ipl-logo

Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

965 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Argument for physician assisted suicide

The ethical and legal implications of Physician assisted suicide (PAS) have been debated for centuries. Many countries around the world, including the UK, see suicidality as a punishable crime; however, despite this long-held position of criminalising it, opinions on assisted suicide remain fiercely divided (citation). Although the British Medical Association (BMA) has adapted a neutral stance on assisted suicide, it is important to understand that the BMA believes that ongoing improvements in palliative care allow patients to die with dignity and legalizing such behaviour will lead to an unfair divide between medical professionals who participate and those who do not (citation). This essay will examine both sides of the argument by exploring …show more content…

It is argued that assisted suicide violates the deontological principle because it contradicts one's moral values and the sanctity of life (citation). The person actively assisting breaks the moral law due to their intentions to end a sacred life. According to John Keown, author of Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy: An Argument Against Legalisation, the main argument against assisted suicide is that it would be open to abuse and could lead to a ‘slippery slope’ effect, where increasing numbers of people would be coerced into choosing assisted suicide. He argues that it would be difficult to ensure that vulnerable people are not put under pressure to end their lives and that it would be hard to ensure that it is genuinely voluntary. Furthermore, assisted suicide would undermine the patient-doctor relationship, which is based on trust and the belief that the doctor will always act in the patient’s best interests. PAS simply violates the principle of non-maleficence which conveys that a medical professional should act to minimise harm to their patients. Despite assisted suicide being in accordance with the pillar of beneficence as it relieves a patient’s suffering, it contradicts the pillar of non-maleficence as it directly causes …show more content…

From the perspective of autonomy and beneficence, assisted suicide will give patients the right in choosing to end their suffering and dying with dignity (citation). In support of PAS, some emphasise the principle of consequentialism, although the patient dies, the pain and suffering is reduced, medical cost is minimised which allows the healthcare system to utilise resources effectively and efficiently towards a greater number of people. In addition, a consequentialist would argue the current laws are causing more harm than good as currently it is estimated that 300-650 terminally ill patients commit suicide with 3000 to 6500 attempting to do so in the UK (citation). It is important to note that despite the current laws, some critically unwell patients are making decisions to end their lives, in a way that is neither humane nor painless. The current laws force the unwell to end their lives alone, without any medical supervision and methods of a painless death. Having said that, if PAS is legalised and regulated, it could provide a more peaceful and painless route for critically unwell patients; ultimately leading to a decrease in both their suffering and their loved

Show More
Related
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.

Read More
67 Words | 1 Pages

The concept and ideology behind Physician-Assisted Suicide within the contemporary generation has become an exceptionally sensitive and controversial issue as multiple factors conglomerate to define if Physician-Assisted Suicide is justifiable within the grounds of ethical understanding and moral principles. The idea concerning PAS is based on the grounds of rational and irrational thinking as in if death is a rational choice above all other alternatives (Wittwer 420).

Read More
106 Words | 1 Pages

The 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.

Read More
191 Words | 1 Pages

In the Newsweek article, “Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Always Wrong,” by Ryan Anderson, it is stated that the legalization of assisted suicide “would be a grave mistake.” Anderson provides a few examples of why assisted suicide is detrimental. One, he states it leads to an endangerment of the weak and disenfranchised in societies. His outlook is that the purported safeguards of eliminating risk has mainly been nonexistent, which in some countries like the Netherlands who has legalized physician assisted suicide (PSA), has lead to doctors administering lethal injections to patients without request. Two, Anderson, sees assisted suicide as a compromise in the practice of medicine.

