ipl-logo

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

665 Words3 Pages

Physician Assisted Suicide Physician-assisted suicide is a very widely debated in the entire world. This is the act of a doctor helping a mentally competent terminal patient end their life. Very few countries and even fewer states in the US have decriminalized it and made it a legal action doctors can take without losing their license or being charged with murder. Many people agree and disagree with this ethical issue: Should physician-assisted suicide become legal to terminal patients? Many people will believe that this ethical issue should be legal all over the United States. Oregon, California, Colorado, Vermont, Washington, and D.C all have legalized the process of allowing a terminally ill patient painlessly end their lives with the approval of their doctor. Oregon runs a pro-assisted suicide group called “Death with Dignity”. According to their website, “The Death with Dignity process is robust: Two physicians must confirm the patient’s residency, diagnosis, prognosis, mental competence, and voluntariness of the request. Two waiting periods, the first between the oral requests, the second between receiving and filling the prescription, are required.” (Dignity) The mentally competent patient must also be able to administer the …show more content…

They believe a doctor's role is to care for and help a patient to their best ability, not to help them die. “Doctors or nurses or any medical practitioner cannot, morally or ethically, allow a person to die. This is a direct violation of the Hippocratic Oath.” Dr. Jack Kevorkian was a doctor that supported assisted suicide and was sentenced to 25 years in prison during 1999 for assisting a patient end their life. He administered the lethal medication through an IV and the patient had Alzheimer's setting in as well. He served 8 years and later died in 2011. To anti-supporters, he is viewed as a murderer, not a

Show More
Related

Argumentative Essay: Oregon's Death With Dignity Law

1554 Words | 7 Pages

This poll also found that 56 percent of Americans believe that physician assisted suicide is a morally acceptable act regardless of its legality, and only 37 percent believe it is morally wrong. Additionally, 62 percent of adults agree that a person has a moral right to suicide” (Ralph A Capone). Other states including Oregon, that have passed death-with-dignity laws include Vermont, California, Colorado and Washington. There is a death with dignity bill that is slated to go before the Maine Legislature in support of physician assisted suicide.

Read More

Physician Assisted Death Argumentative Essay

814 Words | 4 Pages

Physician-assisted death is the practice in which a physician provides a mentally competent patient with the means to take his/her own life, usually in the form of prescribing death-dealing medications. It first became legal in the United States in Oregon in 1998. It is now legal in four other states: Washington, California, Montana, and Vermont. In order for one to exercise their right to die this way, the law states that the patient must be at least 18 years old, be mentally competent, be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months, and must wait at least fifteen days before filling the death-dealing prescriptions. This controversial practice has raised the question of whether or not it is ethical for a physician

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

558 Words | 3 Pages

Physician assisted suicide should be legal throughout the United States. Assisted suicide should only be legal if the patient requesting it has a terminal illness. A terminal illness means the patient has less than six months to live. When a doctor is asked to help a patient into death, they have many responsibilities that come along with that question.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

1118 Words | 5 Pages

Though these professionals surely sympathize with their suffering patients, they must not be forced or allowed by law or by the patient or by the patient’s family to end life. Physician assisted suicide should not be legal in the United States because some illnesses, though detrimental to the body causing individuals to wish for death, can be treated, because it

Read More

Pro Physician Assisted Suicide Essay

951 Words | 4 Pages

Physician assisted suicide should be allowed in all fifty states. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is legal in California, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Montana. Since these states have ruled in favor of PAS there has not been an overuse or malpractice of this law. All five states have a very strict set of qualifications which you must meet even before being able to visit with a doctor. These qualifications are: being of 18 years or older, a resident of said state, capable of making life altering decisions on their own, have a terminal illness with 6 or less months left, and physically capable of administering the drug themselves.

Read More

Physician Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay

631 Words | 3 Pages

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross author of On Death and Dying quotes,“Lots of dying patients say they grow in bounds and leaps and finish all there unfinished business, assisted suicide is cheating them of these lessons, like taking a student out of school before a final exam. It’s not love, it’s protecting unfinished business.” Physicians are given too much power being able to prescribe this drug, and it crosses an extreme amount of ethical lines. Assisted suicide should be demolished because doctors are supposed to save others, it decreases the value of human life, and the drug could be abused.

