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Death With Dignity Analysis

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Recommended: Beginning of debate on physician assisted suicide

The emotional documentary, How To Die in Oregon, chronicles the Death With Dignity Act in the state of Oregon and its impact on the lives of those suffering with terminal illnesses. The Death With Dignity Act is a law that allows individuals with terminal diseases to end their life at his or her own volition in a dignified manner. Helpless patients in volatile conditions are given a sense control when choosing Death With Dignity. Additionally, Death With Dignity allows individuals to have a sense of closure at the end of his or her life. How To Die in Oregon is intended to reveal the circumstances in which someone decides to end their own life. How To Die In Oregon follows the lives of individuals who are coping with terminal illnesses and who are deciding how to humanely end his or her life. The film also examines the debates in Washington state as it determines whether or not to implement a Death With Dignity Act. The most prominent figure in the How To Die In Oregon is Cody Curtis. When the film begins, 54 year old Cody has just been told that she has six months to live. Her liver cancer has recurred and she has chosen to pursue physician assisted suicide when she feels she can no longer go on. Throughout the film, Cody seems to be doing well. She outlives her six month notice and is very physically active. Towards the end of the …show more content…

It is quite evident that the film views the Death With Dignity Act as a necessity when dealing with end of life care. How To Die In Oregon argues that the quality of an individual’s life is far more important than the length of it. Therefore, Death With Dignity should be universally implemented to reduce the suffering of ill patients. The film uses home videos and documents the lives of terminally ill patients to bring the story to a personal level. The overall theme is melancholy with a bit of humor to lighten up the somewhat macabre

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who can stay rest assured in a few states that if they want to end their suffering the patients will have the option. Peg Sandeen describes the reason why she supports the “Death with Dignity Act” her husband John had been diagnosed with HIV, his words were “ I don't want to die that way” at that moment Sandeen realized that a “Dying person” wants to “Decide how they die” (deathwithdignity.org). John only wanted to be in authority of his life until the day he perishes John's desire of being in control until the day he passes on only something the right to die can grant because clearly he has been suffering for many years from HIV and has realized he does not want to be consumed by the disease. John wants to live his life knowing the day

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The documentary, A Death of One’s Own, explores the end of life complexities that many terminal disease patients have to undergo in deciding on dying and dignity. It features three patients, their families, and caregivers debating the issue of physician-assisted suicide or pain relief than may speed up death. One character, Jim Witcher has ALS and knows the kind of death he is facing and wants to control its timing. Kitty Rayl is suffering from terminal cancer and wants to take advantage of her state’s Death with Dignity Act and take medication to terminate her life. Ricky Tackett, on the other hand, has liver failure and together with his family and caregiver agrees on terminal sedation to relieve his delirium and pain.

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After Maynard went through with this act, the recognition for Death with Dignity began to soar but even then only five states allow this act to be done legally which needs to change. The Death with Dignity Act is an extremely beneficial policy that many people don’t know much about but when correctly educated on the matter many people will realize how truly helpful the act really is. The Death with Dignity policy has been around for over 20 years and has dated back and argued about since the early 1990s. It was officially made a law in Oregon in 1994 with 51% in favor and officially went into effect in 1997 (Oregon 's Public Health System).

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Lee did not want to go on anymore. Since he lived in Oregon, he was able to opt for Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act to end his life with a lethal dose of pills prescribed by his doctor (Karaim, 2013, p. 451). This occurrence is an example of physician-assisted suicide, which is essentially suicide with the help of a physician by prescribing the patient with lethal medication. Today, physician assisted suicide is legal in only five states: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and most recently California. Undoubtedly, physician assisted suicide is a highly controversial matter; due to this fact, California will certainly have effort groups who will want to repeal the “End of Life Act,” by which Governor of California Jerry Brown signed earlier this month

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“In the 20 years that Oregon’s Death with Dignity Law has been on the books, 1,749 patients have been prescribed lethal medications, and only 64% of them (1,127) used them to die, according to state data. Last year, Oregon doctors prescribed 206 lethal medications, 133 of which were reported used by patients” (Portland Press Herald). This statistic shows that not all patients who are prescribed the drugs, use them to end their life. Gale states, “The three most frequently cites reasons for requesting suicide were: a decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable, loss of autonomy and loss of dignity.

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The Death with Dignity Act, also known as the Right-to-Die Bill, allows terminally-ill adults grant their wishes to hasten their death in some states where it is legalized. These patients that are mentally capable of making their own decisions have the right to voluntarily request and receive a prescription medication to end their suffering sooner. Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and California are the only states that practice the Death with Dignity Act. Oregon voters approved Death with Dignity Act in 1994 and went into effect in 1997. Washington implemented the same act in 2008 followed by Vermont in 2013 which is the first state to pass through legislative process.

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"And I want to die on my own terms." Because California had not yet legalized medical aid in dying, Maynard and her husband, Dan Diaz, moved to Oregon to utilize the state 's Death With Dignity law. Oregon was the first state to enact such a law, in 1997. In the 18 years after, 1,545 prescriptions have been written for a lethal dose of medication, of which 991 patients used that prescription to hasten their death, according to a study released this week. Most of those patients, like Maynard, had cancer.

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Imagine you have difficulty waking up, trying to fight the constant sensation of drowsiness with the little life you have left. When you wake, you struggle through the haze of confusion to finally realize that you are in the same monochromatic, secluded room you’ve been in for the past two months or possibly two years. No family in sight. No pets. No fireplace awaiting you.

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“Be smart, be strong, live honorably and with dignity, and just hold on” (Fray). Physician assisted suicide or better known as Death with Dignity isn’t your everyday topic or thought, but for the terminally ill it’s a constant want. The Death with Dignity isn’t something that all people or religions are in favor of and nor is the act passed in all states in the United States. Only three states in the U.S. today, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington offer their residents the option to have aid in dying as long as all the requirements are met. Death with Dignity doesn’t effect just the terminally ill person, but as well as family and friends around them creating many conflicting thoughts when opinion if Death with Dignity is truly moral and a choice

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The dying patient no longer has quality of life, they have lost their independence, are lonely, are forced to endure inevitable pain, are publicly humiliated, are suffering immensely, and are forced to watch their loved ones grieve because of them. It is an innate Constitutional Right to choose how to die, since we all will die. There comes a point when the poking and prodding becomes too much, when the patient wants to just die in silence in the loving arms of their

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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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“Death with dignity is a human right: to retain control until the very end and, if the quality of your life is too poor, to decide to end your suffering; the dignity comes from exercising the choice.” says Jason Barber, whose wife, Kathleen Barber, died in his arms. He had one question in mind when she died. What was he going to say if someone asked him how she died? Whether she went peacefully? He decided to tell people that his wife died in peace, without any pain or suffering.

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The possible legalization of euthanasia can cause a great disturbance in how people view life and death and the simplicity of how they would treat it. "There are many fairly severely handicapped people for whom a simple, affectionate life is possible." (Foot, p. 94) As demonstrated, the decision of terminating a person 's life is a very fragile and difficult one, emotionally and mentally. Nevertheless, it’s a choice we can make if it is passive euthanasia being expressed.

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The Death with Dignity Act has two arguments: those who believe we have the right to choose how and when we die, and those who believe we do not possess that right; that we should not interfere with the natural order of life. Every year, people across America are diagnosed with a terminal illness. For some people there is time: time to hope for a cure, time to fight the disease, time to pray for a miracle. For others however, there is very little or no time. For these patients, their death is rapidly approaching and for the vast majority of them, it will be a slow and agonizing experience.

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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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