Physician Assisted Suicide Case Study

Physician-assisted suicide should be legal nationwide. As a former hospital employee, I know first-hand that some diseases can cause so much disability and pain that patients want to end their lives because they have had enough. Something dear to me is personal autonomy, a right of all people. If the patient is competent and wants to end their life, and a health care provider is willing to humanely help end that patient's life, then physician-assisted suicide should be legal and be performed, per the individual's wishes.

Abstract: This paper discusses the medical ethics of Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS). Focusing on the ideas of legal vs illegal, the different views of PAS will both be addressed. While active euthanasia is illegal, passive euthanasia, or allowing natural death, is completely legal everywhere. PAS will help patients end suffering for themselves at the end of their lives, as well as the family's. The price of the drug may be expensive but the price of medical treatments continues to rise. The Hippocratic Oath does not support the aid in ending a life, however it has been changed in the past. Many citizens are afraid that is PAS was considered legal, it would grow into something even more illegal being debated. Also, the religious aspect of the end of life had conflicting views as some believe PAS is ending suffering, a good deed, and other believe PAS is not respecting a human life. PAS is only legal in seven states but has gained the attention of many others and other places around the world.

According to Paul J. van der Wal et al. in ¨Euthanasia, Physician-Assisted Suicide, and Other Medical Practices Involving the End of Life in the Netherlands, 1990–1995¨, he addresses that assisted suicide should be legal and regulated. The authors’ purpose of writing this journal article is to make reliable estimates of euthanasia; to describe patients and physicians, and to evaluate changes between 1990 and 1995. Even though assisted suicide is a growing taboo, it is being practiced more each and every day. Paul J. van der Wal et al. chose to conduct two studies to answer their hypotheses.

1. (problem – PAS): In today’s society, Physician Assisted Suicide is one of the most questionable and debatable issues. Many people feel that it is wrong for people to ask their doctor to help them end their life; while others feel it is their right to choose between the right to life and the right to death. “Suffering has always been a part of human existence.” (PAS) “Physicians have no similar duty to provide actions, such as assistance in suicide, simply because they have been requested by patients. In deciding how to respond to patients ' requests, physicians should use their judgment about the medical appropriateness of the request.” (Bernat, JL) Physician Assisted Suicide differs from withholding or discontinuing medical treatment, it consists of doctors providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication to aid in the use to end their life.

Petitioners in this case are the State of Washington and its Attorney General. Respondents Harold Glucksberg, Abigail Halperin, Thomas A. Preston, and Peter Shalit, are medical physicians who practice in the State of Washington, along with three gravely ill, pseudonymous plaintiffs who have since died and the non-profit organization that counsel people considering physician-assisted suicide, Compassion in Dying, sued in the United States District Court, seeking a declaration that Wash Rev. Code 9A.36.060(1) (1994) was unconstitutional. Washington vs. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997). The Washington State statute provided a person was guilty of the felony of promoting a suicide attempt when the person knowingly caused or aided another person

I believe physician assisted suicide should be legal because it is your right and better to do it with a doctor than by yourself at home.

Advances in medical treatments have raised the average life expectancy of people in Canada. However, it fails to guarantee a perfectly healthy life for people who experience incurable diseases. The rising interest in Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Canada, is an outcome of the desire of people to have a greater control over their lives in terms of their capacity to determine death when the patients are terminally ill.

The federal legalization of physician-assisted suicide is a conflict of ethics. This is one reason the problem has yet to be resolved. There are multiple sides to this argument. Some people want the government to mandate the legalization of physician-assisted suicide while others believe the practice to be morally unacceptable. Then there are those who do not have enough knowledge on the issue to have an opinion at all. This issue that needs to be brought to Americans’ attention sooner rather than later, because more Americans are being given the opportunity to vote on the topic.

The thing that kept Steven going was the thought that Jeffrey having cancer was going to be a mistake. During Jeffrey’s stay at the Philadelphia Children's hospital Steven was kept unnotified of how Jeffrey was doing. Apart of that he was getting no attention whatsoever from either of his parents. Steven felt forgotten and this brought anger. Through journals from Miss Palma’s class he wrote about how nobody had thought about how he was feeling about this situation. However when Jeffrey and his mother returned from Philadelphia Steven learned that the thoughts he had was wrong.

The debate over Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide is becoming more and more complicated as doctors develop a better understanding for its purpose and usefulness. Euthanasia is a Greek term meaning “good death” and it can be described as a killing of a patient who chooses to take this course in action by applying, administrating, and undergoing a procedure to end their life. Euthanasia is prescribed when a patient is in intense pain or suffering and is ready to end their life in a safe and logical way with the help of a doctor. It is a simple procedure with a choice of either drug administration or a lethal injection. The injection is much faster than the drugs, but both work in the same way. The significance of euthanasia is to be able

The following case study addresses the care I provided to a patient who was brought in by ambulance to the emergency department after a gunshot wound.

The Canadian justice system is supposed to be neutral, fair, objective, and impartial. However, we can see that this is not the reality but rather often times it can be oppressive, constraining, and enforces discriminatory legislation or policies that directly or indirectly works to target certain groups of people. This is especially evident when we look at the criminal laws which criminalize non-able-bodied and terminally ill individuals, who seek out assistance in dying because they feel that their life is no longer worth living, and as a result takes away their dignity and right to autonomy. The decriminalization of physician-assisted suicide is fundamental in order to achieve and maintain the equality, autonomy, and dignity of all individuals.

According Fink (1992), in 1939, the former London Asylum opened a Metrazol clinic. Metrazol was first used in clinical experiments by Hungarian physician, Ladislaus von Meduna in 1933 (Fink, 1992). The Hungarian physician explained that inducing epileptic convulsions with insulin may "cure" schizophrenia. His results came from his observations of individuals who had both schizophrenia and epilepsy. Meduna examined patients who had epileptic seizures that would experience a remission of their symptoms of both diseases (Fink, 1992). Metrazol is one of many drugs that can induce seizures artificially. The Asylum began to phase out its use in 1943, turning instead to electroconvulsive therapy (Fink, 1992).

An elderly Toronto man, of the age of 81, has died just 24 hours after a court affirmed his appeal to doctor assisted suicide. A.B. was a husband and grandfather who had been suffering from the advanced propelling stages of terminal lymphoma and was diagnosed in 2012. A.B. was bed-ridden and intolerable pain, despite being prescribed pain killers and other narcotics. A.B. appealed to the Supreme Court three months prior to his death, to fight for what he deemed to be right so fundamentally. To have the right to decide when one can no longer preserve through the torment of a disease and to be helped to death by a doctor, keeping in mind the end goal to go with tranquility and dignity. He was granted permission on Thursday, March 17,2016 from

This is 51 year old WF. Patient has several issues. Patient's mental healthe is followed by JBS. Patient's Current medications are Zertec, prilosec, topamax, effexor. Patient's been out of her zyrtec, prilosec for the past 3 weeks. Patient states her GERD is back. Sharp burning sensation, this is a chronic issue for the patient. Patient aslo have a degenerative joint of Right knee, patient reports pain is 5-6/10 daily, acceptable pain isd 3-4/10. Patient brought medical record and chart's been reviewed. Patient is to comeback in one week for additional follow up. Patient states her depressive moods are well managed with current plan of care by JBS. Patient denies thoughts of suicide or homicide. Patient has a history of attempted suicide.