Read More

Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

1699 Words | 7 Pages

The proponents for physician-assisted suicide claim that it should be an option for terminally ill, competent adults to hasten the coming of their death. They truly believe that physician-assisted suicide is “a compassionate response to relieve the suffering of dying patients” (Before I Die: Opinions). This option, according to them, should only be exercised when all medical alternatives have failed, palliative care has failed to relieve agony, the patient requests, to die, and a second opinion agrees that it could be an option. These regulations should prevent wrong decisions of the handicapped, minors, elderly, or other incompetent parties (Before I Die: Opinions). One of the main topics mentioned in the discussion about the legalization

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

820 Words | 4 Pages

For this to be a legal, each state has to have some requirements that patience have to meet before continuing with the prescription. It is important to realize not all the states have the same requirements. Each state has a general requirement to go from; however, it does not have to be exact. “The Ongoing Debate Over Physician-Assisted Suicide” presents three similar requirements that will be found for each state. This includes a patient who is mentally stable, have a witness when the procedure is brought up, and finally the patient has to be terminally ill

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

630 Words | 3 Pages

I was, and am a proponent of "death with dignity", since many years ago I had heard for the first time about Dr. Kevorkian. Then, I was concerned about the possibility of "assisted suicide" being used for other then voluntary, and consensual decision to end one's life. The passed in Oregon in 1994 "Death with Dignity" law, allows patients with chronic, debilitating diseases, and /or the end stages of their diseases, when there is no hope for cure, and the suffering becomes unbearable, to die with dignity. It allows them control, and a choice of whether they want to continue or whether they want to end their life. The fact that candidates for death with dignity have to fully understand what their decision means, and be able themselves to take the medication, eliminates the possibility of criminal wrong doing, such as was the case with Dr. Kevorkian assisted suicide, where the patient was injected with a lethal medication by other person then the patient himself.

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

854 Words | 4 Pages

Physician Assisted-Suicide Should we allow Physician Assisted-Suicide for people who are terminally ill with conditions like cancer and aids? It is quite understandable not to want your loved ones to suffer, however taking your own life goes against what is right under God. States like California has become the fourth state to pass legislation on physician assisted-suicide (Retrieved from California Governor Signs Physician Assisted-Bill).

Read More

Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

852 Words | 4 Pages

“Legislation that allows people to end their lives automatically creates incentives to seek death as a cost-saving option. The elderly and infirm are seen as burdens and can easily be disposed of. Suicide becomes the easy way out.” (Ben Broussard) Most of the time physicians are against the idea of physician assisted suicide because it goes against their job description and personal beliefs.

Read More

Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

1376 Words | 6 Pages

Physician assisted suicide is when a person can choose to die on their own free will. The doctor helps the person administer life-ending medication. This is legally used in California, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Colorado, and Montana. Not only is it widely used throughout the world there are still laws on it like the Death with Dignity Act. While physician assisted suicide and euthanasia is a topic greatly debated around the world, it should be legal in all states because it is a human right to die on their own terms.

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

690 Words | 3 Pages

I don't think physician- assisted suicide is right because it can cause suffering for family and friends, Allowing assisted suicide increases teen suicides, and violates the Hippocratic Oath. The right to assisted suicide is a significant topic that concerns people all over the United States. The debates go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Some are against it because of religious and moral reasons. Others are for it because of their compassion and respect for dying.

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

768 Words | 4 Pages

First of all, physician assisted suicide threatens the life’s of people under abnormal situations. According to Dr. Anderson, “where it has been allowed, safeguards purporting to minimize this risk have proved to be inadequate and have been often watered down or eliminated over time”(“Always Care, Never Kill”). This means that instead of assisting people with mental and physical stability they instead are offered accelerated deaths. I strongly believe that medical

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Assisted Suicide

447 Words | 2 Pages

Assisted suicide, also known as Euthanasia, has be a topic riddled with controversy. In this discussion board, I will explain why doctors should not participate in assisted suicides. While, I can understand dying with dignity, the fact of the matter is many people are choosing Euthanasia, not to die peacefully, but because it is the economical route to take. Also, many patients fear of becoming a burden or dependent on their families. For example: “In 2008, came the story that Barbara Wagner, a Springfield, Oregon, woman diagnosed with lung cancer and prescribed a chemotherapy drug by her personal physician, had reportedly received a letter from the Oregon Health Plan stating that her chemotherapy treatment would not be covered.

Read More

More about Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

Related Topics

Open Document