Physician Assisted Suicide Summary
One of the main objections to autonomy-based justifications of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) that Gill talks about is that many people believe it does not promote autonomy, but instead is actually taking it away (366). First, it is important to clarify what autonomy means. According to Gill, it is the ability of a person to make big decisions regarding their own life (369). Opponents of PAS argue that it takes away a person’s ability to make these big decisions and so it is intrinsically wrong for them to choose to take their own life. Gill responds to this objection in many ways. He claims that allowing a person to choose to take their own life is one of the biggest decisions that they can make on their own. He believes that if a terminally …show more content…
Gill argues that keeping a person healthy cannot be a physician’s only moral duty because in cases of terminal ill patients, they can no longer be treated or healed (372). If a physician’s only duty were to heal patients then they would not tend to the terminally ill because there would be nothing else that they could do, which is something that most people would find to be morally wrong (Gill, 373). No one would be okay with a doctor not helping a person at all who has received a terminal sentence. So instead of promoting health in this case, the physicians must find a way to reduce the suffering of the patient. This means that the physician should be able to reduce the suffering in the way that the patient asks for. If this means that the patient is in extreme pain and requests for PAS, then the physician should be able to let them do so as long as they are in the correct state of mind to make that decision. Philosophers argue that helping to kill a patient could never be the best option, however in many cases it may be a better option than letting them suffer for more months to come (Gill, …show more content…
He believes that the pleasure or pain a person feels is directly related to whether or not the action was right or wrong (Bentham, 39). This means that an action is right when it causes the greatest pleasure for the person or group of people who are involved. If there is a group of people and a certain action would benefit the majority of them for good, then it would be considered to be the right action. On the other hand, if the action does not benefit the majority and only benefits a few, then it would be considered to be wrong. The ultimate goal of this theory is to bring happiness to those involved and to also prevent evil and unhappiness within the group (Bentham, 39). The same goes for an individual. Whatever option would bring that person the greatest pleasure would be the right choice and all other options would be wrong because they would be bringing them pain. Bentham states that when you consider an individual or a group then you can determine the value of the pleasure or pain felt in a situation through evaluating its intensity, duration, certainty/ uncertainty, propinquity/ remoteness, fecundity, and purity (41). This means that you can determine the amount of pleasure or pain a person will feel depending on how greatly it scores on these
The Argument Of Double Effect In Physician Assisted Suicide
106 Words | 1 PagesThe last argument that this paper will look at is the argument of double effect. In the context of terminal illness physician assisted suicide could instead be seen as a vital form of care for someone who is suffering, instead of the failure of medicine. Physician assisted suicide seems to oppose the pro-life view, but on closer examination, its purpose is instead to relieve suffering in imminently terminal cases where it is thought that no other treatment could reasonably hope to do the same. Even though traditionally the role of the doctor is seen as extending life, that role may also encompass the assistance in PAS.
Physician-Assisted-Suicide Analysis
2372 Words | 10 PagesAfter careful consideration, Wallace discusses his desire for Physician-Assisted-Suicide (PAS) with his family and doctor. PAS is the voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician (CITE). However, PAS
The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide
2024 Words | 9 PagesPhysician-assisted suicide for psychiatric patients has become a highly debated ethical issue. In the United States, only a handful of states allow for assisted death (“Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts”). Growing awareness for mental health has stirred conversation about whether physician-assisted suicide should be extended to individuals with severe mental illness. For physicians, the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice are in direct conflict with autonomy. Does the idea of “do no harm” outweigh the potential emotional benefit patients receive from choosing to no longer suffer from their mental illness?
Physician Assisted Suicide Persuasive Speech
1697 Words | 7 PagesIn claiming that the procedure allows patients to have dignity at death is flawed because the purpose of the medical profession is to ensure a dignified life. In accordance with the physician’s code of ethics or Hippocratic oath, physicians are not allowed to do harm to their patients because their role is to provide a dignified life with health to the community. Instead of helping people kill themselves, we should offer them premium medical care and solace human presence.
Physician Assisted Suicide
1550 Words | 7 PagesTherefore, a suffering patient may consider physician-assisted suicide as an option to free themselves from life’s
Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay
1149 Words | 5 PagesOur life is all about making choices and when a terminally ill patient decides it is their time to go then their doctor can help provide drugs to help reduce the suffering and kill
Physician Assisted Suicide Vs Euthanasia Research Paper
948 Words | 4 PagesPAS, like euthanasia, obviously requires the consent of a patient. In the places where it is legal, a patient must go through a long set of examinations and tests before they are prescribed the medication (Boudreau, Somerville). These topics are controversial among our culture today and have been ever since they came about. Many court cases, organizations, and laws have shaped how society views euthanasia and PAS
Physician Assisted Suicide Argument
1728 Words | 7 PagesIn contrast, proponents of physician assisted suicide view this phenomenon in a completely different light. Within this camp PAS is seen as a logical and obvious option for those who are struggling with a severe illness. On the account of it is seen as a human right, and a choice any competent adult should have at their disposal. In a debate on the legalization of PAS, philanthropist Andrew Solomon stated, “Although no one should be pressed into assisted dying, no one should be categorically denied that right. It’s about dignity.”
Physician Assisted Suicide Analysis
1013 Words | 5 PagesIn the documentary, Bill Moyers talks to three terminally ill patients, their families, and their doctors about the concerns with physician-assisted suicide (PAS). PAS allows a terminally ill patient to hasten an inevitable and unavoidable death through a lethal dose. The patients considered PAS in order to end their prolonged suffering. The legal role of advance directives in end of life issues allows a patient to specify how he wishes to be treated by a healthcare provider during a progressively weakened state. Advance directives may provide patients with freedom to choose end of life treatment, but moral and religious implications, the ethical battle between a physician’s duty to care and inner-conscious, and state laws pose threats to PAS.
Thesis Statement For Physician Assisted Suicide
522 Words | 3 PagesThe Right to Die 1) Introduction a) Thesis statement: Physician assisted suicide offers patients a choice of getting out of their pain and misery, presents a way to help those who are already dead mentally because of how much a disease has taken over them, proves to be a great option in many states its legal in, and puts the family at ease knowing their love one is out of pain. i) The use of physician assisted death is used in many different countries and some states. ii) Many people who chose this option are fighting a terminal illness.
Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay
1228 Words | 5 PagesMany people think that there are too many problems with physician assisted suicide. Physician assisted suicide is a procedure that allows physicians to prescribe their patients a lethal medication that they can inject themselves with in order to die on their own terms. There are specific requirements that the patients must meet in order to receive this medication. Physician assisted suicide is only for patients that have life threatening illnesses and do not have much time left to live. It is legal in numerous places around the world including certain places in the United States.
A Death Of One's Own Movie Analysis
642 Words | 3 PagesThe ethical principle of autonomy provides for respect for the patient’s autonomy to make decisions and choices concerning their life and death. Respecting the patient’s autonomy goes against the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. There also exists the issue of religious beliefs the patient, family, or the caretaker holds, with which the caretaker has to grapple. The caretaker thus faces issues of fidelity to patient welfare by not abandoning the patient or their family, compassionate provision of pain relief methods, and the moral precept to neither hasten death nor prolong life.
The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide
1209 Words | 5 PagesSome view it as murder while others believe that it goes against a doctor’s oath to save a person’s life however they can. From a religious standpoint, they believe that if God wanted that person to die, then it would happen and that they should not take it into their own hands. However, it is just as ungodly to take antibiotics for an infection or undergo surgery for a burst
Legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay
1179 Words | 5 PagesThe medical field is filled with opportunities and procedures that are used to help improve a patient’s standard of living and allow them to be as comfortable as possible. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is a method, if permitted by the government, that can be employed by physicians across the world as a way to ease a patient’s pain and suffering when all else fails. PAS is, “The voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician.”-Medicinenet.com. This procedure would be the patient’s decision and would allow the patient to end their lives in a more peaceful and comfortable way, rather than suffering until the illness takes over completely. Physician assisted suicide should be permitted by the government because it allows patients to end their suffering and to pass with dignity, save their families and the hospital money, and it allows doctors to preserve vital organs to save
Persuasive Essay On Active Euthanasia
802 Words | 4 PagesA patient must have the right to determine if he or she wants to die. If patients are persuaded into euthanasia, that killed at a time when they don 't want to die, then physicians are violating the concept of nonmaleficence, which is physician must do no harm to a patient, as well as autonomy. Autonomy is essentially the ability of an individual to determine his or her actions based on his or her
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