Physician Assisted Suicide

Today, there is a large debate over the situation and consequences of euthanasia. Euthanasia is the act of ending a human’s life by lethal injection or the stoppage of medication, or medical treatment. It has been denied by most of today’s population and is illegal in the fifty states of the United States. Usually, those who undergo this treatment have a disease or an “unbearable” pain somewhere in the body or the mind. Since there are ways, other than ending life, to stop pain caused by illness or depression, euthanasia is immoral, a disgrace to humanity, according to the Hippocratic Oath, and should be illegal throughout the United States.

Euthanasia is defined as the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. Euthanasia is also known as mercy killing, it relieves the patient from a long-term suffering. The word Euthanasia is from the Greek words meaning easy or good death. This voluntary means of ending one’s life is a way to die with dignity, instead of allowing the body to continually decay, it allows the pain to come to an end quickly. Patients who are stuck in hospital beds and cannot move and are unhappy with the life they are living can use this means of death as a freedom to choose. This means of death can bring about a sense of peace, granting the patient to know that they will no longer have to endure

In the Oxford English Dictionary, “euthanasia” is defined as “the means of bringing a gentle and easy death” (“euthanasia” def. 2). Today, euthanasia is a method used in the medical field to put an end to a patient’s agony by taking their life for them, making it a very controversial topic. Many people argue that it is morally wrong to take a human life, and others may argue that it is even more wrong to make someone suffer more than they need to. I will argue that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide is in fact morally permissible.

To discuss and analyze the issues related to the ethical dilemmas of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, a clear understanding of the difference in the definitions and the concepts of the involved terms is necessary. Euthanasia comes from the Greek word Thanatos meaning “death” and the prefix eu-meaning “easy or good,” literally “an easy or good death”. It is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. It involves the physician taking an active role in carrying out the patient’s request, and usually involves him delivering a lethal substance. The physician

The first source I will be using is the article “The Positive Aspects of Physician Assisted Suicide”, by Nicole Smith, where she argues for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. Smith opens her article with her thesis, “citizens who are diagnosed with a terminal illness, should have the right to end their life by physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia in order to enjoy their entire life.” She later argues this point with supporting evidence from a book by Mary Ersek, Assisted Suicide: Unraveling a Complex Issue, “patients have a right to make their own decisions to preserve free choice and human dignity: this right includes the right to choose assisted suicide” (48). Smith also brings an opposing argument

The act of deliberately ending one’s life ostensibly to relieve him/her from severely unrelenting pain and suffering is called Euthanasia. The word Euthanasia is derived from a combination Greek prefix, ‘Eu’ and ‘thanatos’ meaning good and death respectively (Humphry 1-A). According to Webster’s Dictionary, Euthanasia is the practice or an act of ending the life of a hopelessly sick or injured person and will eventually lead to his/her death. Euthanasia—commonly referred to as mercy killing draws and a lot of unending debates and unparallel controversies not only the medical doctors and the families of the affected individuals, but also from the general public, governments, policy makers and scholars alike. Euthanasia is arguably attributed with socioeconomic benefits as well as moral aspects of life. If anything, death being an inevitable natural phenomenon and every living organism, at one point or another must die.

Euthanasia is the method of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering at a patient's request. The practice of euthanasia is prohibited in most countries, as most religious groups oppose the practice. However, euthanasia, despite the negative connotation it is typically associated with, is a legitimate technique that must be legalized. It is necessary that euthanasia is legalized because similarities exist between euthanasia and an existing medical technique (refusal of extensive treatment), which brings up the question of, "Why is one legal while the other is not?" Furthermore, it is necessary not only because patients deserve a choice in when and how they die but also because, if it is not legalized, patients will go through

The history of euthanasia and assisted suicide starts from Ancient Greek, physicians used to perform frequent abortions, voluntary and involuntary mercy killings. People supported voluntary death and physicians often gave their patients the poisons on their request. The ancients supported the voluntary killing, if it was done for the right reasons. For centuries physician-assisted suicide had been understood to mean the process where the relief of pain for the dying was the best way to ensure an “easy death”. By the nineteenth century euthanasia was then described as actual mercy killing. It is a controversy today whether or not euthanasia is inhumane or not.

