Physician Assisted Suicide : Who Should Decide If A Terminally Ill Person?

Legalized physician assisted suicide. California, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have made it legal by legislation, and Maine has made it legal by a court ruling. The remaining 45 states

Suicide is one person’s personal decision; physician-assisted suicide is a patient who is not capable of carrying the task out themselves asking a physician for access to lethal medication. What people may fail to see however is that the physician is not the only healthcare personnel involved; it may include, but is not limited to, a physician, nurse, and pharmacist. This may conflict with the healthcare worker’s own morals and there are cases in which the patient suffers from depression, or the patient is not receiving proper palliative care. Allowing physician-assisted suicide causes the physician to become entangled in an ethical and moral discrepancy and has too many other issues surrounding it for it to be legal.

In today's society, one of the most controversial issues is physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill. Many people feel that it is wrong for people, regardless of their health condition, to ask their health care provider to end their life; while others feel it is their right to be able to choose how and when they die. When a physician is asked to help a patient into death, they have many responsibilities that come along with that single question. Among those responsibilities are: providing valid information as to the terminal illness the patient is suffering, educating the patient as to what their final options may be, making the decision of whether or not to help the patient into death, and also if they do decide to help,

Who dictates how you live your life? How does one define life and when that life should end? If you become terminally ill, would you like the choice to choose how your life ends? In the United States, assisted suicide, is a highly-debated issue. On one side, there are many in support of allowing a person the right to end their life with dignity at the time of their choosing. While others believe, it is a moral right to sustain life and leave a person’s exit from this world to a higher power. The two opposing viewpoints have both compassionate reasons and disadvantages; nevertheless, a person’s human rights as an individual are the most important aspect to uphold.

Physician assisted suicide has been a subject of much controversy in the field of healthcare. A physician’s decision to provide life ending drugs relies on whether or not this practice is legal in their state of residence, the patient’s competence, and whether or not they are suffering from a terminal illness. In a study conducted by Zenz, Tryba, and Zenz (2015), it was found that healthcare providers (physicians and nurses) would rather perform euthanasia on terminal patients over physician assisted suicide. Interestingly enough, this study also found that there is a more general acceptance of this practice than a willingness to perform

Physicians have the obligation to relieve pain and suffering and to support the dignity of dying patients and must respect the patients decision. The practice of physician assisted suicide has reportedly also been administered to those deemed chronically depressed. Oregon, Washington, and Montana have legalized this practice, and in 2013 Vermont declared that suicide with prescribed medications was a legal medical treatment. New Mexico is inching closer to being the fifth state

Death is an uncomfortable subject to talk about for most people. They're afraid for what lies after death, whether that be Heaven, Hell, or nothing; It all depends on your views. But one of the least talked about ways of dying is Physician Assisted Suicide. Only four states offer Physician Assisted Suicide: Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the latest to allow is California. There are those who don't agree with this route of death but there are those who support it. I'm here to tell you that this is a acceptable route of dying. This paper will support one's right to die by Physician Assisted Suicide. The key points we'll cover is one's eligibility to death with dignity, exhausting all other care options, and lastly the obtaining and ingesting

In today’s society, suicide, and more controversially, physician assisted suicide, is a hotly debated topic amongst both every day citizens and members of the medical community. The controversial nature of the subject opens up the conversation to scrutinizing the ethics involved. Who can draw the line between morality and immorality on such a delicate subject, between lessening the suffering of a loved one and murder? Is there a moral dissimilarity between letting someone die under your care and killing them? Assuming that PAS suicide is legal under certain circumstances, how stringent need be these circumstances? The patient must be terminally ill to qualify for voluntary physician-assisted suicide, but in the eyes of the non-terminal patients with no physical means to end their life, the ending of their pain through PAS may be worth their death; at what point is the medical staff disregarding a patient’s autonomy? Due to the variability of answers to these questions, the debate over physician-assisted suicide is far from over. However, real life occurrences happen every day outside the realm of debate and rhetoric, and decisions need to be made.

Currently in America, terminally-ill patients in most states have only two options: receive treatments (some experimental) or wait for natural death. The third option on the other hand, exists in only five states. For dying patients in Montana, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and California, they have the option for a physician assisted suicide (PAS). California recently passed the End of Life Option Act, thereby joining Oregon, Washington, and Vermont when it comes to legalizing PAS via legislation. For Montana, PAS is neither legal nor illegal according to a court decision. Judging by the fact that PAS is currently only practiced in five out of fifty states, it is clear that the issue of hastening the death of patients (by their own wishes) remains a hotly debated topic. This paper will proceed to analyze how each of the five states tackled the issues surrounding PAS.

Physician-assisted suicide is a form of assisted suicide in the United States, in which the physicians prescribe lethal doses of drugs or explaining a method of suicide to the patients upon the request of the patients. Physician-assisted suicide is different from the active euthanasia, which refers to competent patients voluntarily agree to euthanasia through communicating their wishes when they are competent or through instructions to be followed if they become incompetent because the final act of killing is performed by the patients, rather than the physicians in the active euthanasia. To date, physician-assisted suicide is only legal in eight states, including California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and

Though assisted suicide is a humane way to end human suffering, it is still illegal in most US states (ProQuest Staff). Assisted suicide has created many ripples and tears in state governments all over the united states. Oregon legislature began to take action in passing a law called measure 16 or “The Oregon Death with Dignity Act” to make assisted suicide legal in the late 90’s (ProQuest Staff). After Oregon had passed the laws the US government got involved issuing a temporary restraining order and an injunction barring the state from putting Measure 16 into effect (ProQuest Staff). Two years later Oregon residents gain the right to end their lives if they have a terminal illness (ProQuest Staff). Oregon’s law on assisted suicide is there but is very precise as to when and how one can end their life. Patients wanting to obtain a lethal prescription must first, have a serious and incurable illness, and secondly requests for lethal medication must be made no more than six months from death (Wente). After Oregon complications with passing their Death with Dignity Act other states soon began to follow creating their own laws on assisted suicide. The second state in the US to pass these laws was Washington, they passed their version of the act in 2008. After Washington, Montana soon followed in 2010 becoming the third state to pass legislature approving assisted suicide.

Currently physician assisted suicide is legal by state law in four states, Washington, Vermont, Oregon and lastly California (CNN PAS). Under different circumstances, legalization doesn't stop there. By court approval in 2008 Montana has jumped on board to legalize PAS (CNN PAS). In each state there are different rules and regulations to receive the drug. CNN discusses how all five states have one thing in common, that being the drug has to be prescribed by a doctor meaning an MD or a DO.

Forty five states and the District of Columbia consider assisted suicide to be illegal and prohibit euthanasia under general homicide laws.

Currently in America, physician-assisted suicide is only legal in the states of Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado and Washington D.C.

One of the only places on Earth to legalize physician-assisted suicide is the state of Oregon with a Death with Dignity Act. However, Oregon residents have a peace of mind knowing that if it came down to needing physician-assisted death, they would have it available (Dick and Lindsey).