Doctor Assisted Suicide By Using Peer Reviewed Articles

1. (problem – PAS): In today’s society, Physician Assisted Suicide is one of the most questionable and debatable issues. Many people feel that it is wrong for people to ask their doctor to help them end their life; while others feel it is their right to choose between the right to life and the right to death. “Suffering has always been a part of human existence.” (PAS) “Physicians have no similar duty to provide actions, such as assistance in suicide, simply because they have been requested by patients. In deciding how to respond to patients ' requests, physicians should use their judgment about the medical appropriateness of the request.” (Bernat, JL) Physician Assisted Suicide differs from withholding or discontinuing medical treatment, it consists of doctors providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication to aid in the use to end their life.

New issues and ethical questions have arisen as a result in technological advances in the field of medicine. One of these issues is quality of life for the individual. Is it better to keep a person hooked up to a life machine, if the person has no quality of life? That is there is no interaction with other humans and the person is only being kept alive because the machines are handling vital bodily functions. These advances add to moral dilemma of physician-assisted suicide and to the intense debate if the practice of physician-assisted death is ethical. Furthermore, there are direct and indirect physician-assisted suicide practices. Direct physician-assisted suicide practices include: administering a legal dose of drugs to end a life, withdrawing or withholding life sustaining treatments, and palliative sedation. Indirect physician-assisted suicides are a little bit different in that the physician may give

Very often, deliberate decisions are made which results in the end of a life. For example, a person could be kept on life support, but instead, a family member or other significant person might choose to switch off the life support machine resulting in the official death of a patient. There is also the case that resuscitation of a patient may eventually prove to be trivial and a doctor might suggest just making the patient as comfortable as possible until their eventual passing. In the above situations, a medical professional’s decisions would not be questioned or doubted. It is conventional practice (Warnock and MacDonald 2008).

Physician-assisted suicide is controversial in healthcare and political realms alike. Currently, this end-of-life option is practiced in five states within the United States. Social concerns regarding assisted suicide revolve around ethical quandaries; providing the means to a patient’s death is contradictory to ethical principles of healthcare providers. Political concerns surrounding the legalization of assisted suicide include disparities in healthcare that may lead to certain populations choosing assisted suicide and the stagnation of current care options. While there is no succinct manner in which to declare assisted suicide right or wrong, each individual must address the social and political concerns surrounding the issue when voting for legislation to legalize assisted suicide or pursuing the option for themselves.

Physician-assisted suicide is defined as the practice where a physician provides a patient with a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient's request, which the patient desires to use to end his or her life. The Harvard Medical School conferred that we are "dead" when there is permanent loss of consciousness in the higher brain, even though one may not be flat lined.

With self-interest, patients inquire a legal doctor about their privilege of a controlled death by oral medication. Physician-Assisted Suicides allow “a competent adult resident of the state to obtain a prescription from a physician for a lethal dose of medication, for the purpose of causing death through self-administration” (Ganzini 77). Aid in dying is a term commonly used for physician-assisted suicide. In other words, Physician-Assisted Suicides permit terminal patients and physicians to work together to accommodate a licit planned death. Furthermore, with the permission of AID, “a physician writes a prescription for the life-ending medication for a terminally ill, mentally capacitated” (Orentlicher, Pope, and Rich

Now if a physically healthy person who suffers from severe depression requests or seeks assistance in this manner than the physician should do everything in his power to help treat the depression and prevent a suicide including not giving the lethal medication. On the other hand if a person who is competent, has a healthy mind, but terminally ill and has been deemed so by at least two different physicians from different hospitals and suffers a tremendous amount of physical pain seeks out the assistance of physician to aid in his or her death than that doctor would be morally obligated to assist the person. Physician-assisted suicide emphasizes that the doctors or physicians roles in this is nothing more than to be the assistant in an act started by the patient. Saying that doctors are “killing” patients is technically correct it incorrectly suggests that this act is driven by the physician and brings about uneasy visions of doctors killing socially unworthy people, but this could not be further from the truth as physicians are always hesitant and wary to be partners in physician-assisted suicide but are motivated by the compassion they feel toward suffering patients that have no better alternative and seek out this assistance. One example of this is Aja Riggs of New Mexico who had been diagnosed with uterine cancer and said “ I just want the choice to end it if the suffering becomes

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.

