...Should Physician Assisted Suicide Be Legalized? Julia Schulenburg PHI103 Informal Logic Professor Robert Paixao September 2, 2013 Should Physician Assisted Suicide be Legalized? In today’s society there are many so many controversial issues one of the biggest being Patient Assisted Suicide, or PAS. PAS is defined as: “suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information (as a drug prescription or indication of the lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of how the patient intends to use such means or information.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary (n.d.). Let us not get PAS confused with Euthanasia, this is different, to be euthanized is when the doctor himself physically administers the lethal dosage into the patient causing their death. PAS is just the doctor prescribing the drugs for the patient to give to themselves to cause them to die. There are people who are in favor of allowing a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of medication or machinery for the patient to administer to themselves to end their own life due having a terminal illness. Then there are those who greatly oppose it, some being doctors, moralists, the general public, as well as some private groups. They claim physician assisted suicide to be immoral, ethically wrong, against religious beliefs, and unnecessary with proper palliative care. While PAS is a controversial topic in modern day society, it originally stemmed from ancient civilizations, which defended the rights of citizens to...
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...Assisted Suicide Should assisted suicide become legal in the United States? This is a very serious question that many are split on. It is only legal in 5 states in the United States. Many people believe these laws allowing assisted suicide should be repealed and many think that more states should have laws to allow it. I personally believe that it should be legalized in more states because, there are people who would like the option, its puts families in bad situations, and they have a legal right to not suffer. The number one reason assisted suicide should be legalized is that there are many people I need of it. In a study done by the Institute for Rehabilitation Research and Development, it stated that 73 percent of terminally ill patients would like assisted suicide to be legalized. This is because people would rather live their last days without unboreable pain or symptoms of their disease and they don’t want their family and friends to watch them suffer. Since assisted suicide is not legal in many states this...
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...Physician-Assisted Suicide Must Be Legalized Sheryl Tello GEN 499 Prof. David Ward March 14, 2014 Physician-Assisted Suicide Must Be Legalized Imagine that you just received a phone call from your physician’s nurse and she told you that the doctor wants to see you right away. When you ask her what is the problem; she tells you that it would be best if you came into the office as soon as possible. You tell her that there is no way that you can come in until next week; she asks if you can hold for a minute while she relays the message to your doctor, and the next thing you know your physician is on the phone and tells you that he wants to see you today. You try to rationalize everything that your physician could possibly tell you. Then you tell yourself that it cannot be too bad because you have always taken good care of your body, you eat right, you get plenty of exercise, and you see your doctor once a year. At the doctor’s office, the doctor informs you that there is no easy way of telling you that a large amount of cancer cells have been found in your blood work. As you try to speak, he continues to inform you that the cancer cells have completely taken over your blood and have migrated to your vital organs. As you try to speak again, he interrupts you one more time, however, this time it is to deliver the final blow; you only have six weeks left to live, which you will surely spend in extreme pain and unremitting suffering as your body goes into complete organ...
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...Should Physician-assisted suicide be legalized in Canada? Introduction The topic of legalizing Physician-assisted suicide has long been a controversial issue in Canada and has recently received increased attention. In 1993, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the provisions of the Criminal Code prohibiting assisted suicide. Two decades later, the Supreme Court of Canada began to deliberate whether to uphold or strike down the law prohibiting doctor-assisted suicide. Last month, the nine justices of the Supreme Court heard impassioned pleas for overturning Canada’s absolute prohibition against assisted suicide, with proponents arguing laws that consider the act equivalent to murder are a violation of personal autonomy and infringe the Charter of Rights and Freedom that provides for “life, liberty and security of the person” (Connor, 2014). The hearing sparked fresh debates across the country. Opponents argue that legalizing physician-assisted suicide would lead society down a dangerous "Slippery Slope" that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable. In addition, opponents argue that legalizing physician-assisted suicide gives too much power to doctors and it may reduce the availability of palliative care. The aim of this paper is to make a comprehensive argument in favor of physician-assisted suicide. Physician-Assisted suicide & Euthanasia Physician-assisted suicide occurs for any situation where doctors use drugs or other methods...
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...that can demand that we make split decisions. Some decisions are reversible whereas others, such as Physician Assisted Suicide, are concrete. While some view it as a solution or being a form of relief from intolerable pain, Physician Assisted Suicide should not be legalized. The reason for this is because patients shouldn’t make final decisions filtered by frustration. Other reasons are that Assisted Suicide can also give patients the idea that losing all hope is Ok. Although It’s fair to feel hopeless. The positive mindset can have great benefits to our health. Finally, many times it is the wrong approach to a much deeper problem. Hidden mind altering moods or emotions such as Depression can cause illogical reasoning. These are only a few reasons while Physician Assisted Suicide should be legalized. Frustration is an emotional state that a person experiences while under distress. It is also one of the many leading causes for attempting to find an “easy way out”....
