Research Rough Draft ENGL 215- Task 4

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Dec 6, 2023

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Project Research Proposal: Physician Assisted Suicide Elizabeth Rabe Ivy Tech Community College ENGL 215 November 2, 2021
Rabe 1 Topic Physician assisted suicide is a widely controversial topic among various groups of people, and it is an illegal practice in many areas of the world. However, there is a lot of debate around whether or not humans should have the right to die and decide when they should die in certain circumstance. One of the topics that will be discussed is the way that physicians or those in the medical field would feel about physician assisted suicide in the United States. In a study done by Barsness, Regnier, Hook, and Mueller, it was stated that “Of 150 societies, only 8% have position statements on PAS and euthanasia” (Barsness, et al, 2020). PAS simply stands for “physician assisted suicide” throughout this article (Barsness, et al, 2020). Physician assisted suicide is illegal in many US states, and many physicians will most likely not outwardly support the physician assisted suicide. Another source that will be looked at in determining the opinion of doctors is a study done by Lee, Price, Rayner, and Hotopf in 2009. It is a much more dated study, but it is still useful in determining how physicians play a role in the concept of physician assisted suicide in the first place. There are a few places in the world that have laws that are legalizing physician assisted suicide and they are as follows: Oregon in the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Luxembourg (Lee, et al, 2009). It is heavily debated in many countries about what exactly determines someone to be qualified for physician assisted suicide or euthanasia, because if the focus is just on the right to die, then anyone can request a physician assisted suicide. For example, in the US state of Oregon, they passed the “Death with Dignity Act” which allowed doctor’s or physicians to administer lethal doses of medication to patients that were terminally ill and requested it (Lee, et al, 2009). This is typically the similar debate amongst doctors, patients, lawyers, and outsiders in regards to physician assisted suicide, and I intend to use all of my sources to find the relationship between the controversy.
Rabe 2 Literature Review The first source is titled “Survey of doctors’ opinions of the legalization of physician assisted suicide” and it is a study that was completed by Lee, Price, Rayner, and Hotopf. In this study, the authors conducted a questionnaire for 1000 senior doctors in England and Wales on their opinions and standpoint of physician assisted suicide. The source spends much time discussing how the UK relates to other countries in their conversation about physician assisted suicide, and uses their survey of doctors to formulate a synopsis on the support in legalization of physician assisted suicide or changing laws to allow physician assisted suicide to take place in certain instances (Lee, et al, 2009). The second source I had looked it is titled “US medical and surgical society position statements on physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: a review” by Barsness, Regnier, Hook, and Mueller published in 2020. This study focuses on analyzing position statements of medical professionals on their opinion or support of physician assisted suicide (Barsness, et al, 2020). Their methodology was to identify “150 secular US medical and surgical professional societies” and determine which of these societies had statements regarding physician assisted suicide (Barsness, et al, 2020). From this study, the authors were able to see how the doctors in the studied areas viewed the controversial of physician assisted suicide and whether or not they felt it should be legalized or it could be crucial in certain terminal instances upon patient request (Barsness, et al, 2020). The third source that was observed in research is titled “Ending Life : Ethics and the Way We Die” by Margaret Pabst Battin. In the introduction of the book, Battin states, “Underlying this debate is what I think of as the Stoic/Christian divide about the individual’s role in his or her own death: whether one’s role should as far as possible active, self-assertive, and resppnsible and
Rabe 3 may include ending ones own life – “(Battin, p. 6). This is really the underlying theme of my entire research project, whether individuals have the right to determine their own fate in the instance of physician assisted suicide. Battin goes on to cover three different sections within her book, the first section is about the “dilemmas about dying” in which people have religious, moral, or ethical feelings about how death should happen or when it should happen or if someone should get to choose their own fate (Battin, p. 18). The second section discusses historical, religiousm and cultural concerns about physician assisted suicide, and the third section covers “Delimmas about dying in a global future” (Battin). My fourth source is titled “When My Time Comes : Conversations About Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End” by Diane Rehm. In this source, Rehm introduces the opinions and stances