Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide is a controversial topic that has been debated many times. Some people believe that assisted suicide should not take place at all. Other people believe that suicide should be assisted by a physician in a medical setting. There are also people believe that suicide should be assisted outside of a medical setting completely and even offered commercially. There are many issues and concerns in deciding if helping someone die is wrong, and then if it is not wrong then how do we help someone die. How do we decide if someone qualifies for assisted suicide assistance? Is this assistance only for the terminally ill patients? All arguments are worth debating, but there is one argument that I believe shouldn’t be a topic of debate

The Hippocratic Oath is a promise that all doctors swear to when they began practice as a physician. The oath’s central promise is to not harm the patient and work for the good of the patient (Lee and Stingl 1). This oath also states specifically that a doctor is not to give a lethal dose of medicine to the patient (Lee and Stingl 1). If a physician gives a lethal dose of medicine to help a patient die, then he or she is violating the very oath they take which greatly diminishes the trust between the patient and physician. Many could argue that the doctor is upholding the part of the Hippocratic Oath by doing what is good for the patient by practicing Euthanasia. The term Euthanasia means dying well or a good death (Lee and Stingl 1). People may think if the physician helps patients die well, then they are doing what is good for the patient. Euthanasia then becomes a greater ethical issue for the physicians, because how do the doctors decide who qualifies for Euthanasia? Euthanasia is considered so ethically wrong that medical ethics have rejected it (Requena 100). The physician should uphold their oath and not be considered as an option in helping patients commit

According to Pawlick, Dr. Boudewijn Chabot was almost fired for helping a fifty-year-old woman who was depressed commit suicide (Pawlick and DiLascio 11). When people in the world who are depressed or suicidal see that you can die peacefully with the help of doctors, then those people may think of this as an option for their circumstances. If physician-assisted suicide is legalized and considered a medical procedure, then do physicians have to perform this service for patients who request to die for reasons other than terminal illness (LEVY, TAL BERGMAN, et al. 403)? If physician-assisted suicide becomes a common practice, then patients whose quality of life is greatly diminished could become targeted. People with mental and physical disabilities, patients in psychiatric hospitals, and patients with deformities could be considered qualified for physician-assisted suicides (Pawlick and DiLascio 11). People could say that homeless people, drug abusers, prisoners, and others who do not benefit society should receive physician-assisted suicide. If the Physician, a much-respected profession in society, plays an active role in patient assisted suicides then suicides may become as common as going to the doctor for other procedures. This would be unfair expectations for a physician who is trained to save lives and not take