Summary: The Debate Over Assisted Suicide

The Debate Over Assisted Suicide
Kristen Brittingham
ILR 260
Dr. Dee Griffin
April 2014
Abstract
Should assisted suicide be legal in hospitals? Those who are against assisted suicide argue that it goes against the Hippocratic oath that medical personnel take when they get their license. They also say that, a patient could feel pressured by other sources affecting the decision for assisted suicide and that doctors could possibly give a wrong death prognosis ending a patients life to soon. On the other hand, those who are in favor of assisted suicide insist that as a human we should have the right to choose to die. They also argue that, assisted suicide can prevent more painful deaths caused by desperation and that it could be a great opportunity
Any decision that a human makes in their lifetime can be influenced by something else other than their own feelings. It could be the family members encouraging them to have the procedure done because they feel like a burden to the family. The families medical bills could be adding up due to the costly procedure that need to be done to keep them living as long as possible. It could even be because of the fact that in our society we value youth, health, and beauty. For instance, Zeno, the founder of stoic philosophy, had committed suicide on his own at 98 years old because he had fallen down a flight of stairs and pulled his toe. Zeno had been so tired of his life at 98 that he had made any excuse to no longer stay alive, and he didn’t even have a terminal illness. In the United States, the suicide rate is approximately 12.5 people per 100,000 people commit suicide on their own, 2% to 4% of those suicides account for those who have a terminal illness. People who are against assisted suicide are afraid that if we make it an option, if could make this suicide rate all that much more in the United States (Osgood,
A terminal prognosis allows a physician to create a plan of action for his or her patient and to create an easier dying process. Prognosis estimates are very rarely accurate, only 20% of estimates are usually correct. A Physician can predict a patients death by seeing if they have, a failing functional status, high number of white blood cells, extreme weight loss, dysphagia, etc. (Daugherty & Hlubocky, 2008). It is found that 63% of all death prognoses are overestimates and only 17% are underestimates. When an estimate is to high patients may have unnecessary treatments given to them, while when an estimate is to low there could be severe consequences of delayed intervention for the patient. On average, physicians overestimate 5.3 times longer than the time the patient actually lived (Easton, 2000). The accuracy of a death prognosis increases about 70% when it is less than a 14 day estimate. The inaccuracies in a patient’s prognosis could be a huge problem especially when a patient is deciding whether or not they want to have assisted suicide. Both families and patients have a hard time when the death prognosis is accurate (Daugherty & Hlubocky, 2008). Helping to aid in someone’s death without completely accurate information could take away an unnecessary amount of time that the patient may have to