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Argumentative essays onphysician assisted suicide
The debate surrounding assisted suicide
Arguments against physician assisted suicide
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Anna Acton writes the reading “The Progressive Case Against Assisted Suicide”. In this argument she states she is against assisted suicide. Acton says that money and power play a huge impacting role when it comes to the topic of assisted suicide. Some health care companies are rejecting treatments in order to raise their bottom line. This is outrageous to know that people companies put their financial stability before the well being of those who are disabled, poor, and sick.
Even with all the advances that America has had in their health care and their research with cancer treatments there are still patients that get diagnosed with terminal cancer and they have no hope. Dying is a natural thing that everyone will have to do at some point in their life. In the book Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the debate the Author talks about how people all have the right to live and with that should come the right to die (Battin, M. P.). This is also a moral decision and will vary with every person. Some people are at peace with dying while some fear it.
Physician-assisted death is the practice in which a physician provides a mentally competent patient with the means to take his/her own life, usually in the form of prescribing death-dealing medications. It first became legal in the United States in Oregon in 1998. It is now legal in four other states: Washington, California, Montana, and Vermont. In order for one to exercise their right to die this way, the law states that the patient must be at least 18 years old, be mentally competent, be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months, and must wait at least fifteen days before filling the death-dealing prescriptions. This controversial practice has raised the question of whether or not it is ethical for a physician
Lauren Kenney Ms. Braswell English 12 9 April 2018 TITLE The hippocratic oath is one of the oldest binding documents in history and is still held sacred by physicians. The document requires physicians “to treat the ill to the best of one's ability, to preserve a patient's privacy, to teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation, and so on”(medicalnet.com). Clearly, the intention of a physician is to keep the patient alive no matter what, although there are some instances where this is not the case.
Physician assisted suicide, although legal in some states, should remain illegal because it goes against religious and moral beliefs. “In physician assisted suicide, the physician provides the necessary means or information and the patient performs the act” (Endlink). Supporters of assisted-suicide laws believe that mentally competent people who are in misery and have no chance of long-term survival, should have the right to die if and when they choose. I agree that people should have the right to refuse life-saving treatments, written in the patient bill of rights.
Once an individual reaches late adulthood, many physical, cognitive, and health changes occur. There is an increased vulnerability to disease and illness. This is something any person must be aware of when entering late adulthood. You are reaching the end of your life and you have to accept the possibility of developing health problems or illnesses that may be incurable. One of the most controversial issues in society today is the topic of physician-assisted suicide.
Physician assisted suicide is not innovative. Health Care providers are telling their clients that they are not worth the money of treatment when it would just be cheaper for death. In 2008, Oregon resident Barbara Wagger needed chemotherapy to fight lung cancer. The Oregon Health Plan office would not pay $4,000 per month because it was not within their guidelines of treatment.
What is Physician assistant suicide? Physician assistant suicide occurs when a physician facilitates a patient's death by giving the information to enable a patient to overdose. Giving the patient information about the lethal dose knowing the patient might commit suicide. Physician assistant suicide is one of the most ethical issues discussed in the medical field. If a Physician gave a lethal drug it would be euthanasia.
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.
Death is a natural process that will be experienced by everyone at some point, desirably at the end of a long, well lived life. The reality is that no one knows when that time will come or how it will happen. Unfortunately, for the terminally ill, death is in the near future and it is a sobering reality. Therefore, when that time comes, people need to know that they will have options, and the assurance that death does not have to be an agonizing end. They can choose to endure the annihilating pain that comes with the disease and allow it to take its natural course or choose to put an end to it, surrounded by those who love them.
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.
Should you let anyone or any animal go through pain only to die in the end anyway? This question is hard for many people to answer or even think about. Choosing to end another person's life can be justifiable if you are taking someone out of painful existence. Killing another is justifiable act in certain situations such as Capital Punishment and Euthanasia, also in the case of George and Lennie.
Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Research Clarence Haskovec killed his wife after complaining to him that she wanted to die. Clarence took in account how many severe illnesses she had been suffering and did the deed. Haskovec was convicted of assisted suicide and was placed on probation (Star Tribune). Many people struggle with severe illnesses everyday which cause endless pain. Should patients and or people with terminal illnesses be offered the option of assisted suicide or euthanasia?
A negative of assisted suicide is that not only can it affect the patient, but it can affect the people around them who do not support their plan. A family member of the patient can become depressed if their family member chooses to end their life. It can ruin relationships between the patient and the family. It can make the patient’s journey difficult if the family refuses, and it can corrupt the practice of medicine by using medicine in a harmful way to people (Anderson). Assisted Suicide can attract vulnerable patients, bullied by rogue doctors, grasping relatives, miserly insurers, or cash- strapped state (“The Right to Die”).
Argument Writing-PAS By:Avina Elangovan Life expectancy for humans all around the world is increasing. This is attributed to healthy lifestyle and advancement in medical care. We now have technology to prolong life for several years even if the person remains in a vegetative state. This in several circumstances has caused unnecessary suffering before the end of people 's lives.
