...Date: Physician-assisted Suicide,Euthanasia or Living? How to Die in Oregon is a movie directed and produced by Peter Richardson. It presents a case of death with dignity which it successfully achieves. Though Richardson tends to over-rely on emotional effect and additional interviews which do not give the facts about euthanasia, the movie drives the point home. Mr. Richardson focuses on one family decision, and Oregon law that mandates physician-assisted suicide for the critically ill is the Centre of discussion. Cody Curtis, a 54-year-old mother of two, suffer from liver cancer. She goes through the worst moments of her life as she struggles with unstable emotions and humiliating symptoms that appear as a result of this disease. She reaches a point where one morning she tells her husband that she doesn't wish to live and see another night like that in her life. Over ten months she suffers from this ailment which slowly causes deterioration of her health. Even as she injects herself with large doses of morphine, the pain does not seem to end. These sufferings create her one day to decide and swallow a lethal dosage of Seconal, a barbiturate (Richardson,2011). Physician –assisted suicide involves performing lethal means available to the patient so that he or she will use at the time of his or her choosing. By contrast, euthanasia means the physician participating in carrying out the patient's request, which mostly is administering the lethal drug. Physician-assisted suicide...
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...What is voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide? Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are similar. Forms of assisted suicide involve the guidance and supervision of a licensed physician. There is a difference between euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicides’ preparation is when, “A doctor’s helping their distressed patient to commit suicide at the patient’s autonomous appeal” (Varelius, 2013). Euthanasia, on the other hand, “consists of administering lethal medication to the patient,” by the licensed physician (Varelius, 2013). There are countless numbers of questions and concerns about an individual’s quality of life. Under no circumstances, suicide is never the ideal way for an individual to die. However, if physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia were legal and regulated in all states, then the United States Constitution may salvage lives by giving people the right to elect how they wish to die. This is a matter of legal issues, moral issues, and...
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...EUTHANASIA: The intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his alleged benefit. (If death is not intended, it is not an act of euthanasia) ARGUMENTS FOR EUTHANASIA: It provides away to relieve extreme pain It provides a way of relief when a person’s quality of life is low Frees up medical funds to help people It is another case of freedom of choice ARGUMENTS AGAINST EUTHANASIA: Euthanasia devalues human life Euthanasia can become a means of health care cost containment Physicians and other medical care people should not be involved in directly causing death There is a “slippery slope” effect that has occurred where euthanasia has been first been legalized for only the terminally and later laws are changed to allow it for other people or to be done non-voluntarily. Opposition overcomes 48 point deficit to defeat assisted suicide - Ballot Question 2 in Massachusetts 1 1 0 Google BOSTON, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In a stunning upset, the voters of Massachusetts soundly defeated Ballot Question 2 on Election Day. Dealing a significant setback to the expansion of the assisted suicide movement throughout the United States by Compassion & Choices (the organization formerly known as the Hemlock Society), a diverse coalition of disability rights organizations, medical associations, nurses' groups, community leaders and faith-based organizations united in this effort. "Tonight was a huge victory for those of us in the...
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...Euthanasia is the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient's intolerable and incurable suffering. Physician-assisted suicide occurs when a physician facilitates a patient's death by providing the necessary means and/or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act (AMA Policy on End-of-Life). Due to the fact that this is a controversial subject, it is not widely accepted by many. As of right now, euthanasia is only legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia and Luxembourg, and assisted suicide is only legal in Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Albania and in the American states of Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico Washington, and Montana. We control the course of our own...
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...Psychological Effects of Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia on Participating Physicians Kenneth R. Stevens, Jr., M.D., FACR* Abstract: This is a review and evaluation of medical and public literature regarding the reported emotional and psychological effects of participation in physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia on the involved physicians. Materials and Methods: Articles in medical journals, legislative investigations and the public press were obtained and reviewed to determine what has been reported regarding the effects on physicians who have been personally involved in PAS and euthanasia. Results and Discussion: The physician is centrally involved in PAS and euthanasia, and the emotional and psychological effects on the participating physician can be substantial. The shift away from the fundamental values of medicine to heal and promote human wholeness can have significant effects on many participating physicians. Doctors describe being profoundly adversely affected, being shocked by the suddenness of the death, being caught up in the patient’s drive for assisted suicide, having a sense of powerlessness, and feeling isolated. There is evidence of pressure on and intimidation of doctors by some patients to assist in suicide. The effect of countertransference in the doctor-patient relationship may influence physician involvement in PAS and euthanasia. Conclusion: Many doctors who have participated in euthanasia and/or PAS are adversely...
