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.

In the United States today, only several states legally recognize physician-assisted suicide as an option for families and terminally ill patients hoping to embrace a death with dignity. Although there is a growing movement to promote access to physician-assisted suicide, the topic is still widely regarded as taboo. As of 2016, the states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Colorado, New Jersey, and California are the only states to allow full and legal access to physician-assisted suicide. Alongside those states are Montana and New Mexico, which legally offer “aid in dying,” meaning the state allows for physicians to assist in alleviating the longevity of the dying process.

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

This is a case study that will be examined and evaluating a 68-year-old male, husband that killed his wife per her request. Allowing someone to die has always been a sociological concern. Will take into consideration the ethical values as well as providing proposed solutions on how this can benefit the husband and wife as well as the family, even though they have moved away. During this process, will look at possible treatments, suggestions that will result in a better outcome.

Physician-assisted suicide is one of the most controversial topics in the United States and other parts of the world today. Assisted death allows mentally proficient, terminally-ill adult patients to request access to life-ending medication from their physician. This type of assisted death is promoted by organizations such as the Death with Dignity National Center, who advocate for countrywide advances in end-of-life care and extended options for individuals near death. Although there are various arguments that state it is both immoral and unethical, physician-assisted suicide is a viable and honorable method to provide end-of-life options to the terminally-ill and to provide better support, relief, and comfort to dying patients. This topic

Friend (2011) explains that Western culture values the importance of autonomy within the individual. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan stated, “An ignoble end steeped in decay is abhorrent. A quiet, proud death, bodily integrity intact, is a matter of extreme confidence” (Berry, 2015, p.1). Andrew Solomon, PhD, author and professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University, used the quote in the previous statement to add to his argument that physician-assisted suicide gives the patient back control over their life and decisions. Soloman’s mother passed away from ovarian cancer and he explained, “…This death was my mother's own. She was the same person in death that she had been in life, and it was her right to choose it" (Berry, 2015, p.1). This quote demonstrates that he felt some pride that his mother was able to make the final decision regarding her death. An Oregon study compared families who lost someone by PAS and families who had a loved one pass away of natural causes. It found that the families who lost someone aided in death by a physician had a better acceptance of the death and the grieving process (Berry, 2015, p.3). Derek Humphry, a British journalist and founder of the U.S. Hemlock Society explained, “The ultimate civil liberty is the right to choose to

Terrence Jr., Londyn, and Kennedy's father (Terrence's) smoke marijuana in the home. Terrence's girlfriend (Jasmine) smokes marijuana in the home as well. Jasmine has two children (Dallas and Salyha) in the home as well. Both adults sell and manufactured the marijuana in the home. The children have access to the marijuana. Terrence Sr. and Jasmine has unlocked guns in the home. The guns are out in plain view. Terrence sleeps with a gun underneath his pillow. Terrence’s has a gun in his truck. Jasmine’s has a gun in her truck.

Thirty-six year old James Foster accompanied by his wife Megan signs his do-not-resuscitate order (DNR). Both Mr. Foster and his wife are understanding of what a do-not-resuscitate order is and are in agreeance. James has stage IV prostate cancer, but he is young and his wife believes he will pull through. A month passes, and early one morning James stops breathing, the patient is coding. Nurse Compton rushes in along with other medical professionals. Mrs. Foster is screaming, “Save him. Save him. Do whatever it takes to save him. Do not let him die.” Nurse Compton knows that Mr. Foster has a do-not-resuscitate order on file and feels not only sad in regards to the situational pain that Mrs. Foster is exhibiting, but morally conflicted with

In 1981, in San Francisco, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) invests the family savings in medical scanners, which eventually financially breaks the family financially, bringing troubles to his relationship with his wife Linda (Thandie Newton). Their son Christopher (Jaden Smith) stays with Chris because he and his wife both know that he will be able to take better care of him. The misspelling of the word ‘happiness’ is obviously intentional. The mural outside of Christopher’s day care spelled it wrong everyday. Gardner pitched a fit about how he wanted it changed because it was just teaching the kids the wrong way of spelling it. The owner of the day care told him that it is not important to the kids how it is spelled. It is only important that

Oregon, the first state to legalize PAS in 1997, passed the Death with Dignity Act (DWDA) which allowed patients to end their life by taking a lethal dose of a medication prescribed by a physician. In the article, “The Case for Physician Assisted Suicide: How Can It Possiblye Be Proven?,” the authors, E. Dahl and N. Levy, state that the proponents of PAS believe that there have been several reports of terminally ill patients abusing the DWDA which can be caused by mental illnesses or depression. Due to the possibility of physicians abusing the right to prescribe terminally ill patients lethal doses of a medication, many doubt whether physicians should play a large role in the process of PAS. In the article, “Should Psychiatrists Serve as

The life of Joan was anything far from normal. Weighing less than 100 pounds for more than five years, she has found herself suffering from something far worse than the tribulations of a typical middle-aged woman. Starting at a young age, Joan strove for perfection in order to please her parents, but there were a number of things that prevented her from completely doing so, including being overweight. Joan also suffered a huge loss when her brother’s life was taken by a car incident that happened under her supervision. This led her parents to be overprotective and probably led to an unhealthy relationship between Joan and them. Eventually, Joan got married and became pregnant, gaining 80 pounds in the process. Due to relational apathy and discord, her and her husband opted for a divorce, which drove her and her son back to living with her parents. Months later, Joan and her son were involved in a

The patient was given a health questionnaire to determine capacity for self-injury on her visit to montefiore 10--10-2016.

The intuitive account of the moral significance of choice is what Scanlon calls the Forfeiture View, which he then sets against the Value of Choice view. The Forfeiture View places moral weight on the deliberateness and voluntariness of a person’s decision. This view asserts that one has no right to complain about a given health outcome if he consciously and intentionally chose the harmful option while he could have reasonably avoided it as she was well-informed and has access to alternative options through which she would have avoided being exposed to harm. (Scanlon, 1998, 258-9) In other words, what matters is whether one has chosen the risk “with full awareness of the considerations”, in other words, with full awareness of the probability

In more recent years, physician assisted suicide has not only gained publicity but has become a topic of interest to many individuals. As of 2013, three states have legalized physician assisted suicide via legislation, including Vermont, Washington and Oregon (ProCon). Montana who has legalized this method via a court decision. In the statement made by the Harvard student it states, “What else would any humane person do but assist those who are suffering and terminally ill die if they wish such assistance”. I agree with the statement above, pertaining to legal physician assisted suicide. From a Kantian worldview, all individuals have the right to choose and autonomy. The Center for Disease Control defines autonomy as the right of the patient

I will be discussing the criteria needed to legalize physician-assisted suicide by applying different moral theories. My main argument is supported by care ethics, but I will also be using Utilitarian, Kantian and Disability ethics to support legalization. Provided that the patients are competent and fully informed, physician-assisted suicide should be legalized in strict circumstances where life-ending treatments are the only or best way to care for a person.