...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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...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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...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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...author of “Definitions of Euthanasia,” physician-assisted suicide is when a, “Medical doctor helping patient to die by prescribing a lethal overdose.” Although there are many guidelines that have to be followed for a patient to be considered for physician-assisted suicide, it still should not be legal. Kayla Asbury argues in her article “The Right to Die: Benefits of Physician-Assisted Suicide” that, “dying with dignity is a right everyone should be afforded.” However, many people argue that physician-assisted suicide is not moral and should not be preformed under any circumstance. In Asbury’s article she time and time again explains why she believes physician-assisted suicide should be legal. Asbury’s main argument...
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...Should physician-assisted suicide be legal? While I believe if one chooses to end his or own life through physician assistance for reasons that they chose, the choice should be up to the individual. Physician-assisted suicide should be at one's discretion. “Assisted Suicide, also called Voluntary Euthanasia, is currently a contentious issue in many countries. Because Euthanasia is legal in a few modern democracies: the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland. In the Netherlands, voluntary euthanasia has been legal since 1983, with some 3,000 people requesting it each year. In Australia, assisted suicide was legalized in the Northern Territory with the backing of a substantial majority of the local population, but was then overthrown by the Federal Senate before anyone could actually use the new law. However, in Oregon and California, state legislation has been passed to allow for euthanasia in special circumstances and within a heavy regulatory framework in which third party ethicists attempt to ensure the appropriateness of euthanasia cases. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is illegal in most countries around the world. In the United States, Dr Jack Kervorkian – nicknamed ‘Doctor Death’ for his actions beliefs – has campaigned for a change in the law for many years, and assisted in the suicide of at least 45 people.” (Brooks) Physician assisted suicide has always been an ongoing argument. It can be both inductive and deductive depending on the premise. I will be looking at the...
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...The Ethics for Nurses in Medically Assisted Suicide Physician-assisted suicide also known as PAS, is a controversial topic everywhere; some believe if a patient is terminally ill then it should be permissible while others believe it is against their beliefs and religion to commit any type of suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is when a patient requests the help of digesting a lethal drug to quicken their death (United States Physician Assisted Suicide Law Summary and Law Digest par. 1). The most common patients to request assisted suicide are patients with cancer and AIDs. Active euthanasia is sometimes also considered physician-assisted suicide because it results in death from someone purposely doing something to the patient causing them to die; such as being injected with poison. Passive euthanasia is the withholding of a medical treatment for a patient, which is legal, but many come to be disagreed upon. Withholding food and water, turning off machines, and failing to resuscitate are prime examples of passive euthanasia (United States Physician Assisted Suicide Law Summary and Law Digest par. 1). There are currently three states that permit physician-assisted suicide, Washington and Oregon. On October 27, 1997, the Death with Dignity Act was passed in Oregon. The Death with Dignity Act states that an Oregonian that is terminally-ill has the right to voluntarily, self-administrate lethal medications with a prescription from their physician. On March 5, 2009, Washington passed...
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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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...American university | ME Ciera Clark NAtional American university | ME State Health Laws on Physician-Assisted Suicide State Health Laws on Physician-Assisted Suicide February 15, 2013 February 15, 2013 Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………….2 About Euthanasia and Assisted suicide………………………………….2 Legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide……………………………….3 States considering bills to legalize physician-assisted suicide………….3-4 Death with Dignity Acts………………………………………………......4-5 Oppose Physician Assisted Suicide………………………………………5-6 Supporters…………………………………………………………………6-7 Reference…………………………………………………………………..7-8 Introduction For decades, the public, government, and physicians have been debating over the “Death with Dignity Act” or “Physician-Assisted Suicide.” It started back in the Ancient Greek and Rome time. The debate originated around the Hippocratic Oath and the condemnation of the practice. With the upsurge of Christianity, many physicians continued to condemn the practice. Within the last two centuries the public has spurned many discussions about Physician-assisted suicide and Euthanasia from many different historic perspectives (Procon.org, 2012). Although this debate has been lengthy and many of the issues discussed over the centuries are repetitive, new ideas and concerns do emerge with the current debate. What do you think when you here assisted suicide? Would you want your family member to suffer with an illness that has put them in so much...
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...called euthanasia. Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease. The act may only be done solely to those diagnosed with terminal illnesses such as cancer, aids, and heart disease. Many people agree with the idea of euthanasia as it can help those who are suffering be stripped of all the pain they are enduring. Whereas, others disagree with the idea of euthanasia because they believe the patient should have a chance to be treated and regain their health instead of choosing the “instant death” route and it may increase the number of assisted suicides. Euthanasia has been made legal in several places around the world such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia, India, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Japan and Canada. The only U.S. states that have legalized euthanasia are Washington, Oregon, Colorado, California, Washington D.C., Vermont and Montana (“Legality of...
