Even though organizations such as hospice which minimize pain are made aware to patients with terminal illnesses, it begs the question why do people still want to partake in physician assisted suicide? The issue of wanting to commit suicide is not so much an issue of physical health but more so an issue of mental and spiritual health. In her paper, Foley refers to a study which says “depressed patients with cancer said they would view positively those physicians who acknowledged their willingness to assist in suicide. In contrast, patients with cancer who were suffering from pain would be suspicious of such physicians”(121). In other words, the majority of a patient 's suffering actually comes from their mental state. As we all know, there …show more content…
While How to Die in Oregon sheds some light on how her son felt about the situation, I think it is safe to assume that it is not something he recovered from quickly. The essential idea is that a two hour film cannot perfectly illustrate for someone how they should feel about physician assisted suicide because no one can really know how much pain this event inflicted upon Cody’s family. By ending the film with a somewhat peaceful setting and the death of Cody, the way it was filmed can convince a viewer that PAS is the right thing however they would never truly know until they were in that situation. In short, as opposed to looking for an easy way out, we should be fostering better solutions for the depression brought upon via terminal illness. Foley says “The lack of training in the care of dying patients is evident in practice”(121). This begs the question, why is fostering care and a loving attitude towards a dying patient so much more difficult than simply killing them? does one not feel a sense of guilt by taking a loved one from someone else and ultimately trading one person 's suffering for another? Doctors should be seen as friends and healers as opposed to simply medical professionals. We should administer antidepressants to patients suffering and implore that patients spend time with their loved ones and do activities such as gardening, cooking and going for walks. By doing
Experts in pain management believe that if such pain can be relieved that in most cases, patients who request assisted suicide will withdraw their request once those issues are addressed. It might be the case that some patients who have requested physician assisted suicide are suffering from depression due to their circumstances and have not properly treated for this. Although this is not meant to be used for depression; in states where physician assisted suicide it is legal there is no psychological counseling required. Proponents of physician assisted suicide would argue that it gives the patient the power to choose when they will die but this isn't the case because many people may feel pressure from family who don’t want to take on the responsibility of caring for a terminally ill member. The patient may feel pressure not to financially burden their family with medical
One of the most controversial end-of-life decisions is “physician-assisted suicide” (PAS). This method of suicide involves a physician providing a patient, at his or her own request, with a lethal dose of medication, which the patient self-administers. The ethical acceptability and the desirability of legalization of this practice both continue to cause controversy (Raus, Sterckx, Mortier 1). Vaco v. Quill and Washington v. Glucksberg were landmark decisions on the issue of physician-assisted suicide and a supposed Constitutional right to commit suicide with another's assistance. In Washingotn v. Glucksberg, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state of Washington's ban on physician-assisted suicide was not unconstitutional.
Imagine a cancer patient on a short rode to death. The pain this patient is experiencing is unreal and unimaginable to most. The pain medicine that can be used does little to take the agony away. The doctors can put the patient in an induced coma, but what kind of living is that? It is not living. The patient does not want to go on. Is it so wrong to ask for a way out? With less than six months to live, the patient’s hope is gone. Many argue that euthanasia is not ethical, but is it really ethical to let someone live in constant, horrifying pain and agony? While in some cases having the right to die might result in patients giving up on life, physician-assisted suicide should be legalized in all fifty states for terminally ill patients with worsening or unbearable pain.
In a Netherlands report it tells, “Many physicians who had practiced euthanasia [form of assisted suicide] mentioned that they would be most reluctant to do so again” (Stevens 189). Everyday these physicians are faced with decisions of how to best save their patient. Now they also, have to determine if they can come to terms with ending their lives. The impact on these physicians is tremendous. Kenneth R. Stevens the Vice President of Physicians for Compassionate Care concludes, “Doctors who have participated in euthanasia and/or PAS [Physician-Assisted Suicide] are adversely affected emotionally and psychologically by their experiences” (187). Physicians, who have made the decision to help, face the consequences of their actions. They have helped someone take a life, even if it their own. Death always leaves an impression. Imagine what it must be like to be directly involved with a death. Those men and women in time will have to come to terms with their participation in Physician-Assisted Suicide.
Imagine suffering day to day with consistent hospital visits, numerous medications, and unbearable pain for the next six months of your life, then being told that dying peacefully is not a granted privilege. Then imagine not being able to die in a controlled and dignified process like you prefer to. How would that affect the way you feel about death and the rest of your life you have left? Millions of people suffering from terminal illnesses consider physician-assisted suicide, but their wishes are rejected due to state and government beliefs. In fact, only five states out of fifty have a law permitting citizens the right to participate in physician-assisted suicide. That leaves just only 10% of the United States entitling critically ill patients to die with nobility. However, many citizens are commencing to lean toward physician-assisted suicides once they ascertain they hold a terminal illness.