Read More
1897 Words | 8 Pages

Though, in this paper, I have addressed several points that Dennis Plaisted has presented on why we should not legalize physician assisted suicide due to the issues with autonomy that convince the public that the state does not care enough to preserve the lives of those with less than six months to live. I argued that the limits of who and when an ill patient may be allowed to receive PAS are present for the state to relieve the pain of the ill who wish to have control over their death, and that it is only an alternative option for those patients. I considered a counterargument to my criticism, which argues that the state and doctors shouldn’t allow for PAS, as it gives the impression that the state does not care about the lives of the terminally ill. Just as well, the reputation of doctors as healers would be compromised if they supported this form of treatment. However, I explained that the quality of life is more valuable than forcing someone who is ill to suffer until their natural death.

Read More
1179 Words | 5 Pages

The 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

Read More
2010 Words | 9 Pages

As the United States continues to grow and develop for the better, multiple issues still challenge and impact the people. Within these numerous issues, physician assisted suicide (PAS) has also been recently tacked onto that list. In today’s society, PAS is commonly debated due to ethical, emotional, and legal reasons involved throughout the topic. Each of these topics consist of a variety of benefits and drawbacks, all of which are constantly bickered about. Through ethical reasoning, emotional testimonials, and legality cases, both those in support of and those who oppose physician assisted suicide create their own arguments from differing viewpoints.

Read More
846 Words | 4 Pages

It provides a competent patient with a prescription medication to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life. Physician-assisted suicide has its proponents and its opponents. This procedure is not to be taken lightly. All patients pursuing PAS should be evaluated. It is required that “...a patient's request for assistance with a hastened death should generate a thorough evaluation of the patient's motives and attempts at ameliorating the patient's suffering”(NCBI).

Read More
1697 Words | 7 Pages

In this oath there is a line stating: “I WILL MAINTAIN the utmost respect for human life.” Allowing physicians to assist in suicide could blur the sacred relationship between doctors and patients for good. Patients could fear that that may be receiving lethal drugs instead of being provided the appropriate care. The critics of the assisted suicide procedure argue that such a process devalues human life and tends to promote suicide as an alternative to personal suffering. It blurs the line between healing and dying.

Read More
951 Words | 4 Pages

There are countless stories of those who get declined for this who end up committing suicide in a less dignified manner. Most of those who ask for PAS just want to end their pain and suffering surrounded by loved ones in a dignified manner. I have read several stories where due to the decline of PAS, they choose to go out by shooting themselves, or suffocating themselves, ect,. Doctors rolls are seen as being healers, but, that roll should be switched to relievers if there is no option of healing.

Read More
769 Words | 4 Pages

But there continues to be adverse reactions concentrated towards the practice. After reading and comprehending the controversies of the topic, I have come to a firm belief that terminal patients should have the right to control their death through the use of assisted suicide when faced with

Read More
1424 Words | 6 Pages

Most people would agree that taking a human’s life is almost certainly wrong. Despite this, the seemingly obvious moral rule becomes blurry with the mention of ending a terminally ill patient’s life as they wish. Physician-assisted suicide involves a doctor administering drugs to end a patient’s life at their request. Many argue that this is unethical and should remain illegal. By applying their beliefs and opinions on the value of life to explain the necessity for it to be illegal.

Read More
1799 Words | 8 Pages

Current Issues Surrounding Death A hot topic in today’s media and in discussion is the idea of physician assisted suicide and end of life care. There are several legal, ethical, social, and political issues surrounding this idea, which makes it a controversial topic. This paper will discuss some of these issues and explore the idea of physician assisted suicide and end of life care in more detail. Physician assisted suicide is defined as, “suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information (as a drug prescription or indication of the lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of how the patient intends to use such means or information (Merriam-Webster, 2015).

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

A very controversial topic lately is that of euthanasia. Physician assisted suicide is a very debatable ethical issue because people have different morals. I argue that in some cases it is ethical and others it is not. I believe that if someone is going to die, that there is absolutely no cure available that if they want to die via physician assisted suicide that is their choice. One of the main reasons that people chose to die via PAS is because they are in pain and don’t want their families to see them miserable.

Read More
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.

Read More

More about Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

Related Topics

Open Document