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The Doctrine Of Physician Assisted Suicide

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Although a majority of Americans consider suicide morally wrong, the public shows a broad support for the idea of physician assisted suicide when considering terminal patients. However, even though it is the same concept, the term "physician assisted suicide" is a somewhat negative implication for a substantial amount of Americans, which is why the public is divided when asked about its moral acceptance. Physician-assisted suicide is thought by many to be a form of euthanasia, however, it is not. Euthanasia is when a doctor injects a patient with a lethal dosage of medication accelerating the death process. During this process, the physician only prescribes a lethal dose of medication to a patient. According to Dr. Brian Pollard,…show more content…
(Oregon health authority, 2015) Just a month later of November 1997, another state wide ballot presented which asked Oregon voters to withdrawal the Death with Dignity Act. The ballot was carried out, yet the voters still favored the act by a 60% margin, this allowed the Death with Dignity Act to remain. Oregon then became the first state to allow this practice followed by Washington, Vermont, and Montana. New Mexico has become significantly closer to becoming the fifth state (Ganzini, 2015). DWDA allows terminally ill individuals to end their lives through the method of self-administration of medications that cause death; these medications are prescribed by a physician for this purpose. The law states that, in order to participate, the patient must have specific criteria’s to be able to participate in the program. The patient verbally voices two requests to willingly take their own lives, this request must be at least 15 days apart and the patient must also provide a written request to the physician followed by two witnesses including one that is not related to the participant. Following this step the diagnosis and prognosis must then be confirmed by the primary physician and consulting MD. This is also completed with an assessment determining whether the patient is capable of making health care decisions for him/herself (Ganzini, 2015). The patient may
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