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Kleiman's Argument Against Euthanasia

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The patient is the only one that can deem how much pain they can tolerate and when they are ready to stop fighting. The choice of assisted-suicide should be chosen by those that are doing the actual suffering, they are the ones that are stuck living that way. No one should be told that they have to live the rest of their life in constant pain when there is a way to die in a painless manor. For instance, Mark A. R. Kleiman, professor of public policy at New York University and author, argues that “There are other people whose lives are so miserable that they prefer to end them…Some suffer from intractable physical pain. Others find their physical and mental powers failing and hate the thought of being dependent on others for basic activities” (Kleiman). To elaborate, Kleiman believes that terminally ill patients should be allowed the choice to die with dignity. Many terminally ill patients find it embarrassing to imagine that in a few months they will not be cable to bathe themselves, use the washroom alone, or even feed themselves. If a patient knows in advance that their physical and mental abilities …show more content…

Opponents are concerned that by legalizing the euthanasian of terminally ill patients, then it would lead to the euthanasian of patients that are capable of living long lives. Imagine the horror of being able to get assistance in dying simply because the patient is mentally incompetent or is mentally ill. Usually if someone has suicidal thoughts or wants to commit suicide, people of the medical profession do everything in their power to help save them. If terminally ill patients want assistance in killing themselves, then physicians are not fitted for the job. Physicians should be helping their patients, not killing them. Ira Byock, director of the Providence Institute for Human Caring and professor of medicine, questions “Would we approve of a doctor giving a lethal injection to an elderly woman who was simply tired of living? A woman with constant ringing in her ears? A congenitally deaf man who is now losing his sight? A person who is chronically depressed” (Byock). Fundamentally, Byock believes in the theory of the slippery slope. This means that he is worried that the legalization of assisted-suicide will lead to the euthanasian of patients that could be saved or that families could be taking advantage of

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Freedman worries about the conceptual slippery slope associated with physician assisted suicide. Ultimately, he believes that allowing physician assisted suicide will lead to the approval of euthanasia (154). In many situations it is unclear how to deal with requested physician suicide, especially in cases where the patient has a physical disability. In such cases, it is difficult or impossible for a patient to self-administer the lethal dose of medication to end his or her own life. It therefore rules out physician assisted suicide, but denying the patient the right to end his or her own life as they choose is against the charter of rights and undermines his or her autonomy (155).

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Terminally ill patients lose control over so many aspects of their lives, in many ways physician-assisted death gives them back some of the control they lost. Illness is not discriminatory. Therefore, people of all ages and backgrounds are diagnosed with things like cancer, kidney failure, and heart disease every day. Also, for anyone who is unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with any terminal illness, it can feel like their disease controls every aspect of their lives and they have no choice in the matter. Authors for the Journal of the American Society on Aging Lee Combs and Grube describe how persistent pain took control of a young woman named Brittany Maynard’s life, “Even after undergoing a sophisticated surgery and numerous cancer treatments,

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Kleiman, who believes that laws prohibiting assisted suicide must be abolished, is a professor of public policy at New York University 's Marron Institute of Urban Management, whereas Byock, who is completely opposed to any law change, is a professor of medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. Kleiman and Byock have both compelling and opposing viewpoints on this controversial subject, and rule the other to be highly unethical.

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Although care options for terminally ill patients are very limited, it is up to the patient and their loved ones to make it their priority to decide which care option is best. While assisted suicide has often came up for debate for the best option with the least amount of pain and suffering, Wesley Smith believes otherwise and has a very different opinion. He believes in giving terminally ill patients the best options that could have less suffering and prolong their life for many more years. He goes up to debate with Arthur Caplan who states that aid in dying should be considered and become a legal practice. Smith goes against Caplan’s argument by stating “we can validly criticize those who, for whatever reason, make it easier or acceptable

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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.

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In the documentary, Bill Moyers talks to three terminally ill patients, their families, and their doctors about the concerns with physician-assisted suicide (PAS). PAS allows a terminally ill patient to hasten an inevitable and unavoidable death through a lethal dose. The patients considered PAS in order to end their prolonged suffering. The legal role of advance directives in end of life issues allows a patient to specify how he wishes to be treated by a healthcare provider during a progressively weakened state. Advance directives may provide patients with freedom to choose end of life treatment, but moral and religious implications, the ethical battle between a physician’s duty to care and inner-conscious, and state laws pose threats to PAS.

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By allowing the option of physician assisted suicide, the state may be softening the idea that there is no hope for someone that ill, and that sends the wrong message to the public. Just as well, the Death With Dignity legislation may compromise the view that people have on doctors as healers (Plaisted 205). Patients may lose trust in them if they condoned, or even participated in physician assisted suicide. Those who are against PAS feel that there should not be a loss of hope for someone suffering from an incurable disease, and are against my argument

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In addition, Williams states that this “policy is a slippery slope” for non-voluntary euthanasia and others may decide for the patient what they think is best, even when the patient does not have a say. William strongly believes that “the dangers of euthanasia are too great to all run the risk of approving it in any form” (William

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Threatening to diminish the value of life is very dangerous. Euthanasia, also called mercy killing, is the practice of doctors intentionally ending a terminally ill patient’s life in what is purportedly a gentle and dignified manner. The term originated in ancient Greek and means “easy death.” Doctors perform euthanasia by administering lethal drugs or by withholding treatment that would prolong the patient’s life. Physician-assisted suicide is also a form of euthanasia, but the difference between the two methods is that in euthanasia, doctors end the patient’s life with lethal injections, whereas, in physician-assisted suicide, patients kill themselves with a lethal amount of drugs prescribed by the doctors.

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Firstly, to understand the full argument, you must understand the topic. As defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Euthanasia is the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy. With that understanding it is hard to see why people who are terminally ill do not have the option of having a pain free death on their own terms. Even without a law, doctors have been aiding people to die for years.

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Another reason against physician-assisted suicide is the idea that if assisted suicide becomes legal, it will get out of hand and target certain people in society. Professor Patricia King states, “Many Americans, particularly the poor, the disabled, the elderly, and members of racial, ethnic minorities- worry that they will be viewed as throwaway people,” (Right to Die).

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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.

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Another issue with legalizing euthanasia would be that society would be too easily convinced to support it. "It would be hard to devise procedures that would protect people from being persuaded into giving their consent." (Foot, p. 112) There is no possible way to know if a person is giving their consent because they actually want to or maybe because they were persuaded to do

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Many people think that those who ask for assisted death is due to the unbearable physical pain, but the truth is they are afraid of the possible consequences of their illness. We are tricked by the desire of patients who ask for assisted death and we think that it is for their own goodness to stop the pain and let go of suffering. “Obviously, no one wants to be a burden to their families, friends, and communities. But it’s also true that no one wants to die. Those people who say “let me die,” usually don’t mean what they say, and in fact are thankful when their request is denied.”

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However, there can be other issue when euthanasia is legalised doctors can end up killing very ill patient without asking their consent or their families consent, in order to save money and free up hospital beds. All these situation shows how dangerous it can be if we legalise euthanasia it can lead into the legislation of involuntary euthanasia. There are religious argument against euthanasia , which is the sanctity of life. This means human life is sacred creation of God. Religious believers believe God is the only one that has the right to choose when human life should end.

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