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...Assisted Suicide Suffering from an illness that is terminal can last weeks, months and even years, or it can take one massive decision on taking yourself away from the pain with assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is when a patient that is terminally ill, and qualifies for the procedure, asks for medication to take their own life to stop the pain. In the United Sates, forty six states do not give the option for assisted suicide, which means there are millions of people suffering from incurable illnesses, waiting to die. Many people try killing themselves on their own, because they are not a citizen of a state that allows assisted suicide. I believe that killing yourself unassisted is worse than killing yourself with provided medication. Assisted suicide should be legal, because it allows suffering people to decide when they want to overcome the pain. Assisted suicide is not like any ordinary suicide. It is a suicide to relieve pain from a patient who only has so long to live. To receive assisted suicide, the patient has to qualify to all of the requirements. Out of the four states that have legalized assisted suicide, three of them involve the same requirements. Oregon was the first state to legalize assisted suicide on November 8, 1994. “An adult who is capable of making choices, is a resident of Oregon, and has been determined by the attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and who had voluntarily expressed his or her life in...
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...least 130 people commit suicide in the 1990s. Physician assisted death/suicide is when a doctor knowingly and willingly provides a terminally ill person with the knowledge and resources required to die. It is legal in 8 states and 7 countries. Legalizing it in all states could encourage malpractice, and people should be urged to endure as long as they can. One other reason is that friends and family of the patient may want to spend their final moments together. All of these things make it so that physician assisted death should become illegal in the United States. The first reason P.A.D, (Physician assisted death) should be illegal is that patients should be encouraged to hold on as...
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...Against Humanity: Euthanasia Tolga Arslan ESL 160-03: Combined Skills VI Professor Roxanne Leach April 24, 2013 Tolga Arslan 4/24/2013 ESL 160-3 Library Report Essay Professor Roxanne Leach Against Humanity: Euthanasia Euthanasia is a serious political, moral, and ethical issue in today’s society. Euthanasia is putting people in a painless death or when terminally ill people choose to end his or her life with a doctor’s help. The word euthanasia comes from Greek “eu”, goodly or well and “thanatos” death, so it is good death. This short definition is a cause of all those debates all over the world. Doctors, politicians, religious leaders, lawyers, and general public argue for euthanasia, whether it should be legalized or not. Euthanasia is a serious topic because it goes against the standards of traditional medicine. First, doctors have to take the Hippocratic Oath to become a real doctor. The Hippocratic Oath says do whatever you can to save people’s life. Euthanasia says just kill them if they want to die. Which doctor can kill their client if they have taken the Hippocratic Oath or if they are real doctors? Second, euthanasia is not always applied to terminally ill patients either. People who have been in serious accidents, or who have debilitating diseases are often consideration for the application of euthanasia. The problem is, these patients are neither in a coma nor senseless. According to http://www.euthanasia.cc, “A pair of identical twins has died after...
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...Physician-assisted suicide is; suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information (as a drug prescription or indications of the lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of how the patient intends to use such means or information (Merriam-Webster, n.d). For over ten years, there has been much controversy about the ethics and legality of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) not only in the United States but also worldwide. In 1997, the Supreme Court had a unanimous ruling that there was not a constitutional right or a constitutional ban to PAS. Since then almost every other state have opposed legalization of PAS. There are many terminally ill people that feel assisted suicide should be their choice, not something left to the government for debate. Assisted suicide should be legal in all states because those who suffer with a terminal illness that want to die should be able to end their life peacefully instead of living in agony. Almost everyone that lives in the United States has rights; the right to free speech, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but those that are dying from a terminal disease do not have many rights. They do not have a right to seek help to end their pain and suffering. They lose the right to be in charge of their own life. The pursuit of happiness seems to not exist for those that wish to end their life. For some having their pain and suffering ended would make them “happy” because they no longer have to live with pain...
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...Should Assisted Suicide be Legal? Stefan C Sooter HUM/115 October 12, 2015 Beverly Sessoms Should Assisted Suicide be Legal? As I type this opening paragraph for my essay, I should precursor this by saying that I'm beginning this piece as a non-advocate for assisted suicide. It's not just about my religious views, but also for the fact that I believe that with modern medical miracles, anything can happen. If you tap out of the fight too early, you may never know what could have happened. I understand that the situation can feel hopeless, and one can be in so much pain that one may feel like they can't take anymore, but I've witnessed first-hand desperate situations turn into miracles. My father was diagnosed in 2009 with Stage 3 Esophageal cancer. The chances of him living, especially at 65 years old, were thirty-three percent, at best. Today, he is one hundred percent in remission and living his life as a healthy senior man. That example alone is my reason for not believing in assisted suicide. A publication in the Evening Chronicle states that assisted suicide may be a dangerous law to pass. If legalized, it could set a precedent for those that are disabled or terminally ill to take their lives as to not be a burden to their family or friends (Anonymous, 2010). The author also goes on to discuss how legalizing assisted suicide could, "create pressure, particularly on those who are newly physically challenged, to end their lives. We should be fighting for proper health...
