HSM 542 Course Project
HSM 542 – May 2013
Why would anyone consider Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)? It’s a scenario that’s seen all too often—a chronically ill woman is suffering in severe excruciating pain daily and feels like she’s become a burden to her family, a lonely man is suffering with a life-limiting illness and has no family to offer any care or support to him. These individuals have lost their independence and feel like they have no quality of life left to live.
Great strides have been made to improve end-of-life care through palliative care and hospice programs, but sometimes that’s just not enough. In America, the care that is offered to the elderly and the chronically ill is less than ideal. Statistics show that an estimated 40-70% of patients die in pain and another 50-60% die feeling shortness of breath. Ninety percent of the nursing homes where patients go to receive 24-hour nursing care are seriously understaffed.
Patients who are home and have care provided by family often feel like they are a burden on their caregivers. The cost of hiring in-home caregivers support is not covered by Medicare or state and federal Medicaid systems. Caregivers often suffer from physical, emotional, financial, psychological and social strain.
A person may feel as if they have lost all control of their life when they suffer from chronic and life-limiting illnesses. The body isn’t doing what it should and there is no way to stop it. Therefore, a person my feel like they can regain some control through Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS). If they can’t control the illness, they can at least control the way they die.
Suffering has always been a part of human existence. Since the beginning of medicine there have been requests made to end this suffering by means of physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is when a patient voluntarily choses to terminate their own life by the administration of a legal substance with the assistance of a
Why would anyone consider Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)? It’s a scenario that’s seen all too often—a chronically ill woman is suffering in severe excruciating pain daily and feels like she’s become a burden to her family, a lonely man is suffering with a life-limiting illness and has no family to offer any care or support to him. These individuals have lost their independence and feel like they have no quality of life left to live.
Great strides have been made to improve end-of-life care through palliative care and hospice programs, but sometimes that’s just not enough. In America, the care that is offered to the elderly and the chronically ill is less than ideal. Statistics show that an estimated 40-70% of patients die in pain and another 50-60% die feeling shortness of breath. Ninety percent of the nursing homes where patients go to receive 24-hour nursing care are seriously understaffed.
Patients who are home and have care provided by family often feel like they are a burden on their caregivers. The cost of hiring in-home caregivers support is not covered by Medicare or state and federal Medicaid systems. Caregivers often suffer from physical, emotional, financial, psychological and social strain.
A person may feel as if they have lost all control of their life when they suffer from chronic and life-limiting illnesses. The body isn’t doing what it should and there is no way to stop it. Therefore, a person my feel like they can regain some control through Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS). If they can’t control the illness, they can at least control the way they die.
Suffering has always been a part of human existence. Since the beginning of medicine there have been requests made to end this suffering by means of physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is when a patient voluntarily choses to terminate their own life by the administration of a legal substance with the assistance of a
References: Emmanuel LL, von Gunten CF, Ferris FD. The Education for Physicians on End-of-Life Care (EPEC) Curriculum. 1999. EndLink: Resource for End of Life Care Education. The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. http://endlink.lurie.northwestern.edu/index.cfm. EPEC Project, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 1999. Ferrell, BR and Coyle, N. Textbook of Palliative Nursing, 2nd Edition. 2006 Oxford University Press http://www.sclhealthsystem.org/physicianassistedsuicidepas#.UbpmN_nlaSq Kinzbrunner, BM, Weinreb, NJ, and Policzer, JS. 20 Common Problems: End-of-Life Care. 2002 McGraw-Hill Publishing. Lachman, Vicki D. PhD, MBE, APRN (2010). Physician-Assisted Suicide: Compassionate Liberation or Murder? MEDSURG Nursing, Vol. 19/No. 2. Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor, P.A. Physician-Assisted Suicide: Legality and Morality. http://www.levinlaw.com/news/physician-assisted-suicide-legality-and-morality.