Analysis Of The Article 'Assisted Dying'

Here in the United States, the topic of assisted suicide as long being discussed and disputed many times especially when there is a high profile case in the news. According to (Sanburn, J 2015) throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Death with Dignity National Center kept an office in Washington, D.C. For years, Republican lawmakers tried to pass legislation nullifying Oregon’s 1997 Death with Dignity Act, which allowed terminally ill patients to obtain life-ending medication. The legislation never made it out of the Senate, but it eventually passed in the Republican-controlled House, and the aid-in-dying organization felt compelled to keep pressure on Congress to stop the bill. Then came Terri Schiavo.

Assisted suicide is an ethical topic that has sparked up many controversies. Individuals have heated disputes on whether or not patients who are suffering should have the right to die. Some worry that legalizing euthanasia is irrational and would violate some religions, while others argue that it provides a peaceful death towards terminally ill patients who are suffering from pain. Physician-assisted suicide is a contentious matter, in which there are many positive and negative aspects, whether or not it should be committed is a complex decision.

Serious diseases such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and metastatic cancer have directed societal attention to end-of-life decision making because many patients who are suffering as they die would like their death to be hastened. In "Oregonians' Reasons for Requesting Physician Aid in Dying" ( Archives of Internal Medicine , vol. 169, no. 5, March 9, 2009), Linda Ganzini, Elizabeth R. Goy, and Steven K. Dobscha discuss the reasons that terminally ill Oregonians gave for wanting a physician to aid them in dying. In Oregon dying patients may make such requests under the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. Of the 56 patients who were surveyed, the average age was 65.8 years and nearly half had completed college. Slightly more were female

Rule changes in the NFL have been made throughout the history of the league to improve the game, make it more exciting and reduce the risk of injury. Safety rules are one of the most important and effective ways in which the NFL and its owners can help protect the health of players. By helping to identify, promote and enforce safe on-field conduct (in concert with off-the-field education and policies), the league seeks to preserve both the health of players and the integrity of the game.

Additionally, Doyal and Doyal believe that physician assisted suicide should be legalized because someone who is permanently incapacitated should have the right to cease any assistance in living, including water and nourishment. If a patient is on life-support, the decision can sometimes be made by a doctor to stop life-sustaining treatment. This decision can be made if the condition is detrimental to the patient’s quality of life (Doyal and Doyal). In the article “Legalization,” one example of physician assisted suicide being a necessity to maintain quality of life is a soon to be widow desiring to end her life to bypass the loneliness of living without her husband (Somerville). Boucher discusses a patient who was shot in the neck resulting

Throughout the twentieth century, major scientific and medical advances have greatly enhanced the life expectancy of the average person. However, there are many instances where doctors can preserve life artificially. When society ponders over the idea of physician-assisted suicide, they most likely feel that the act itself would compare to murdering someone. Who really has the authority to say what is right or wrong when a loved one wants to end their life because of a terminal illness or a severe physical disability? Should Physician-assisted suicide be Legal in California to make it a euthanasia state like Oregon ? In the article titled “Nicest Lawmaker Touts Assisted Suicide,” by Clea Benson published The Bakersfield Californian in 2006, the author presents a Republican lawmaker Patty Berg, who is groom pushing a bill allowing assisted suicide be legal in California. Physician assisted suicide should be allowed to those who are terminally ill with a limited amount of time left to live, and shouldn’t be eligible for people who are young, healthy, or have plenty of time to live.

Radical assumptions have been made on whether or not physician-assisted death should be legalized in the United States because of its citizens’ uncertainty about this delicate subject. Physician-assisted suicide is the method by which an individual is provided with the drugs or equipment needed to commit suicide. The terms “aid in dying” or “death with dignity” are preferred over “suicide” due to their distinction from "suicide," where assisted or not, it remains illegal while “aid in dying” is permitted. This allows for the patient to have control over their life and have the right to be able to choose whether to live a life filled with tedious pain and/or suffering, or end their misery and be able to rest in peace.

Euthanasia as defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is a quiet and easy death. One may wonder, is there such a thing as a quiet and easy death? This is one point that I will discuss in my paper, however the question that my paper will answer is; should active euthanasia be legalized? First, I will look at Philippa Foot's article on Euthanasia and discuss my opinions on it. Second, I will look at James Rachel's article on active and passive euthanasia and discuss why I agree with his argument. Finally, I will conclude by saying that while the legalizing of active euthanasia would benefit many people, it would hurt too many, thus I believe that it should not be legalized.

Physician-assisted suicide has been a topic discussed since the beginning of modern medicine. Any topic that involves someone’s life and decisions that they may make about it usually becomes controversial. Physician-assisted suicide is an end of life option where people can voluntarily request medicine to end their life (Death With Dignity). There are many different opinions about the topic, and some people believe that it should be illegal because of the fact that it’s suicide. Also, many people’s religious or spiritual beliefs inhibit them from supporting this idea. Physician-Assisted Suicide should be legal because people should have control over their lives, there are many requirements to meet, and making it illegal has not stopped people from practicing it.

