Preview

Analysis Of Physician Assisted Suicide

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
851 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of Physician Assisted Suicide
Life is considered to be free and chosen to do whatever it is the person favors, which includes the freedom to cease their life when it is filled with immeasurable pain and suffering. Terminally ill patients should be given the choice to die “peacefully, gently, quickly, and with certainty.” Studies show that 59% of terminally ill patients would rather be treated with hospice care than the aggressive treatment they receive to prolong their life and/or extending their death. This needs reassurance that someone will be there for them to assist medically.
This article was primarily written to argue that patient deserve to have the control over their life and let them make the decision for their treatment.
Girsh solidifies my claim by explaining
…show more content…
There’s no point in forcing them to live if the illness has caused the patients to hate their life. Making someone suffer through their own existence is absolutely unnecessary. Their time on this earth should be their decision whether or not to continue the path of living. Given the protection of rights on how to live or die, if a decision is made on physician-assisted suicide, that is a decision entirely made by the patient who is directing the course of their life. The physician should be free of charge.
The author informs us that our Constitution dictates our individual rights give us the entitlement to choose to live or die. Additionally, this is backing up the statement that the physician-assisted suicide is, in fact, not the decision of the doctor-but the patient, therefore the doctor is not at fault.
Andrew Lewis would be a great supporter in my argument because he believes that patients have unalienable rights that allow terminally ill patients to decide how to carry out their course of
…show more content…
Most physicians who decline the patient’s request of termination their life are blackmailed into helping them or them finding someone else to get the job done. That’s why safeguards are very important in directing patients to other possible options.
Smith wrote this article to persuade us that physician suicide is not the way to treat your suffering. PAS is also sometimes not even requested by the patient.
This is helpful to my essay because it provides an alternative viewpoint as to why many people are against physician assisted suicide due to it’s lack of credibility and the variety of choices to pick from.

