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Arguments Against Physician Assisted Suicide

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Physician Assisted Suicide Physician assisted suicide or P.A.S., is a widely-discussed argument around the world. It is the idea of a doctor using lethal doses of drugs to help end someone’s life due to suffering, and in terms doing so without authority. When thinking about the idea of this taking place many different thoughts arise when considering morals and a person’s rights. Many believe that it should be illegal partly due to the idea that it is morally and ethically wrong. While others believe it should be legalized in more states when thinking about how other feel who are suffering. Physician assisted suicide should be legal in the United states under certain circumstances such as a person is suffering tremendously, such person is incapable …show more content…

When considering the ethics behind doctors giving dosages of medication to help end their lives, the doctor’s oath plays a part. Many people find it hypocritical for a doctor to give up on a patient so easily just because they wish to die. When becoming a doctor you agree to the oath and the idea that you will do anything and everything in your power to save a patient’s life when needed. With that being said, when a doctor ends a patient’s life with lethal drugs he or she is simply giving up hope that there is a cure to make that patient better in time. Many doctors believe that miracles happen and they see them on a daily basis everywhere. So why stick to the idea that killing a patient, even with their consent, is the correct thing to do in certain situations? People also put into perspective the thought that patients have the ability to sign a DNR (do not resuscitate). When patients are critical, they get the option to sign a DNR stating that when their heart happens to stop or they stop breathing, you do not have the right to help resuscitate them under any circumstances. Doctors should be helping patients to the best of their ability and if that patient happens to code (stop breathing or cardiac arrest) then they may have the opportunity to help end the patient’s life with the legal document …show more content…

Currently physician assisted suicide is only legal in 7 states within the United states. Those for the legalization of physician assisted suicide are also thinking about this situation in an ethical manner. They believe that patients have the right to say whether or not it is their time to go. If a patient is suffering or hooked up to multiple ventilators and machines while lying in a hospital bed, then they should have the right to legally let a doctor help them die through their authority. When considering the idea of legalizing it, people like to make you think about the idea of you being in that person’s shoes. What if you were the one hooked up to all these different machines helping you survive. Imagine that being you and wanting to just be able to end your life and no longer face the agony of not being able to live your life the way that you should be able to. When thinking about being put under those circumstances, having physician assisted suicide being legally mandated isn’t a terrible nor unethical decision. “While Americans consider themselves free to live the lives they choose, most don't realize that this freedom ends when it comes to selecting a peaceful death over a life filled with unbearable pain and suffering,” (Faye Girsh, 2002). Girsh believes that as Americans we have the unalienable right known as freedom, but once it comes to making a decision on whether you can

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