Euthanasia is described as the practice of killing an individual who is suffering from an incurable illness or disease, which is commonly referred to as assisted suicide. In the past few years, various states have started to consider legislation regarding the legalization of active voluntary euthanasia. The proponents of this practice argue that patients can sometime undergo intolerable and unbelievable suffering and that euthanasia is a potential alternative for alleviating their suffering or ending their hopeless conditions. However, the present debate regarding legalizing euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide has mainly focused on whether it's appropriate for certain individuals or whether passive euthanasia is similar to passive euthanasia. The main issue surrounding the debate revolves around the ethics of having a specific social policy or practice instead of the morality of a particular decision during the care of an individual patient. The major ethical concern about legalized euthanasia is whether legalizing it would promote or prevent a good death for many Americans who die annually from incurable illnesses.

Generally people do not seem to realize the variety of problems that occurs when the abolition of Euthanasia is upheld. Terminally ill patients who request to die formally in ways like the painless lethal injection are practicing to the act of Euthanasia. When living with an intolerable condition each and every day the feeling of death will cross your mind numerous of times. When facing the fact that the incurable condition will only lead to one’s death is heartbreaking. Many patients are diagnosed in conditions where they only have a certain amount of time to life than the condition will overcome their life. That is when these victims revert to the most logical solution at hand by ending the suffering under their own terms. Avoiding the sudden and unpredictable outcome to their diagnosis since the end come occur at any point. Even the doctors of these patients dispise setting the reality in these diagnosis knowing they have no way out but to suffer. Euthanasia has become the saving grace for these patients who realize Euthanasia is best for themselves and their families in their conscious mindset. Under permission and consent from the patient and their families doctors should be allowed to prescribe painless pills that will take their lives at their own terms. The right-to-die, family matters, harmlessness  and financial deficiency is just some of the many reasons why Euthanasia should not be prohibited in the US.

Euthanasia ties into the right to be helped. Euthanasia helps the terminally ill patients by relieving extreme pain; it helps them by letting them move on. Euthanasia is the kindest, most needed most efficient solution. If the help a sick patient wants is a lethal injection by a physician for the purpose of causing immediate death then that patient should have the freedom and right to get that kind of help. Another article reads;

Euthanasia is an act undertaken by health physicians with the intention of ending a person’s life to relieve that persons suffering and pain by causing their death. Most people today refer to it as ‘mercy killing’ as it is considered to be a good death because it ends unbearable pain or distress being caused by lifelong, terminal illnesses, diseases or conditions. A terminal illness is where there is no expectation of recovery from the illness. Euthanasia can be voluntary or non-voluntary. A terminally ill patient can request to end their life so they can be put out of their pain, and this is called voluntary euthanasia. Non-voluntary euthanasia means that the person who is ill never requested to end their life. Euthanasia is also either active or passive. Active euthanasia means that the voluntary person will be given a legal dose of substances to end their life. Passive euthanasia occurs when treatments for the illness or the suffering are withheld and nothing is done to keep the patient alive. The underlying reasons and intentions for ending a patients life makes a significant impact on the decision whether the patient should be euthanised or not. If a persons life is valued and the death is for the patients benefit and for nobodies personal interest, then euthanasia is permissible. Our society is made up of many different values, opinions and beliefs. There are a range of people who say we must respect the value of life and view euthanasia as murder. Euthanasia is a

Euthanasia, which is also referred to as mercy killing, is the act of ending someone’s life either passively or actively, usually for the purpose of relieving pain and suffering. “All forms of euthanasia require an intention to accelerate death in order to benefit patients experiencing a poor quality of life” (Sayers, 2005). It is a highly controversial subject that often leaves a person with mixed emotions and beliefs. Opinions regarding this topic hinge on the health and mental state of the victim as well as method of death. It raises legal issues as well as the issue of morals and ethics. Euthanasia is divided into two different categories, passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. “There are unavoidable uncertainties in both active and

Euthanasia, otherwise known as physician-assisted suicide, is defined in the MedicineNet online medical dictionary as the voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician (MedicineNet). The act of euthanasia is a prevalent, modern issue that has been a highly debated and controversial topic throughout societies worldwide. For generations, the conversation of assisted suicide remains a contemporary and modern dilemma becoming increasingly speculated due to constantly evolving medicinal practices and procedures further

There are different types of euthanasia. There is voluntary active euthanasia, in which a clearly competent patient makes a fully voluntary and persistent request for aid in dying. Appraising active euthanasia from a virtue perspective can offer a more compassionate approach to the predicament of practitioners and clients (Begley). Involuntary euthanasia is when a competent patient explicitly refuses or opposes receiving euthanasia. This method is the commonly called, “mercy killing” method. Also, non-voluntary euthanasia is when a patient is incompetent and unable to express his or her wishes about euthanasia. Then there is physician-assisted suicide, the patient is ending his or her life with a lethal dose of medication requested of and provided by a physician for that purpose (Brock). This method is also