Case Study Assisted Suicide

The primary ethical issue in this case is the idea of assisted suicide by the health care providers. Even though it is legal under the Death with Dignity Act in the state of Oregon, many people felt unsettled about Brittany Maynard’s announcement. They may have felt that there was a sense of disrespect for life in general. However, the patient had the right to autonomy and so she has the right to make the final decision. In this case, this meant choosing to end her life with dignity. Another issue with medical euthanasia (“assisted suicide”) could relate to the patient’s mental state and state of mind. For example, this decision may lead to severe depression. One last issue that has come up with clinically assisted suicide is the potential for persuasion, both psychologically and physically.
One quality of life issue that could be impacting Brittany’s decision is that if she were to let her terminal illness progress, it would be a terrible way to die and completely take away her quality of life because the symptoms would only
Life-prolonging measures cannot reverse the disease, they would extend her life but may affect the quality of it. The patient is the one who determines whether or not extraordinary measures are taken. In this specific case, the measures would be considered extraordinary because Brittany (the patient) is weighing the benefits and burdens of the decision and has decided to refuse treatment. Mechanical ventilation would also be considered medically futile because “there is no reasonable hope that the patient will benefit medically from the care” (Purtilo & Doherty, 2011, p. 324). In other words, by using ventilation, this will not help cure her terminal illness. The whole patient is taken into consideration when the physician is determining whether or not a treatment is medically