Physician Assisted Suicide Research Paper

Christian Rangel
Paul Schmitt
Composition 12 – Holloway
Physician-Assisted Suicide
November 26, 2013
Physician-Assisted Suicide Imagine being terminally ill and being told by a doctor that there is only have six months left to live and that those next six months will wither the body down to nothing through pain and suffering. Physician-assisted suicide could save many Americans from this nightmarish reality that terminally ill patients face today. If physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia was legal in the United States, months of suffering and a loss of dignity and autonomy could be spared. Therefore, physician-assisted suicide, in the style Oregon employs, should be legalized and available to suffering patients across the United
Some would base their argument off their religious beliefs that suicide in general is immoral. However, the United States government tends not to make religion a factor when making law, for example: it is illegal to murder someone else, both religiously and legislatively, but we still go to war if need be. Suicide is often frowned upon within the texts of most religions and it is even a felony in some states. Physician-assisted suicide should not be misconstrued to fall under these descriptions, as it would only be for the terminally ill, a demographic which will die regardless of external influences and factors. Some people would argue that physician assisted suicide goes against the Hippocratic Oath which is an ancient oath doctors live by in their practices that states everything they do is to the benefit of their patients (Friedman 18-22). However, Doctor and physician-assisted suicide activist Jack Kevorkian stated that the Oath was never administered nor enforced during his learning at his medical school (Opposing Viewpoints
He nearly single-handedly started the discussion about physician-assisted suicide by being the first physician to actually begin carrying out the act and assisting the terminally ill to die. One of the most commonly cited counterarguments against physician-assisted suicide is the claim that it is a violation of the Hippocratic Oath, and that by assisting one in taking their own life, a doctor is breaking the ancient and sacred code of their profession. This argument could have merit, were it not for the fact that the Hippocratic Oath itself is not always administered to doctors, and there is no system in place for enforcement of the “Oath”(Opposing Viewpoints p48-54). At no point in medical school is the Hippocratic Oath required to be administered by the school, nor taken by every graduating doctor. Even if participating in an assisted-suicide were in violation of the Oath, the Oath itself is absolutely not a benchmark, nor a law for the doctor to follow. The Oath states that the doctor will “do no harm” with his work, many take this as an example as to why physician assisted suicide is immoral. They believe that if the doctor is giving the patient something that can and will take his life, that he is harming the patient. This belief is false, in no way is the doctor forcing the patient’s hand, and at no point in the entire process is the patient doing anything without being informed