The Treatment Of Terminally Ill

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

There are currently three states that have adopted legislation supporting “Death with Dignity”, also known as physician-assisted suicide. Oregon, Washington, and Vermont have each enacted laws that enable a terminally ill, mentally competent, adult to decide and dictate end of life decisions up to and including the time of their death. Oregon was the first United States (U.S.) to enact legislation and other states in the union have followed suit.

The topic of assisted suicide was almost never broached simply because it was always considered a touchy subject, that all changed last year. Medically assisted suicide is the act of a terminally ill patient deciding to withdraw all forms of medical treatment to ingest a lethal dose of prescribed medication. As of October 5,2015 California is only one of six states that offer medically assisted suicide. The additional five states include; Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont, and New Mexico. Physician assisted suicide rightfully provides terminally-ill patients with the choice to end their life should they meet all requirements and be in the right state of mind at the time of their request.

Laws vary differently across the U.S. and one in particular is only available in Washington state, Physician-Assisted Suicide Law. The law allows people that have been diagnosed as terminally ill to have the option of medical assisted suicide. It allows the patient to go through a process of requests to be prescribed a lethal dose of medication to die peacefully and without pain. The law protects doctors from being criminally prosecuted by the family for abiding the ill family member with the requested drug. The law can be used across the whole country because I do believe that death shouldn’t have to be painful, as long as the estate is ready and the person is of sound mind, it can be an option should be available to those individuals. The

According to research, 66% of adults here in the United States believe that a doctor should allow a patient to die under certain circumstances. Physician assisted death is currently legal in Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Other states such as Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are considering legislation to allow physician assisted deaths for people with terminal illnesses. (Gordon, Serena). Physician assisted death needs to be legal because of how much it has evolved over time; it has many advantages, and the obligations that doctors are responsible

According to an article from CNN.com, there are currently five states in the U.S. where physician-assisted suicide is currently legal. In order to be eligible legally for PAS the patient must have six months or less to live. In the states of Oregon, California, Vermont, Washington and Montana a physician can prescribe medications to move along the death without being prosecuted for murder.

In the United States, physician assisted suicide is legal in six states. People from other countries will come, or bring dying family members, to these states to give them the relief that they ask for. Oregon was the first state to pass their Death with Dignity Act in 1994. Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado all followed suit, two just legalizing it in 2016. Montana’s supreme court, during Baxter v. Montana, ruled there were no laws making physician assisted suicide illegal. In addition to these six states, District of Columbia has passed their Death with Dignity Act in 2017. Every state has had bills in their congress debating whether to legalize physician assisted suicide. It has been estimated that a thousand people, in any state,

Taking a pro approach for physician assisted suicide, Jones’s article delivers the facts to why physician assisted suicide becomes legal. Physician assisted suicide is indeed legal in five U.S states such as, California, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Colorado. Rather than the article being good or bad, this text is highly biased. Jones provides facts to why physician assisted suicide should be legalized. Applying this article helps provide factual evidence about the Death with Dignity laws.

The subject of legalizing physician-assisted suicide is hotly debated these days. There have been many high profile cases including Dr. Jack Kevorkian in the 90’s to the young Oregonian Brittany Maynard who ended her life just this year. Physician-assisted suicide is currently legal in Oregon, Washington, and Montana. However, even where legal, it is unethical for medical professionals to engage in assisting patients to end their lives. There are many good alternatives to physician-assisted death available to terminally ill patients. Physician-assisted suicide should not be legalized.

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.

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

Deterioration of the quality of life for terminally ill patients is a heartbreaking burden suffered by the family. As mentioned in the article “Assisted Suicide” by Reed Karaim, the deterioration of severe illness such as brain cancer can cause not only the patient suffering but the family as well (451). Families stand ready to help but at times can feel weighted down by the required attention these patients may need. Patients are confined to little or no mobility making it extremely difficult for private patient care like hospice to provide adequate service to the patients. These situations leave the families no other option except for 24 hour hospitalization or medically assisted housing alternatives. As the patient’s conditions worsen more medications are needed to relieve pain, provide comfort and treat illness. These medications may cause serious side-effects making conditions worse. Freedom is lost when

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).

Prolonging life of the terminally ill is a bioethical decision. Bioethics is the study of controversial ethical issues that have come about due to advances in biology, medicine, and technology. Some think it is a simple decision on whether to let the pacemaker run or turn off, while others agree that it is a much harder decision than that. The decision of prolonging life comes with medical, moral, financial and legal obstacles (Butler 2013). Making health decisions is a big part of one’s life. These decisions can affect the happiness and well being of a person. Along with these many difficult decisions come challenges and obstacles.

What is physician assisted suicide? The dictionary term indicates physician assisted suicide is “suicide by a patient facilitated by means (such as a drug prescription) or by information (such as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient's intent” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). Assisted suicide is only legal in five U.S. states, and those states are Oregon, Vermont, Washington, California, and Montana. States that are mandated by state law are Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and California; and mandated by court ruling is the state of Montana.