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Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

1550 Words7 Pages

Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is a very controversial topic in both the medical community and elsewhere. Physician assisted suicide is defined by the McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine (2002) as the “voluntary termination of one’s life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. In most US cases, a physician gives a terminally ill patient a prescription for a lethal medication, and the patient takes the medication in their own home with no physician present, at the time of their choosing. In PAS, the physician plays a passive role in the patient’s death, prescribing the lethal medication but not administering it. PAS is different from euthanasia in that euthanasia requires the physician to take a more active role, and that euthanasia is illegal across the US. Certain patients should have the legal right to physician assisted suicide, but the right must be effectively implemented and regulated. …show more content…

The Republican platform states: “We oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which endanger especially those on the margins of society. We urge the Drug Enforcement Administration to restore its ban on the use of controlled substances for physician-assisted suicide.” President Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee, Neil Gorsuch, agrees with Republicans, saying, "Human life is fundamentally and inherently valuable, and that the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong." (ProCon.org) The Democratic Platform says nothing about PAS, however their most recent Presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton has said: “I believe it's within the province of the states to make that decision...with appropriate safeguards and informed decision-making, I think it's an appropriate right to have." The fact the PAS is supported is supported by major Democrats gives it more

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Physician-Assisted Suicide and its Ethical Dilemma Alexandra N. Gionta California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Physician-Assisted Suicide and its Ethical Dilemma Introduction As an aspiring nurse in California, an ethical dilemma that I am likely to come across is that involved with patient euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS). In voluntary active Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, a doctor administers a treatment upon request of the patient that will initiate their tranquil death. This is usually done in the case that the patient is of a certain age and diagnosed with a terminal illness that causes them suffering. A common misconception is that PAS is the same as euthanasia, but there is a distinct difference between the two.

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If physician- assisted suicide was legal so many patients would be in peace not having to deal with all the pain they went through. The pain these patients are suffering from could continue for who knows how long, they should not have to go through the suffering if they don’t have to. The patient’s

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Only those who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness or otherwise diagnosed with a condition that will inflict intense, debilitating, and chronic pain with very little to no chance of a cure should be able to volunteer for physician-assisted suicide. According to Lois Snyder-Sulmasy and Paul S. Mueller (2017), “Ethical arguments in support of physician-assisted suicide highlight the principle of respect for patient autonomy and a broad interpretation of physician’s duty to relieve suffering. Proponents view physician-assisted suicide as an act of compassion that respects patient choice and fulfills an obligation of nonabandonment” (p. 577). The premise here is that the death process has already been initiated in those that have a terminal illness or in those that are experiencing the worst pain imaginable. Because the process is irreversible, at least in the present day, physician-assisted suicide should not only be legalized, the terminology should be changed as well.

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Physician-assisted suicide is a widely controversial issue that is discussed in today society. There are debates over whether it is ethically correct or whether assisted suicide should be legalized for the terminally ill. Each side of the arguments have different viewpoints concerning individual aspects of physician-assisted suicide. Such as certain guidelines that should exist if legalized. Advocates of physician-assisted suicide argue that it should be legal under circumstances such as great suffering through terminals illness.

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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

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Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is the process by which a physician facilitates a patient’s death by providing them with the necessary means and information to end their lives. The debate to legalize physician-assisted suicide has been ongoing for many years. In the U.S only four states have legalized PAS: Oregon, Montana, Vermont, and Washington. The purpose of PAS is to end a person’s life that is suffering from an illness that will impair the way in which they live their lives. The debate of physician-assisted suicide began in the year 1997, when the U.S Supreme Court recognized no constitutional right to PAS and allowed state legislatures to make decisions for themselves.

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Physician assisted suicide is the ending of a person’s life on his or her own terms. Despite moral stigmas that argue against this right, assisted suicide has already become legal in several states. In the states where this is legal, several criteria must be met to qualify for physician assisted suicide. When treatment and suffering is not prolonged, physician assisted suicide would help the family and friends emotionally and financially. Legalizing physician assisted suicide, would ease the hardships of everyone involved and would protect the dignity of the person while also lessening their suffering and pain.

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Patients should be given the option of physician-assisted suicide so that

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A New York court recently ruled physician assisted suicide as illegal, arguing that it is not a fundamental right of the patient. I agree with this ruling, and will argue that supporting physician-assisted suicide cannot be ethically justified and violates several

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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.

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Physician assisted suicide is one of the most complex and critical health care policy issues that doctors and nurses must face and either advocate for or against. What makes it difficult is determining whether or not the patient’s condition is poor enough to be considered eligible for this type of treatment. In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian started a movement of taking this practice forward himself and helping multiple people do what they wanted with their life. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) can be a respectful way for people to be let free of their misery if done at the request of the patient. PAS can be seen as a negative act that doctors and nurses have the power to over use.

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Physician-assisted suicide is a very controversial topic in today’s society. Physician-assisted suicide is defined as an action performed by the physician at the request of the patient to end the patient’s life with certain medical procedures. The legalization of physician-assisted suicide should not be passed in the United States because it is not morally acceptable in the society, leads to misunderstanding of a physician’s duty and increases mental suffering of both patient’s family and doctor. Physician-assisted suicide should not be legalized since the action itself is not justified morally. It is never morally acceptable for the society to give up on its people’s lives.

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(Pakes, 2005) Physician-assisted suicide should become legal in every state of the U.S. Patients

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Many people think that there are too many problems with physician assisted suicide. Physician assisted suicide is a procedure that allows physicians to prescribe their patients a lethal medication that they can inject themselves with in order to die on their own terms. There are specific requirements that the patients must meet in order to receive this medication. Physician assisted suicide is only for patients that have life threatening illnesses and do not have much time left to live. It is legal in numerous places around the world including certain places in the United States.

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The practice of physician-assisted suicide is not a modern phenomenon. A young woman suffering from cancer became the first person known to die under the law on physician-assisted suicide in the state of Oregon when she took a lethal dose of drugs provided by her doctor in March 1998. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act passed a vote in November 1997, and for the past twenty years it has been a response to the progress of modern medicine. The issue of physician-assisted suicide has been the subject of the heated dispute in current years. Many people worry that legalizing physician-assisted suicide is opening the floodgate to non-critical patient suicides and other abuses and will decrease the value of human life.

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