from a variety of people on the topic of physician assisted suicide. The first viewpoints given are those of a terminal cancer patient and a professor of medicine (Rehm, p. 16). The book covers many other professions, situations, and people who have been close enough to the topic to put in intellectual conversation about physician assisted suicide. The novel ends with the grandson of the author and his stance on physician assisted suicide (Rehm, p. 225). This source provides a wide stance and variety of viewpoints about the topic at hand. Targeted Audience The target audience for this project is physicians and patients and loved ones of patients that would be effected by a change in legislation for physician assisted suicide. Obviously, if the legalization of physician assisted suicide took place, then physicians would have to decide if that is something they would be okay with practicing in the instances that one of their patients requested that route of treatment. Also, the patients who suffer from terminal illnesses with
Rabe 4 seemingly no way out would also be interested in research regarding the standpoint on physician assisted suicide if that was they way they decided to go. The loved ones of those choosing physician assisted suicide will also be affected by the change in legislation and therefore they are included in the intended audience for that reason. Argument Often times, when a patient is given a terminal diagnosis, there is a moment where they feel helpless, and feel like there is no point in suffering until the end. In an article by Jyl Gentzler that was published by the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, “What is a Death With Dignity” covers a vast array of what is actually means to die with dignity. In this article, Gentzler examines the varied ways in which dignity can be interpreted in legislation for the matter of physician assisted suicide, and from these legal arguments, the author draws conclusions on dignity and the right to die. Gentzler also looks at Aristotle’s ideology of dignity and what it truly means to live a life that is best meant to suit the individual. Gentzler structures an argument supporting death with dignity in this article, and it is done so by backing up claims with evidence of previous legislative arguments on the matter, as well as a historical philosopher’s notions on what life and dignity are truly about. From this gathered evidence and support, Gentzler concludes that individuals do have the right to die with dignity via assisted suicide if that is what they should choose. The Toulmin argument model focuses on claims being made, then supporting those claims with factual data, warranting statements, and other backing support needed in order to assure that the claims being made are accurate. In this article, Gentzler states that there are certain aspects of passing legislation for physician assisted suicide that appeal to those who would like to die with dignity, or feel they have the right to die. Gentzler then gives data on this
Rabe 5 statement by following it with “the Oregon statute that legalizes physician-assisted suicide in certain limited circumstances is called “the Oregon Death with Dignity Act”” (Gentzler, p. 461). This data is then followed by the warranted support of the Supreme Court hearing two cases in 1997 that discussed the right to die with dignity. This is just one of the first few explanations in which Gentzler makes a claim and then backs it with evidentiary support regarding the claim. Gentzler begins the argument of this journal by stating that their purpose for this research is to determine if individuals really have the right to die with dignity, and if death can ever be done with dignity. The beginning section of the article discusses Immanuel Kant, and his views on dignity and death. Gentzler states that according to Kant, dignity is found within individuals and it is not something that is gained overtime. He supports this claim by explaining the Kantian theory on dignity. He says, “One might think that, if one is faced with the certain prospect of living in a morphine-induced stupor, or in a persistent vegetative state, one is faced with the prospect of losing the basis for the Kantian dignity that one possesses – namely, the one’s capacity for autonomous action…. Kantian dignity cannot be earned and cannot be taken away” (Gentzler, p. 462). This supports that dignity is something that individuals need, however it is also a rebuttal because suffering or living life in a vegetative state will not eliminate your dignity in death, according to Kant. It is interesting that Gentzler begins the article discussing the rebuttal aspects of the Toulmin scheme before truly jumping in to the supporting arguments and the supporting ideas for his claim that individuals do, in fact, have the right to die with dignity. One of the following statements regarding dignity on the matter is that individuals should not have the right to control all of their own decisions or make all of their own decisions to simply do whatever they would like to do, but that if someone is acting in a way that does not effect anyone else, then they should have the right to make those decisions (Gentzler, p. 470).
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