Who gets to make the choice whether someone lives or dies? If a person has the right to live, they certainly should be able to make the choice to end their own life. The law protects each and everyone’s right to live, but when a person tries to kill themselves more than likely they will end up in a Psychiatric unit. Today we hear more and more about the debate of Physician assisted suicide and where this topic stands morally and ethically. Webster 's dictionary defines Physician assisted suicide as, suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or by information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of the patient 's intent (Webster, 1977).

Patient assisted suicide, death with dignity, euthanasia or patient assisted death; whichever one that is used, they all mean the same tragic thing. The life of another human being is more than what comes to eye. For years now, everyone has been arguing whether physicians have the right to assist with patient assisted death. The man who started this epidemic was known as Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Kevorkian was a pathologist who assisted the acute and critically ill with ending his or her life. After Kevorkian spent years battling the legality of his actions with the courts, he ended up spending eight years in prison. Today, there are only 7 locations that allow physicians to do this: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Montana, Colorado, and Washington DC. At the start of this whole situation, doctors would attempt to use very high dosages of analgesic, pain relieving medication, to end a patients life; however, that ended very quickly. Shortly after that time, doctors would use the same drugs administered for lethal injections. Typically a three step process: the first shot induces unconsciousness, the second shot causes muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, and the final shot causes cardiac arrest, which ceases heart contractions. Currently, doctors use a drug called

This paper evaluates current arguments for and against physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in the United States using the legislature in Oregon as the primary example. This subject is extremely controversial and there are logical and emotional arguments for either side. PAS is currently only legal in Oregon, Washington State, Montana and Vermont. This issue is coming to the forefront of politics as medical technology advances. It is essential to analyze both sides of the argument in order to take a position on the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.

There must be 2 oral requests 15 days apart from each other and a written request signed by 2 witnesses. The case will be reviewed by a second doctor and the patient can withdraw the request any time he or she chooses. Once the doctors accept the patients’ request they must give the patient the lethal medicine and be present at the time of the patients’ death. Once the patient passes away they will go peacefully knowing that they don’t have to live with the pain any longer. There are cases where physician assisted suicide is illegal in certain states and the patients are forced to end their lives in a messy painful manner. I read this article on a story about how one man decided to end his own life and record everything and do it with the help of an assisted suicide organization. He locked himself in his room and wrote a letter explaining that he was going to end his own life so no one would be accountable and opened up a tank of helium and died within minutes. “He was afraid if he delayed any longer he'd become physically unable to remain in control of his own destiny. This was important. Since Harry lived in California, where assisted suicide was illegal, he had to be able to take his life without help. Because of this, he initially intended not to tell either of his daughters about his decision. He wanted to run absolutely no risk that merely by being with him in his final moments, or even knowing of his plans, they'd be held responsible for his death.” If physician assisted suicide was legal in more states then people would have a better way of departing. It’s only fair that we get to choose our own destiny. If living with the pain is intolerable then no one should be punished

The word suicide gives many people negative feelings and is a socially taboo subject. However, suicide might be beneficial to terminally ill patients. Physician- assisted suicide has been one of the most controversial modern topics. Many wonder if it is morally correct to put a terminally ill patient out of their misery. Physicians should be able to meet the requests of their terminally ill patients. Unfortunately, a physician can be doing more harm by keeping someone alive instead of letting them die peacefully. For example, an assisted suicide can bring comfort to patients. These patients are in excruciating pain and will eventually perish. The government should not be involved in such a personal decision. A physician- assisted suicide comes with many benefits for the patient. If a person is terminally ill and wants a physician assisted suicide, then they should receive one.

     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.

The medication can be given or prescribed by the physician or nurse practitioner, being self-administered to cause death (medically assisted suicide), or directly administered, such as an injection of a drug (voluntary euthanasia).2