Neil Gorsuch writes a book about why he does not approve of physician assisted suicide. He is going to be the person to confirm the laws which state why this should be illegal. Many patients have been nationally recognized because of his book because of resulting in assisted suicide.
Neil Gorsuch is an expert on assisted suicide and was chosen by Trump to write this. His book, “The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia”, are restating his views against taking the life of a human.
This would help my argument by giving a viewpoint of someone who is against the dignity laws and the practice in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Physician assisted suicide is a highly controversial issue that has many ethical concerns. There are many moral issues that should be considered when discussing physician-assisted suicide. Many people relate religion as a part of why physician assisted suicide is wrong and others state it violates the Hippocratic Oath. In this paper, we will discuss the moral dilemma of physician-assisted suicide. We will also examine the arguments against and in favor of physician assisted suicide and which view is closer to my own.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Physician-assisted suicide raises many ethical and moral issues. For patients who advocate for PAS, they acknowledged that the act promotes human dignity, autonomy, and is a humanizing act to end their suffering. PAS is an act of healing for the terminal sick to help end their daily struggles and many see it as a dignified choice. It is evident from patients’ voice and Dr. Byock testimonials strikes the heart of the senseless need to keep the terminal ill alive. Along with the inevitable deaths comes costly medical expenses that can better serve to improve the country and the communities’ welfare.…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people have varied viewpoints on this topics ranging from patient suffering, patient rights to patient-physician trust. This point has been battled over and over again by people year in and year out but the most influential person would have to be Dr. Jack Kevorkian.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Instead of embracing this act of death, we should respond to suffering with compassion and solidarity. (Anderson, Screen 1) Many of the patients seeking to end their lives in this way usually suffer from depression or other mental illnesses, but also from loneliness. Instead of us giving them pills to kill them, the doctors should provide the suitable medical care they need. As for the patients in physical pain, pain management drugs can be administered to improve their quality of life. The terminally ill patients are provided with hospice care and fellowship to accompany them on their last days of life. Doctors should help their patients die a dignified death of natural causes, not assist in killing them. (Anderson, Screen 1) Physicians take the oath to always heal and care, never to kill intentionally. Palliative care focuses on the patient’s quality of life and improving it by alleviating pain and other distressing symptoms of a serious illness. At any age or stage in illness, palliative care is available to help improve the patient’s life as a whole. It does not matter if the illness is curable, chronic, or even life-threatening, medicine can improve your symptoms dramatically, helping you live with your…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Not all terminally ill patients will choose this option, but it should be available for those who want it. Coping with the diagnosis of a terminal illness is difficult for both the patient and the patient’s loved ones and it only becomes more difficult as the disease progresses. Being given the ability to decide when to die allows the patient to feel a sense of dignity and control during a time when he or she may not have control over anything else in life. Not only does physician-assisted suicide provide a sense of relief to the patient, it provides relief to family and friends. Watching a loved one die is one of the most challenging things to endure in life. It only becomes more challenging when forced to watch a loved one die a slow and painful death. Physician-assisted suicide can provide closure to everyone involved in a situation dealing with a terminal illness; therefore, it must become legal in all fifty…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Physician-assisted suicide is the intentional end of one's own life by the organization of a deadly substance with the immediate or backhanded help of a doctor. Some people support Physician Assisted suicide while others do not. In order, to develop a better understanding of this trending issue, we must first look at different perspectives and viewpoints while approaching the topic. These viewpoints are moral, practical, and legal.…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John D. Arras looks at a situation which poses a patient suffering from uncontrolled pain by having the physician ignore their decisions amongst life and death. He mentions that physicians may contribute to “suicide and suicidal ideation” (page 478, column 1) which is statistically shown in over fifty percent of cancer patients who suffer from uncontrolled pain that is often brought on by untreated depression. In this situation however, if patient is given control of their own lives and obtain adequate psychiatric and palliative care to treat depression, it is assumed that most would lose interest in PAS/euthanasia. Using a similar example, there will always be a small amount of patients who may have pain that cannot be treated, for these patients J. Arras believes that present law on PAS/euthanasia can represent an impossible barrier to a distinguished and decent…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Should physicians be granted the power to intentionally end the lives of their patients? Recent proposals to legalize physician-assisted suicide have raised this question and triggered intense legal, medical and social debate. For some individuals, the debate is fueled by their fear that medical technology may someday keep them alive past the time of natural death. However, this concern is unfounded for mentally competent adults who have a legal right to refuse or stop any medical treatment. It is also important to recognize that today's health care climate lends itself more to undertreatment than overtreatment.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most people would agree that the right of a competent, terminally ill person to avoid any unnecessary excruciating pain seems as though it should be a basic human right. To have someone go through more suffering than absolutely necessary seems as though it would fall under the description of an inhumane act, and frankly an injustice against the basic human right of bodily autonomy and integrity. Due to these almost undeniable arguments, physician assisted suicide, in many cases, is seen as a basic human right that we need to be granted access to. Activists argue that it is simply an additional choice that we will be able to make, and that it will surely never be pushed onto anybody or used sinisterly (Maynard 2014). Although this claim is something that we cannot be entirely sure of, as I have continued to research the pros and cons behind physician assisted suicide, I have come to the conclusion that in many cases it truly does seem that the legalization of physician assisted suicide is the best option for everyone involved. It is a means to cease any unnecessary suffering that a person may be going though, and provides a sense of comfort for them during a time in their lives where they are not given many choices besides to deal with what they are going through and try to survive. Additionally, with many of the extreme medical advancements of the 20t century, our goals have been clouded by the quest to…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Physician-assisted suicide is one topic that many countries have yet to tackle. Considering the many complex issues and underlying controversies, there is no doubt that the idea of taking one's life with medical collaboration is one of many criterias. There are many benefits for those individuals affected by terminal illnesses and irreversible damages to their health (i.e. AIDS or Parkinson’s Disease), such as removing the pain from their lives and allowing their families to be at peace knowing that they are no longer in harm’s way, but suicide in and of itself is a difficult challenge to defend. The act of taking one’s life is one that has been fought against for years, and…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The topic of Physician Assisted Suicide has become a well-known issue. But the fact is, for terminally ill and for those that cannot recover, Physician assisted suicide is not completely misguided. It gives those who are in a lot of pain a chance to save their loved ones the torment of seeing them so feeble. It also strengthens the possibility of saving those who can still be saved.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The right to physician-assisted suicide is a very controversial topic that concerns many people all over the world. There has been much debate about whether a terminally ill patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide is defined as a physician providing a patient with means to kill themselves. The doctor would prescribe a lethal dose of medication to the patient to end their life. From the Utilitarian standpoint, physician-assisted suicide is morally acceptable because the patients should be allowed to end there suffering, reduce the damaging financial…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is always a choice of physician-assisted suicide if the patient is breathing and of sound mind. Moreover, a patient having a less than ten percent chance of living, physician-assisted suicide should be an option. Physicians are healers of disease and injury, preservers of life, and relievers of suffering. Determining the ethical responsibilities of physicians when patients wish to die requires a close examination of the doctor’s role in society (JAMA, 1992-vol 267, No. 16).…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the topic of suicide comes up today, many people jump to the conclusion then say that it is immoral and it should not be allowed. Physician-Assisted Suicide is such a controversial subject but it could help a lot of people in our country. It essentially means death through the administration of the appropriate amount of lethal drugs, upon request of the patient. When the patient knows they do not want to continue with their life, they have the power not to with certain reason. Every state in the U.S. should legalize physician-assisted suicide for all patients.…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays