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Physician Assisted Suicide Essay

1595 Words7 Pages

Math In this area people don’t seem to know the term euthanasia. When worded in different ways people seem to know what it is. The most recognized being Physician assisted suicide. To word a question one way is to have a bias. The way questions are worded can affect the outcome. For example: The question, Should a doctor be able to give pills that kill people be legal? sounds harsh and uses the word kill and most people have been raised to know that killing is bad so this question would usually produce a negative response. This is assuming that the person hasn’t studied into this topic. Now if you reword the question wanting a positive response it could sound like this, Should physicians be able to fulfill the wishes of patients, who have …show more content…

The fact that our private choices have serious repercussions for others’ lives too reinforces the need to choose wisely” (Logue 3). She is talking about the legalization of physician assisted suicide. To consider legalization of the ending of someone’s life is not something to take lightly. The decision someone would make would not only affects one’s life it could end it. Stefan Bernard Baumrin, PhD, JD, Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York noted in his chapter,"Doctors must not engage in assisting suicide. They are inheritors of a valuable tradition that inspires public trust. None should be even partly responsible for the erosion of that trust. Nothing that is remotely beneficial to some particular patient in extremis is worth the damage that will be created by the perception that physicians sometimes aid and even abet people in taking their own lives" (Battin 86) This shows that the actions that a person takes can create an effect that was not anticipated in the beginning. Connecting these two excerpts they are about responsibility and knowledge of one’s choice. There are certain repercussions that cannot be anticipated. They both help to clarify, make an informed decision. What one person does is not just for one person it can affect a lot of

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198 Words | 1 Pages

This woman clearly demonstrated full autonomy and foresight during her decision to inquire about physician-assisted suicide. Based on the facts there is no indication she was not competent and of sound mind as she met all state requirements to request assisted suicide. Her statement of spiritual ties also leads us to conclude she has already evaluated the possible “consequence” of her death that may or may not apply to her religious views. Consulting her doctor about dying on her own terms demonstrates voluntary active euthanasia, which involves a social decision between two moral agents. In this situation, one being the doctor, and the other the patient.

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1953 Words | 8 Pages

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.

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1023 Words | 5 Pages

Moreover, would a podiatrist or an otolaryngologist qualify as an expert? O'keefe valid concern stems from physician-assisted suicide is a is a slippery slope. Physician-assisted suicide would give insurance companies an excuse not to cover reasonable treatment options and provide physician-assisted suicide as their only option. Even experimental or preventative treatments insurance companies would not cover the potential treatments

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263 Words | 2 Pages

The article, “After struggling, Jerry Brown Makes Assisted Suicide Legal in California” by Patrick McGreevy discusses the controversial topic of assisted suicide. This new law in California should be overturned. The author states, “As someone of wealth and access to the world’s best medical care and doctors, the governor 's background is very different than that of millions of Californians living in healthcare poverty without that same access — these are the people and families potentially hurt by giving doctors the power to prescribe lethal overdoses to patients.” This is important because people who have terminal illnesses that can’t afford their medical treatment can be pressured into taking lethal overdoses. The author continues, “They also

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

The oath of Hippocrates binds the physician to a promise “to do no harm.” However, the oath poses a dilemma for the physician to either participate in or decline PAS. A physician’s perception of the dilemma indicates his belief in PAS. For example, Kitty Rayl of Oregon, with terminal uterine cancer, turned to Dr. Nancy Crumpacker for help in dying. Under Oregon Law, Dr. Crumpacker could assist Kitty’s death with a lethal medication.

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336 Words | 2 Pages

In the article, "Loss of Self" Most Important in Considering Physician- Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia" a number of people who were

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814 Words | 4 Pages

Their argument is that the medical practice of physician-assisted death is unethical because it violates the bioethical principle of nonmaleficence, which refers to the obligation of the physician to not cause needless harm. Physician-assisted death is not causing needless harm because the patient themselves is requesting the death-dealing medication and taking them, or not taking them, when, and if, they feel ready to die. It would be needless harm if the physician in question actively euthanatized the patient by administering the death-dealing medications without the patient’s consent. However, from a legal standpoint, physician-assisted death does not include active euthanasia, which is illegal in all fifty states; it simply requires the physician to provide the mentally competent patient with the information they asked for regarding the process and a prescription for the death dealing medication. The physician is not causing needless harm to a terminally ill patient who wishes to die mercifully on their own time instead of six months down the line in possible pain and suffering.

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1800 Words | 8 Pages

Most people would never contemplate whether or not to end their family pet’s suffering, so why can’t people be as sympathetic to their family and friends? In today’s society, the legalization of physician-assisted suicide is one of the most debatable topics. The debates on physician-assisted suicide go back and forth between whether or not patients, specifically terminally ill patients, should have the right to die with the aid of doctors. Opponents believe physician-assisted suicide is morally and ethically wrong for patients to end their lives, and they believe it violates basic medical standards. However, proponents of physician-assisted suicide believe it is a humane and safe way for terminally ill patients to resolve their agony.

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951 Words | 4 Pages

Physician assisted suicide is something that has been debated all the way back to 1st century B.C. As opinions back then favored physician assisted suicide, opinions in the 12th-15th century did not support it, with the backup of the hippocratic oath. As the years progressed opinions on this subject flipped back and forth. Today, the opinion on physician assisted suicide is on it’s favor. However, there are only five states that allow this practice.

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874 Words | 4 Pages

It is believed that once practicing physician-assisted suicides becomes an acceptable concept in society, the next steps will easily be taken toward unethical actions such as involuntary euthanasia. Edmund D. Pellegrino, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Ethics at Georgetown University claims that our healthcare system is too obsessed with costs and principles of utility. He defies the belief that the slippery slope effect is no more than a prediction, by reminding the outlooks and inclinations of our society. Furthermore, he believes there comes a day that incompetent patients and those in coma won’t be asked for their permission to use euthanasia. The Netherlands is another example of such misuse.

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852 Words | 4 Pages

Physician assisted suicide is when a physician provides the means required to commit suicide, including prescribing lethal amounts of harmful drugs to a patient. In the United States alone, there is great controversy about physician assisted suicide. The issue is whether physician assisted suicide is murder or an act of sympathy for the patient. The main point is that terminally ill patients should have a right to physician assisted suicide if it meets their needs and is done properly. Physician assisted suicide is an appropriate action for the terminally ill that want to end their life in peace before it ends at the hands of the terminal disease.

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1228 Words | 5 Pages

Many 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.

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1252 Words | 6 Pages

Assisted suicide is a rather controversial issue in contemporary society. When a terminally ill patient formally requests to be euthanized by a board certified physician, an ethical dilemma arises. Can someone ethically end the life of another human being, even if the patient will die in less than six months? Unlike traditional suicide, euthanasia included multiple individuals including the patient, doctor, and witnesses, where each party involved has a set of legal responsibilities. In order to understand this quandary and eventually reach a conclusion, each party involved must have their responsibilities analyzed and the underlying guidelines of moral ethics must be investigated.

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359 Words | 2 Pages

What some people think though is that if we set regulations on the doctors, then the Assisted Suicides will be kept to only those who wish for it, but what if the doctors think a patient is better off dead than alive? What if the physician thinks that the patient is not worth saving or keeping alive? One person says “Of all the arguments against voluntary euthanasia, the most influential is the 'slippery slope': once we allow doctors to kill patients, we will not be able to limit the killing to those who want to die”

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522 Words | 3 Pages

The 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.

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