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...advances, a discussion over euthanasia is kindled in the last years. The term euthanasia (Greek, “beautiful death” ) originally means that humans, who did not feel their life worth living due to outside influences as a right to a self-chosen death possessed. In Europe, there are different ways of handling euthanasia determined by laws. To discuss this complex topic in the range of this paper, it is necessary to circumscribe the content. In general, there are four different ways of euthanasia. Active euthanasia means killing someone on his explicit demand, normally practised by physiscians with pharmaceutical additives. Indirect euthanasia describes the medical therapy to avoid unendurable pain under accepting a shorter life expactancy. The third way is passive euthanasia, which implies the abdication of life prolonging measures. The fourth and last method of euthanasia is medically assisted suicide. In fact, this stands for giving someone the possibility to commit suicide, whereas the patient has to do the last step on his own. To discuss and describe the different ways of euthanasia in a good way, we want to take a closer look to Europe, especially to the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. This selection is based on the fact, that there are the three major types of handling euthanasia with the corresponding judical solution in each country. In the Netherlands it is legal to practise active euthanasia by a physician with the corresponding legal regulations. The law...
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...Should Physician Assisted Suicide be Legal? xxxxxxxxxx PHI 103 Informal Logic xxxxxxxxx March Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia, is also known as mercy killing. Euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition (www.dictionary.com). Physician assisted suicide is the act of killing or taking some one’s life. Many doctors and people feel that in certain situations it is the best thing to do in order to keep a person from pain and suffering. Who is to say that it is the best thing to do a close friend, family, the doctors, or the person that is sick? If the person that is sick is in a coma who is to make the decision? Who will say that the decision is right and was the right thing to do. Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia is taking life into your own hands, and playing God. The fact that physician assisted suicide or euthanasia is the killing of a person brings about the question should it be legal or illegal? The first time physician assisted suicide or euthanasia was used and first recorded in 1869 by a British moral historian named W.E.H. Lecky(McCartney, Donal 1994). Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia was also used by the Nazi’s. They used it to kill people that they felt did not deserve to live or did not meet their criteria of who should be living on earth. This use of physician assisted...
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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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...Arguments Physician Assisted suicide or euthanasia, is also distinguished as mercy killing. Euthanasia is the act to place a person to death devoid of pain or permitting a person to die, as by persistence of severe medical measures, a person distressed from a, precise terminal painful, disease or circumstance (Beauchamp, 1999). Physician Assisted suicide is the exercise of killing or taking somebody’s life. A lot of doctors and people feel that in these distinct conditions it is the finest thing to do, consecutively to sustain a person from hurt and suffering. The actuality that euthanasia or physician assisted suicide is the ending life of a person brings with reference to the issue should it be legal or illegal (McDougall, 2000)? People's sovereignty or self-determination is a significant perception in the debate on make lawful euthanasia. Proponents dispute that the prohibition on euthanasia inflicts too great a restriction on the person's capacity for directing the end of her or his life and what nature death will take. On the other hand, Opponents, dispute that self-determination would be fake autonomy with value to euthanasia, or that self-determination concerning euthanasia must not weigh additional profoundly than the law of not killing. Euthanasia is identified as the practice of intentionally ending a life which liberates an individual from a terminal disease or unbearable suffering. Should Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be made legal? Arguments...
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...thousands of years, most Christians and Jews have always opposed suicide. With this being said, one may think that most of my biases could be a result of my religious background. However, in reality, I have actually become very open-minded about the overall concept of euthanasia. While doing my topic proposal, my religious beliefs were overriding my conscious. In order to continue my research, I overcame my biases but trying to imagine myself in the place of a terminally ill person facing death, or envisioning a family member trying to come to terms with there on death. This was not easy for me as it was difficult to not say “No, you shouldn’t attempt any form of suicide, which is a one-way ticket to hell.” But, I have come to the realization that some don’t have the strength to suffer any longer than they already have or continue to feel as if they are a burden to their loved ones. I feel that in physician assisted suicide, to completely understand why someone would want to commit such an act, you have to put yourself in that person’s shoes. This can be difficult when dealing with such a controversial subject. In almost any situation it is true that if you have never personally been in the same type of situation, it may be easy to disagree with them. However, I feel like suicide is a heavier topic because it is literally life or death. I am choosing to write about the legalization of physician assisted suicide because this topic intrigues me in a way that I almost cannot understand...
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...Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering and is categorized as voluntary, non-voluntary or involuntary. Assisted suicide is committed by someone with assistance from another person usually in regard to someone suffering from a severe physical illness. It is referred to as a “physician assisted suicide” when a physician provides a competent, terminally ill patient with prescription for a lethal dose of medication upon the patient’s request. Physician assisted suicide is often confused with euthanasia. Do Not Resuscitate or “DNR” and Living Wills are legal orders that represent the wishes of a patient. A DNR states that the patient does not wish to undergo extra measures if their heart were to stop or if they were to stop breathing. A living will is also referred to as an advance health care directive, personal directive, advance directive, or advance decision. It is a set of written instructions that a person gives that specify what actions should be taken for their health, if they are no longer able to make decisions due to illness or incapacity. A DNR, Living Wills and various medical proxy documentations are legal when it comes to medical treatment decisions and the end of life. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are prohibited in most countries worldwide. Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands appear to be the only countries where both euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have been made legal...
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