need of patients is to be treated and give hope that the suffering will end after the prescribed dose is over. The significance of euthanasia has not been clearly defined. The major reason of patients seeking the help of physicians is not that the patients have no hope of getting cured, but to remove the pain of thinking about the physical pain. "To achieve that end, with dignity and without pain, doctors should be allowed to aid terminal patients by providing necessary doses of drugs." Despite doctors and physicians helping patients to die, the sole decision lies with the patients as they have control over their lives. The counter argument to those against physician-assisted suicide will agree that patients with extreme pain have no ability to contribute to the economy, as they cannot work. Hence, the solution to such unproductive patients is to eliminate them from the society and allow the energetic people to run the economy.
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Physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia is still under scrutiny for a number of reasons. “In spring, 1996, the Ninth and Second Circuits were the first circuit courts in the country to find a constitutional prohibition against laws which make physician-assisted suicide a crime” (Martyn & Bourguignon, 1997). New York was one of the states that followed this prohibition. Eventually, The Ninth and Second Circuit, “allow physician-assisted suicide while attempting to protect individuals from unacceptable harms, such as involuntary euthanasia” (Martyn & Bourguignon, 1997). An assumption can be made, that euthanasia involves a licensed physician to play an active role in this partaking, and it’s where the patient prepares to die at.
Death is a touchy enough subject for people; add in the idea of assisted suicides and there’s an uproar in society. Euthanasia or physician assisted suicide is a very controversial topic in our society today. Physician assisted suicide by definition is “suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient’s intent (Merriam-Webster). There are two modes of looking at assisted suicides; either it’s seen as an absurd immoral decision to take away the life of someone or it’s seen as a logical and peaceful release from pain and misery. There’s this idea that asking a healthcare provider to help you end your life is unfair and unnecessary, no matter how much a person is suffering suicide is not justified. People fear patients changing their minds, physicians being severely impacted by this, and families not agreeing with the decision making it hard to cope. On the other side people believe that it’s freedom of choice to choose to be medically assisted with a suicide; this is a right the patient has. Some believe if you’re in pain and dying why should you be forced to stay in a painful state of life. Freedom of choice versus life isn’t ours to take away. If you were in a terminally ill patients position, what would you do?
Being able to decide the fate of your own life is not an easy decision to make, and is not something to be toyed with. However, when someone is in a desperate situation, and must choose before they lose their mind (quite literally), death may be more appealing, instead of living, and being forced to suffer. By legalizing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, we would provide “vulnerable” patients with better overall protection and health care, give patients (who are excruciatingly suffering and have no chance of recovery) the option to end their lives before they ever needed to go through such an ordeal and giving them peace of mind, and spare the families of the patients the emotional pain of watching their loved one slowly and painfully passing away. For these reasons, I believe that euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide should be legalized in Canada.
Physicians Assisted Death, is a death made possible when a physician, provides a terminally ill patient with the appropriate means to terminate their life. In other words, the patient commits the death causing act (Class notes, 10/19). Though Physicians Assisted Death and euthanasia ultimately result in the same ending they are different. euthanasia is a death made possible when a patient who is unable to commit the death causing act by themselves, grants a physician the right to terminate a their life. Thus, the physician administers the lethal drugs. That difference plays a critical role in the legalization of physician assisted death and euthanasia. Currently there are several arguments for and against the legalization of physician assisted death and euthanasia.
Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. Euthanasia is referred to the
It is obvious this is a very controversial issue that is discussed daily by those who wish to die to avoid loss of dignity and also by those who think it could be immoral. For physician-assisted suicide to even be considered the patient must be of sound mind when they are requesting the physician-assisted suicide. To guarantee that the process is carried out correctly a doctor or a witness should be there to prove consciousness. The patient must be diagnosed with a terminal illness, if they are not then there is a possibility for a life. There are many pro’s and con’s to physician-assisted suicide. If a person is terminally ill they would not be in any suffering and they could die with dignity. It is also proven that hospitals would save money, and it could possibly cut some of the deficit. Although it sounds immoral, having a terminally ill person in the family can create many problems, so in this case it would be positive because there would be no more burden. It is quite possible that passing this law would create a damper on the low income and middle class. For many it goes against the separation of church and state, because many believe that dying that way is a sin. It is very possible that miracle cures will arise shortly after a person has partaken in the physician-assisted suicide. In all reality, the government insurance companies and hospitals will want to force this process because it would save them a great deal of money in the long run.
