Physician Assisted Suicide Is Ethical Essay

“The question of whether or not euthanasia is ethical revolves around the meaning of human existence. Those who favor euthanasia argue that human life only has meaning when the individual is free from unendurable physical and mental suffering” (“Preface to ‘Is Euthanasia Ethical?’” 1). Physician-assisted suicide is a practice that was first introduced by Dr.Jack Kevorkian in June of 1990 (“Chronology of Dr.Jack Kevorkian’s Life”, 1), in which a patient is either injected with life-ending drugs or given a carbon monoxide mask to place over their mouth and nose in order to end his or her life (Jackson 3).While this practice may sound harsh and unethical, it is the exact opposite; assisted suicide grants terminally-ill patients the option to end their suffering early and to avoid the loss of meaning to their life (“Preface to ‘Is Euthanasia Ethical?’”, 1). When a person is faced with the possibility of suffering through a dehumanizing and humiliating death, they should always be given the option of legally undergoing physician-assisted suicide; this option benefits both the patient and their family by allowing the patient a chance to end their life in a euphoric state, eliminating the costs of long term care, and to allow a morally acceptable

The oath clearly states, “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan” (Pickert 1). The Hippocratic Oath is an oath taken by doctors of the moral rules and guidelines to being a physician; and although most modern doctors no longer take the same oath that was performed in the fourth century , it is still held in high regard for how a doctor should act morally (Tyson 1). In the doctoral community, the need for the oath is questioned due to its’ age and relevance to medicine