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...Physician assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one's life who has been diagnosed with six months or less to live, carried out by the assistance of a physician. Compared to Euthanasia, assisted suicide is performed by the patient themself, where as Euthanasia is performed by the physician. Physician assisted suicide is much easier on the physician themselves for the reason that it puts complete control into the patient. It has been of some controversy over the years since its first legalization in 1997. Today there are five states that have legalized physician assisted suicide which include, California (the most recent),Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. The reason why this has not been a nation wide acceptance is due to...
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...EITHICAL DELIMAS IN NURSING Green Group Shannon Blake, Sherri Dunn, Susan Brown, Tammie Hicks, Miriam Cook Grand Canyon University Nrs-437 November 7, 2015 Nurses have been playing very important roles in the caring of patients throughout the continuum of life and at the end of life for years. It is the position of the ANA that participation of nurses in euthanasia is prohibited as those acts are in contradiction of the code of ethics for nurses. Nurses have a duty to provide humane, comprehensive and compassionate care in respect to the rights of patients, but maintain the standard of the profession in the presence of chronic, debilitating illness and at the end of life. Voluntary euthanasia is the act of taking a life painlessly especially to relief suffering from an incurable illness, with the consent of a dying patient. Denying people such wishes can lead to unnecessary suffering. There are two types of euthanasia; involuntary, where patients refuse to consent and non-voluntary, patients unable to consent. Euthanasia can have great impact on the society. It affects everyone one way or another. Although a person has autonomy to make decisions about his end of life care doesn’t take away from the fact that their family and friends will be affected with guilt, anger and bitterness. Voluntary euthanasia can hamper efforts to advance medical research in finding cures for diseases (Saunders, 2011). As the nurse taking care of a terminally ill patient...
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...Seminar 5 First Draft – Physician Assisted Suicide INTRODUCTION In my term paper I am going to be answering the question is Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) ethically justified? The debate on Physician-Assisted Suicide has been a topic of debate for many years. Born and raised in Michigan I remember all of the news on Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisting terminally ill patients in their death and the controversy on it. The dilemma is whether or not a physician should be allowed to assist a person in ending their life even if they are terminally ill. According to a recent article on The New York Times website, New Mexico just legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide for terminally ill patients. This ruling would make New Mexico the fifth state to allow physicians to prescribe to their terminally ill patients a fatal dose of medications to end their life (Eckholm, 2014). Proponents of Physician-Assisted Suicide believe that terminally ill people should have the right to choose go to the doctors and ask for their help to end their lives and stop their suffering. Of course there would have to be certain steps taken to make sure they were making the right choice. Many supporters of Physician-Assisted Suicide believe that there should be some psychiatric evaluation to make sure that the patient is of a sound mind in their decision to end their life. Opponents of Physician-Assisted Suicide believe that a person does not have a right to end their own life and that it goes against...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide “I still feel good enough, I still have enough joy. I still laugh and smile with my family and friends. This does not feel like the right time to go,” Brittney Maynard. In Oregon, there was a woman named Brittney Maynard. She was 29 years of age. She suddenly started to have severe headaches and became concerned and wanted to go see a doctor as soon as possible. Shortly after in May 2013, Maynard was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She was married to her husband Dan Diaz, at the time she was diagnosed. The following year, in the spring of 2014 she was informed that she only had six or seven months to live. The thought of dying from terminally ill brain cancer and never having kids was heartbreaking to her. She wanted to leave her legacy behind. Maynard decided to move from the state of California to Oregon to participate in physician assisted suicide also known as the “Death with Dignity Act.” She was told that the process would be long and painful, and she did not want to go through that. So she went a doctor in Oregon that could prescribe her the lethal dose of the medication that would end her life immediately. She scheduled to end her life November 1, 2014, just three short days after her husband’s birthday. Brittney stated, “I know everyone has to morn, but I want him to remarry and have a family. Something I could never do for him.” In her saying that one can tell that she really loves Dan and wants only the best for him. Physician...
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...Assisted suicide Assisted suicide generally refers to a practice in which the physician provides a patient with a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient's request, which the patient intends to use to end his or her own life (Somerville 47). Assisted suicide has been a highly controversial issue nowadays. In some countries it is legalized. Some people hold the opinion that assisted suicide is not considerable due to the fact that life is valuable than any substances, but I think assisted suicide should be legalized and put into practice because it will benefits all people involved. In the next paragraphs, I will talk about what are the advantages about assisted suicide. First, assisted suicide can release the pain of the dying patient who suffers terribly from the incurable disease. The most well-known method of assisted suicide is Euthanasia. The word “Euthanasia” comes from Greek words, means dying with happiness. In China, Euthanasia means, when the incurable patient nearly dying, suffering with extremely pain for both spiritual and physical, if the patient and his or her families ask for Euthanasia and the doctors allowed, the patient could get Euthanasia in a humanistic way. So we can safely conclude that Euthanasia or assisted suicide is not killing people, but helping them getting rid of the intolerable suffering. Second, assisted suicide will also reduce the great financial pressure for the families on living, because a great deal of money has...
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