Physician-assisted suicide or PAS are deaths caused by a lethal dose of drug, such as barbiturate, that is prescribed by a physician. The physician does not administer the drug; instead, the patient is responsible for getting the prescribed drug in the pharmacy and taking the medication to end his or her life. This alternative option applies to patients who can make informed decision, suffer from an incurable illness, and experience intolerable symptoms (Canadian Virtual Hospice, 2015)).[Extra bracket] Through the years, many activists, particularly those with terminal illness, fought to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Canada. Among these people include: Sue Rodriguez, Gloria Taylor, and Gillian Bennett (CBC News, 2015). [I don’t think this helps your paper to list peoples names, not necessary] Sue Rodriguez, diagnosed with Amyotorphic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease, brought the right to die campaign center stage in 1992. Now, twenty-one years after her death, the Supreme Court of Canada made physician-assisted suicide legal by February 6, 2016 (Dying With Dignity Canada, n.d.). Despite the move toward legalization, however, the debate on this issue rages on among many Canadians. Some people are in favor of the change to protect the patient’s constitutional rights and autonomy, save healthcare dollars, and take away the guilt of a dying patient becoming a burden to their family, friends and healthcare professionals. Although these are reasonable arguments,
Physician-assisted death has been a hotly debated subject in the later 20th and early 21st century. The subject of physician-assisted death and euthanasia brings about a multitude of ethical dilemmas and causes people to dig deep into personal morals and self-evaluation. In this paper the different types of euthanasia will be defined, Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act and similar the laws enacted in Washington, Montana, and Vermont will be assessed, and the roles and viewpoints of healthcare professionals will be discussed.
Life at one point has to end, and in circumstances maybe a little early. When you see life, you see a person who is happy with problems no bigger than bills and most of all healthy with a whole long life to live, but when you are terminally ill it may be a completely different point of view. When you are sick, you do not enjoy life, but wish for it to end; Why? You say, well you are not living your life when you are in pain. The pain is all you feel and it is way more sad when you know it is not going to end. Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide have given patients an opportunity to decide how they want to die and even an opportunity on how they want to be remembered. For this patients, there point of view is not of them quitting, it is of them feeling suffering and not wanting their children to remember the bad times instead of the good times when the patient was healthy. Physicians should help terminally ill patients die in peace if they decide to because they have the right to determine how to live and die and how they want to safeguard income and expenses.
Throughout ones lifetime there is a set of experiences that affects ones moral views, causing us to distinguish right from wrong in certain situations. One topic that has caused major controversy as to whether it is ethical or not is euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. There are some who view this issue as unethical and murder, and others who see it as a basic constitutional human right. Many people differ in where they place the line that separates allowing one to die and murder, and the biggest issue would be as to whether the patient can competently agree to their death, hence the word suicide. After researching both sides of the issue I have decided that I will be advocating for the view that physician assisted suicided and
Beginning in the 1970s, terminally ill patients were given the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment to end their own life, a process commonly referred to as euthanasia. They would be taken off life support, and death would be allowed to take its natural course. This idea was controversial at first, but now a bigger issue has taken its place. Many patients claim that they reserve the right to physician assisted suicide—killing oneself with means provided by the physician. Assisted suicide has been deemed a criminal offense by most of the United States; however, four states have now accepted the policy. The Death with Dignity Act, as it was called, originated in Oregon in 1994, and it has since been spread to Vermont, Washington, and California (
Before I start, I want you all to know that this speech is meant to challenge your beliefs and show there are always two sides of the story.
Envision yourself laying in a hospital bed hooked to numerous machines. The doctors and nurses are constantly coming in always to determine the status of your health while you’re attempting to get what little rest you can through the suffering your feeling, weakness and pain endlessly throughout your body. On top of that you 're experiencing symptoms from numerous medications, blockage, wooziness, you can barely breathe and the fact that you’re continually ill. The doctors have given you a zero percent chance of survival; and your demise is inescapable, it 's simply a question of when? You 've said your farewells. Presently in the event that you had the opportunity to pick how your life finished, how would you choose it? In physician
Physician Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia have been topics of discussion for the past several centuries, but more recently, states have started to legalize this practice. Euthanasia can be classified into two categories, passive and active. Passive Euthanasia is defined as the alteration of support to allow nature to have its way, and Active Euthanasia is the causing of death through direct action at the request of a patient. Physician Assisted Suicide, otherwise known as PAS, is a practice in which the physician provides the patient with a lethal
People have the freedom to make choices in life. However, the question posed is, do we have the freedom to choose death? Some say absolutely; we should have the freedom to decide how we spend our last days. If they’re filled with pain, debilitating, and cause hardship on loved ones, we should have the option to cease existence. Others take the view, we didn’t choose our birth, and therefore our death isn’t ours to choose. This causes debate on moral, ethical and legal grounds. This has led to defining the process under two separate terms for legal purposes. They are: euthanasia, and physician assisted suicide. Internationally, assisted suicide is a doctor prescribing drugs that end life. The patient is responsible for taking them. Euthanasia is the medication administered by doctors. Today, four countries have laws that allow euthanasia. (Ellis and Bronwyn) A few have laws for physician assisted suicide, and several countries have no laws against suicide. (Humphry) The United States of America have recently added a 5th state to offer assisted suicide. (California End of Life Option Act)