Matthew Paris explains in his article “Soon We Will Accept That Useless Lives Should End,” published in the Spectator, that dying is not a desire for the patients with a terminal illness. Terminally ill patients end their life because they did not receive pleasure from the life that they had. Pleasure was taken away in their lives when the pain and suffering took over. Patients who are labeled with a terminal illness lose their quality of life quick. There are many cases in which patients would much rather choose an assisted death over living in pain. In Brittany Maynard’s article, she describes the suffering that she endured in her battle with brain cancer. Even though Brittany’s cancer was labeled terminal, she still had many surgeries. When given her prognosis of six months, she knew her quality of life would rapidly diminish. She went through with physician assisted suicide for many reasons, one of them being that she did not want to suffer anymore. The same article displays a perfect reasoning as to how physician assisted suicide ends suffering for the patient. Brittany Maynard chose physician assisted suicide to escape the pain and suffering that she would soon face. Having full brain radiation would leave her scalp with first-degree burns. Even if Brittany chose hospice care, the tumor developing in her brain would eat away at her mind and she
There are instances when people who are terminally ill or severely injured who want to terminate their own lives. Sometimes, due to the state of their injuries or conditions, those people are unable to end their own pain. It is in many of these cases that the patients request assistance in their suicides. This kind of request is like to happen in facilities where the patient receives long term or permanent care. Physician assisted suicide is a hotly contested issue. There is support for those who believe this kind of "assistance" is morally, ethically, and otherwise wrong. There is support from people who believe that a person has a right to choose when his/her life ends. These people believe that physician assisted suicide is a form of altruistic assistance. There are valid points made by people on both sides of this issue and there is certainly room within the debate to be undecided or to be conflicted. Secondary, tertiary, and long term providers/facilities have the power to improve the preservation of life and they have the power to assist with the end of life. The paper presents arguments of this debate and reflects upon the issues at the surface as well as the underlying issues of the debate over physician assisted suicide.
In the medical field there are massive amounts of treatments for various diseases. Some treatments are going to help the patient feel more comfortable; however, some are going to counteract the problem, and others are going to help kill the patient. Physician assisted suicide is defined by medterms.com as “the voluntary termination of one 's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician.” Any person wishing to undergo assisted suicide in Oregon must be at least 18 years of age and have a terminal illness. This illness must be within its final stages and leave the patient with less than six months to live.
In an individual’s decision to apply for physician-assisted suicide, the reasons for which they provide are most likely related to diseases they have or are developing. In Maynard’s case, she had developed brain cancer and in researching cures, found that the effects would leave her “quality of life...gone” (Maynard, 2014). The treatment called for full brain radiation which would have left
Physicians assisting in suicide deaths are not productive in this area because some not trained in this field of expertise. Moll assert, doctors, are of little help. They have no training in how to discuss end-of-life issues with families and patients, so they avoid the conversation and call on other staff trained in this area. (88) Moll also points out, "people wants to be cared for, even if they do not want every possible procedure performed on them." (88) The best thing for people to do is discuss their end-of-life arrangements before major decision making is needed so the doctors, hospital staff and family members would not have to deal with the stress of this situation.
The choice for the patient to choose should be left up to their decision, and some states have embraced this practice. Oregon instituted the Death with Dignity Act in 1994 which gave adult patients with a terminally ill diagnosis a choice to obtain a prescription to end their life (Death with Dignity, 2017). Since the onset of this ground breaking law, the concept of physician assisted suicide has soften and the general consensus has slowly began to shift.
The topic I chose to write about is Physician-assisted suicide. My position on the topic is that I agree with physician-assisted suicide because it helps terminal ill people end their suffering faster than if they waited until the illness took their life away. Also, the terminal ill person decides that he/she wants to end his or hers life with a clear conscious knowing what is going to happen to them taking the physician-assisted suicide route to end their suffering. By the terminal ill person deciding that they want to end their life with physician-assisted suicide they are helping out their family. They help their family by reducing their pain that they feel and also by helping them financially because it is cheaper to end their life with
It is those ideas that get in mind, what life will be with that illness or disease having on your shoulder not knowing what to do. How to get away from that nightmare that has change not only physically, but mentally as well. Finding another way to stop this and not having to think the worst will happen. As to come with this most people with a terminal disease comes with a solution to end this without having to suffer with the pain that is taking away lives. One of the final solutions most do is the help of a doctor to take away the life of the patient known as physician assisted suicide. Unfortunately, people find this as a way to get away from the illness they have and giving up so the ill won’t have to suffer anymore. Even worse this not
Physician-assisted suicide may change the perception of illness, disease, and pain. Because of this, physicians, patients, and family members may give up on recovery early (Westefeld, et al., 239). In contrast of cooperating in the death of a patient, people will seek to avoid it. This avoidance and denial of death may cause physicians to abandon their patients. This problem would be worsened by legalizing physician-assisted suicide because it would encourage the use of physician-assisted suicide when their disease worsened (Shannon & Kockler, 190). Legalizing physician-assisted suicide would also change the perspective the patient has about him or herself. The moral question of suicide is whether humans should have this responsibility over their own lives. Many argue that this act defies human dignity and that physician-assisted suicide exceeds human responsibility. Also, many people would assume sympathy in this situation, but some people may judge the patient for their use of physician-assisted suicide because it is using suicide to relieve pain (Shannon & Kockler, 191).
A reason why various terminally ill patients ask a physician to help them commit suicide has been argued to be nothing more than melancholy. Patients suffering from a terminal illness might tend to be more negative towards ideas, hopeless about their situation, and depressed because they are dying. In an article written by Vicki Lachman, a clinical associate professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she states that the 2007 State Health Division report on Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act shows that, most commonly, the terminally ill patients who request physician-assisted suicide were decreasing in their ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable, losing autonomy, and losing dignity (Lachman, 2010). Moreover,