Exemplification Essay: Doctor Assisted Suicide Epidemic

Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders in Suicide Attempts Nursing 410 Introduction The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has published a fact sheet of statistics on suicide in the United States. In 2007, it is reported that suicide was the tenth leading cause of death. Furthermore, for every suicide committed, eleven were attempted. A total of 34,598 deaths occurred from suicide with an overall rate of 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. (NIMH, 2010). Risk factors were also noted on this report and listed “depression and other mental disorders, or a substance abuse disorder (often in combination with other mental disorders). More than ninety percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors (NIMH, 2010).”

Pain is universal. In life, everyone will feel pain; it is inevitable and cruel. Physical or emotional, insignificant or severe, it is there. The pain continues mounting into an unbearable amount of suffering. Suffering that blots out everything of worth, such as family, love, aspirations, and optimism. Hopelessness seizes any will to endure. With no way to subside or control the pain, often one will go to extremes in order to be free of it. Many take their life, in order to escape the horror. Committing suicide is a traumatizing experience for any and all involved. Life is precious. The chance to live is only given once, and cannot be taken for granted. Preventing even a single life from ending early is imperative and obligatory

Physician assisted suicide/dying (PAD) is it good or bad? PAD is referred to when physician provides patients who are terminally ill with prescriptions of a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient’s request, which the patient intends to use to end their own life (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2011); another option that is close to physician assisted suicide is Euthanasia. Euthanasia is the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2011).

Physician Assisted Suicide 1. A request for assisted Suicide is typically a cry for help. It is in reality a call for counseling, assistance, and positive alternatives as solutions for very real problems. 2. Suicidal Intent is typically transient. Of those who attempt suicide but are stopped, less than 4 percent

Writing Project Worksheet 1. This paper will examine the Washington state policy of physician-assisted suicide. 2. State Info: (characteristics, size, culture, political culture, industries, features, etc. to explain state support of policy)

Jennifer Torrence Instructor Mrs. Wallace English Composition II 5 July 2017 Physician-Assisted Suicide: “Let me die”, are the words Jennifer Cowart, age thirty-two, mother of two young children, mumbled to rescue personnel as she lay on the asphalt alert, but in unimaginable pain. Her body covered in 3rd to 4th degree burns

Humane and legal solution for those set on committing suicide C. Detriments of PAS 1. Individuals can be coerced into suicide 2. Those with mental illness could choose suicide instead of treatment III. Conclusion First Perspective (Pros): People deserve to decide how they die if they are to face the miserable fact that they will meet a premature and terrible demise. PAS affords patients with terminal illnesses the option to choose a peaceful, stress-free death with the aid of a medical professional (Acker, 2015).

The Center for Disease Control is responsible for keeping track and providing facts and figures for suicide. They describe suicide as a serious problem and a leading cause of death in the United States. It is in fact the 10th leading cause of death across all age groups. In 2013, an estimated 41,149 people successfully committed suicide (Understanding). In contrast, 494,169 attempted to harm or kill themselves but failed (Understanding). Many more people are thought to have tried and not sought out help, leaving them an unknown factor in the equation. All in all, suicide and its attempt are responsible 6.1 billion dollars in medical and work loss costs in the United States annually (Understanding).

Physician-assisted suicide is the practice in which a doctor prescribes a terminally ill patient with a lethal medication as a form of active, voluntary euthanasia. These patients, rather than suffer slowly and painfully, often request this procedure as a means of experiencing a more “dignified” death. The debate surrounding this issue is a heated one, especially among the general public whose attitudes are deeply influenced by the level of patient pain and discomfort (Frileux et al. 334). At the heart of the issue is the conflict between a patient’s right to choose between life and death and, as expressed by one social scientist, “society’s obligation to protect its most vulnerable members from hastened and not completely voluntary death”

In Canada, physician assisted suicide was deemed to be legal quite recently. However, many Canadian physicians are weary about the new practice. This is due to the fact that many physicians believe it is “their moral duty” to heal patients rather than end the lives of patients. Contrastingly in Belgium, mental health patients reserve the right to end their lives whenever they choose. In an article by Margaret Wente, the reader is introduced to a patient with the alias “Eva.” Eva chose to end her life because she was “too depressed to live (Should doctors

Gabe Lindblom September 29th, 2015 New Testament Survey Suicide in the Bible Is There Still Hope? There is one death by suicide in the United States every 13 minutes. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and depression affects 25% of our population.

Introduction Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and approximately forty thousand Americans commit suicide annually (CDC, 2013). Globally, there are 14.5 suicides per 100,000 people (Hawton & van Heeringen, 2009). Suicide is the act of purposefully causing one’s own demise and is complex; it could be due to a wide variety of risk factors and social determinants. Many people that have committed suicide have a mental disorder that could have been treated, thus suicide could have been prevented. Suicidal ideation, which is thoughts of hurting or killing oneself, can also lead to suicide if help is not sought (Bridge, Goldstein & Brent, 2006). As many resources as there are available to prevent suicide, people are

August ??, 2015 Suicide is an occurrence in life that society does not want to talk about. Social knowledge is minimal at best about how to approach communication with those affected by suicide. The stigma about suicide is vastly misunderstood, unfounded and should not exist. Learning about suicide is very important not only for society but for those who have to suffer and live with the “social blight” society has created about this sad problem. There are various reasons for attempted suicide such as mental illness, anxiety, depression, and the struggles of life in general as the list goes on. The bridge between life and death is knowledge, compassion and perseverance.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, is what many say. How ever there is no single explanation for taking one's own life as the conflicts are what branches out to many possibilities. This topic is a taboo among today's society, it's seen as something shamed to talk

-In the last half-century, suicide rates have increased by 60 % worldwide. -In 2000, approximately one million people died of suicide – 16 per 100,000 or one in every 40 seconds.