Palliative Care: Objections To Policy And Response

Objections to Policy and Response (specific arguments with heading or all one together with response)

Professional integrity

Many of the arguments against PAS have to do with person integrity of the physician. It is argued that the role of the physician is to promote wellness and healing not death. The job of the physician should not be to play ‘God’ and decide when it is the person’s time to die and actually assist with the death. In response to this argument, the medical field is quickly evolving and it is important to reconsider the ideas behind medicine. Yes, in a way a doctor’s role is to promote health but it is also to keep the patients best interest in mind at all times and avoid harm. If the patient has no desire to be alive and would

There has been a recent emphasis on palliative care in this nation. It is important that all options be weighed when deciding how and where to care for someone at the end of life. Palliative care incorporates keeping someone as comfortable as possible during the final stages of life. This can consist of removing life-sustaining equipment, sedating with medications, and providing non-Pharmalogical methods to promote comfort. There have been great strides in recent years towards better and more manageable palliative care (Quill, 2008). Palliative care has been given the status of being a board certified specialty. There are growing needs with the baby boomers coming through hospitals left and right. In response to this, it is agreed upon that all other options should be evaluated before considering PAS but when it comes down to taking someone off of a ventilator or sedating them to not feel pain, the patients ultimate wishes should come first. Suffering during the final transition towards death is not desired and many people wish not to have their families and loved one see them in a very vulnerable state when near

Not only education on what exactly physician assisted suicide is but also how the physicians carry it out, what kind of medication is used, and the specific requirements the patients need to meet. There should be community seminars or conferences discussing different points of view and opinions. Not only should there be education in the community for PAS but also physician education. There are some doctors in the states where it is already legalized that are still opposed to it and won’t actively participate in it. There needs to be the option for the physicians to learn more about PAS and be able to ask questions and share stories with other physicians. Knowledge is power and in regards to PAS that power could be utilized towards ending the suffering of terminally ill patients if that’s what is desired. Physicians need to optimize skills of assessing pain and functional capacity. The physicians need to learn how to better treat pain and be able to identify psychiatric symptoms of terminal illnesses (Snyder & Sulmasy, 213). It is important for physicians to have the patient consider all other alternatives before choosing PAS and go over the risks and benefits of choosing PAS. One other implementation that should be a requirement in order for PAS to be legalized throughout the rest of American is that a