After patients have been suffering for so long, it only seems right to allow them a peaceful death surrounded by family or, truthfully, however they see fit for their last days. If assisted suicide is legalized, patients will be able to control the assets and precedences of their own deaths. This will let them go peacefully and with bravery knowing they stuck out their fight but still got to die before their suffering was truly unbearable. In the article "Counterpoint: Assisted Suicide is a Civil Right", Issitt and Newton explain, "First and most importantly, it would allow each person the freedom to control the time, place, and circumstances of his or her death. Patients facing the slow progression of a fatal disease or the prognosis of living for years with incurable pain would be able to end their lives with dignity before their suffering became unbearable" (Issitt and Newton 4). In other words, patients should have the ability to control where they are and how they finally die, and assisted suicide can allow them to do just that. It is only right for a patient to have a peaceful death before the pain is too much to handle. With assisted suicide being legalized, patients and their families can make the patient's last few days dignified, celebratory, and comforting as they have struggled for so long. The same article also states, “In this article about assisted suicide, Issitt and Newton state, "In some cases, having the right to die might allow patients to make more informed choices about their health care. A patient might choose to postpone suicide in favor of alternative treatment options comforted by the knowledge that, if the pain becomes too unbearable, suicide would be an ultimate option to escape their suffering" (Issitt and Newton 4). Essentially, a patient being able to control their death is comforting and beneficial.

Individuals “who aren’t necessarily near death” (Tunney, 2016) but request assisted-dying, and how these situations will be dealt with. Are there legal implications for civil suits, created by family and friends who do not support assisted dying. Should there be criminal suits where health professionals take patients’ lives without consent. In both these instances, there is no legal input with respect to the bill and how it will affect our legal system. There is also a social aspect that hasn’t been addressed, how will communities address individuals who request assisted dying, will there be consequences for patient choices? There was also no input from the religious groups, for many religions feel assisted-dying is equivalent to suicide and may be considered a sin. Religious groups that are completely against assisted-dying are as follows: Anglican, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Christian Scientists, Eastern Orthodox, Evangelical, Evangelical Lutheran, Jehovah’s Witness, Judaism, and much more. (Death with Dignity,

Again, in the words of Girsh; “It should be as much of a crime to make someone live who with justification does not wish to continue as it is to take life without consent” (Girsh). In response to this argument, and perhaps the best reason for Catholics to support the church, is the fact that physician assisted suicide is a slippery slope to legalized murder — that the intent to kill is of utmost importance in the matter, and the moral repercussions of killing someone are irreversible (Harriss). In other words, physician assisted suicide inevitably leads to a culture of death. This claim is supported by the current state of healthcare in the Netherlands, where “Studies show that hospice-style palliative care 'is virtually unknown’” (Smith). Additionally, as a final note, it may be important to note that one of the problem with physician assisted suicide for Catholics is one of control; people want to end their own lives to be in control, but in reality, that control is supposed to be left to

The new topic that we discussed in class was about assisted suicide and death hastening. This new source that I found talks about if someone can hasten their death as they wished if they have dementia and I found this article to be really interesting. The article starts out by saying how it can be simple to hasten your own death. All you have to do is not eat or drink for a week. The article mentions the case of Margaret Bentley. Bentley had decided years ago that she wanted to stop eating if she became disabled. Her dementia had gotten a lot worse and she needed other people to help her. Her family would allow her to die and they respected her wishes, but the administrators of her nursing home did not. She even wrote and signed a living will

Death is a touchy enough subject for people; add in the idea of assisted suicides and there’s an uproar in society. Euthanasia or physician assisted suicide is a very controversial topic in our society today. Physician assisted suicide by definition is “suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient’s intent (Merriam-Webster). There are two modes of looking at assisted suicides; either it’s seen as an absurd immoral decision to take away the life of someone or it’s seen as a logical and peaceful release from pain and misery. There’s this idea that asking a healthcare provider to help you end your life is unfair and unnecessary, no matter how much a person is suffering suicide is not justified. People fear patients changing their minds, physicians being severely impacted by this, and families not agreeing with the decision making it hard to cope. On the other side people believe that it’s freedom of choice to choose to be medically assisted with a suicide; this is a right the patient has. Some believe if you’re in pain and dying why should you be forced to stay in a painful state of life. Freedom of choice versus life isn’t ours to take away. If you were in a terminally ill patients position, what would you do?

     Assisted suicide is one of the most controversial topics discussed among people every day. Everyone has his or her own opinion on this topic. This is a socially debated topic that above all else involves someone making a choice, whether it be to continue with life or give up hope and die. This should be a choice that they make themselves. However, In the United States, The land of the free, only one state has legalized assisted suicide. I am for assisted suicide and euthanasia. This paper will support my many feelings on this subject.