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...ABSTRACT: Medical professional have long prohibited physician involvement in assisting a patient's suicide. However, despite ethical and legal prohibitions, calls for the liberalization of this ban have grown in recent years. The medical profession should articulate its views on the arguments for and against changes in public policy and decide whether changes are prudent. In addressing such a contentious issue, physicians, policymakers, and society must fully consider the needs of patients, the vulnerability of particular patient groups, issues of trust and professionalism, and the complexities of end-of-life health care. Physician-assisted suicide is prominent among the issues that define our professional norms and codes of ethics. The American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) does not support the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The routine practice of physician-assisted suicide raises serious ethical and other concerns. Legalization would undermine the patient-physician relationship and the trust necessary to sustain it; alter the medical profession's role in society; and endanger the value our society places on life, especially on the lives of disabled, incompetent, and vulnerable individuals. The word ‘euthanasia’ is derived from the Greek work for ‘good death’ and originally referred to intentional mercy killing. Applied to our society, euthanasia is the merciful ending of life to release a person from unendurable...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia: Shouldn't We Have That Choice? Everest University Online – Tampa/Brandon Abstract Physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia has been a heated debate amongst many people and physicians since the 5th century. Most people do not think about their death or how and when they would like to die, if they were terminally ill. Until people start speaking up about their wishes about how and when they want to die, they will continue to slowly fade away and be in pain during that process. There really needs to be someone to step up and finish where Dr. Kevorkian was forced to stop helping people. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people that die every single day, and those people end up suffering because there is nothing, except conventional pain medications, that ease their pain while dying. While these pain medications do help sometimes, people are still suffering, waiting, and dying a slow death. This is why doctor assisted suicide/euthanasia should be legalized because at the end of their lives, most people do not want to suffer. Shouldn't we be Able to Choose how and When to Die? Have you ever thought about the way you would want to die if you were terminally ill? Most people do not think about things like that. However, if you could actually choose how and when you wanted to die, what choice would you make? If you had a terminal illness and knew that you were going to die very soon, would you want your family to watch you be in pain...
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...A Survey of Physician-Assisted Suicide English Composition I Abstract I recently became aware of the Oregon Death and Dignity Act; I found this to be an interesting idea. It is not difficult to understand that the citizens may have varied and strong opinions about this subject, however the article I have chosen examines the physician opinion of medically assisted suicide, mainly the physicians without the legal option of medically-assisted suicide. A Survey of Physician-Assisted Suicide With an aging population it is not only important to understand the attitude of the public in regards to physician assisted suicide, but also the attitudes of those charged with carrying out the task of euthanasia or assisted suicide. First it is important to understand the term physician assited suicide refers to the medical professional providing the client with the means to commit suicide, meaning the physician provide medications or equipment to facilitate the end of the clients life. This differs from euthanasia in that the physician is not actually ending the client’s life through lethal injection or other direct means. The article I chose to examine is a study of physician attitude towards assisted suicide and a study and the prevalence of this request by their clients. The results are the compiled data of a survey sent to 3102 physicians, these physicians work in the fields most likely to receive a request for assisted suicide. Methods and Analysis The survey involved...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide Lawmakers in Connecticut are again taking up the issue of physician-assisted suicide. A physician-assisted suicide bill in Connecticut is up for its first legislative hearing before the General Assembly’s Public Health Committee. With this bill two physicians would have to certify, in writing, under oath, that their patient is terminally ill and is likely to die within the next six months. Additionally, the patient must be mentally competent to make an informed decision about his or her own death. A similar bill was proposed in 2009. Perhaps the strongest argument made on behalf of legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide is that it, like abortion, is a "choice" issue. Supporters dispute that euthanasia/assisted suicide is the ultimate civil right, and to deprive mentally competent, terminally ill people who want to end their suffering is to disrespect their rights. Supporters also argue that legalizing euthanasia/assisted suicide ensures that no one dies in painful agony or suffering. Opposes contend that laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are in place to prevent abuse and to protect people from unscrupulous doctors and others. Proponents also claim that opposition to euthanasia/assisted suicide is based primarily in religion and that laws prohibiting the practice are thus unconstitutional because they violate the division between church and state. We all die; however, in an age of amplified longevity and medical advances, death...
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...Should Physician-Assisted suicide be legal? LisAnn Marcum PHI 103 Instructor: Bruce-Alan Barnard September 16, 2013 Should Physician-Assisted suicide be legal? This paper is an argumentative paper on whether it should or should not be legal for a Physician to aid in a patient’s suicide. Physician-assisted suicide transpires when a patient who has a terminal illness wishes to end their suffering and seeks help from their physician in aiding them to do so. This will be a challenging paper that will take a look at whether or not it is legal for a physician to help in assisting a patient’s suicide, if this practice is ethical, moral, and/or unconstitutional. A great deal of the general public feel as though this form of practice is alright because if the patient is suffering then something should be done to help them. On the other hand many feel it should be left up to God to decide when our time is up. In the end it is between the patient and their physician. Physician assisted suicide is a scandalous issue that has remained disputed for centuries. The arguments are still going on in the present day about if it should be ethically accepted. Many feel this kind of action ought to remain being left up to God, others see this argument as though if the patient is in pain and distress shouldn’t something be allowed to be done in order to help them. “Deductive arguments offer reasons to accept a conclusion, and those reasons should provide all information we need to determine...
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...now had to deal with him verbally expressing the desire to let him die. The love she felt for her father was so strong that she wanted to grant him this final wish, but also wanted to ensure he would not suffer from this and be as comfortable as possible. Due to his health rapidly deteriorating and he was in more pain every day, she began to seek assistance from the many hospitals he sought care in to help end her father’s suffering. This will be a brief discussion of the issue of ethics regarding physician-assisted suicide, her final consensus to this matter being interpreted as a deontological view verses my own view being the utilitarian view. I would also like to state that I do agree with Susan Wolf’s attempts to locate hospital officials to try and let her father die as he wished, but I do not agree with her final decision that she is still against legalizing physician-assisted suicides. Susan M. Wolf did extensive research on the subject of physician-assisted suicides and her stance of being against the legalizing of it is very clear. While going through her own personal tragedy with her dying father, she was forced to rethink her position on this subject. This is indeed a traumatic event when there is a loved one asking to die because they are in so much pain. As stated in our text, ethics means, “…moral philosophy, investigates how we can evaluate our behavior in terms of right or wrong, good and bad – in short, how we determine what we should do, what we should...
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...die, focusing on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. First, I will explain the meaning of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia means a person who is suffering from terminally ill will be free from their illness or pain, and end their life by their own will. Physician-assisted suicide means the physician helps with the patient’s death. The problem of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide has been discussed all over the world these days, and I’m interested in the right to die, so I chose this topic. I have four questions for this topic. First, what countries are allowing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide? Second, how many people...
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...Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide Yes or No HCA322: Health Care Ethics and Medical Law Instructor: Keysha Knights July 22, 2013 Yes or No Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide (dying) , doctor-assisted dying (suicide), and more loosely termed mercy killing, basically means to take a deliberate action with the express intention of ending a life to relieve intractable (persistent, unstoppable) suffering. Some interpret euthanasia as the practice of ending a life in a painless manner. Many disagree with this interpretation, because it needs to include a reference to intractable suffering (Nordqvist, 2010). When breaking down euthanasia there are two different types passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. Active euthanasia is a state where a patient is given a lethal injection, while passive euthanasia involves withdrawing life support systems from a patient (Anonymous, 2011). Active euthanasia basically is when the physician gives the patient medication to help end their life. Passive euthanasia is when treatments for the patient’s condition are stopped and ultimately ends in the patient’s death. When it comes to euthanasia or physician assisted suicide I can understand both sides of the debate but in the end I feel that it should be legal under certain circumstances. If a person is terminally ill I feel they should have the right to have a choice to end their life instead of suffering. A doctor’s job is to help the patient and their...
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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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...is euthanasia? Levine (2012) states like truth telling, euthanasia is an old problem given new scope by the ability of modern medical technology to prolong life. Euthanasia is the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit. There are four types of euthanasia listed by Levine: active euthanasia, passive euthanasia, voluntary euthanasia, and non-voluntary euthanasia. The controversy is not life ending, but when death is inescapable, how far should one go in accelerating it? On October 27, 1997 Oregon enacted the Death with Dignity Act which allows terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose (Oregon 2012). The Act requires the Oregon Department of Human Services to collect information about the patients and physicians who participate in the Act, and publish an annual statistical report. Many objections that arise on this topic is the act allowing patients to commit suicide? The Eighth Annual Report on Oregon's Death with Dignity Act states under the Act, ending one's life in accordance with the law does not constitute suicide (ProCon 2012). The Death with Dignity Act legalizes physician-assisted suicide (PAS), but specifically prohibits euthanasia, where a physician or other person directly administers a medication to end another's life. In 1997 Oregon became the first state to permit physician-assisted suicide...
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