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Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Dying

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Introduction
When the doctor delivers the bad news of terminal illness with a sentence of “six months to live”, the patient has to deal with end-of-life issues in a very devastating moment in her life. Nobody is ever prepared to die although one knows that death is inevitable. As mortal beings, when we reach this point in life, we scramble, we look at our bucket list and we try to play catch up on things we never got around to doing. We go through Kubler-Ross’ different stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. So, when we accept death, is physician-assisted dying a better option to die without going through this emotional turmoil? Physician-assisted dying is not a better option for terminally-ill patients who …show more content…

Some physicians are not comfortable prescribing lethal doses of medications. Despite the legality of physician-assisted dying, the American Medical Association does not accept physician-assisted dying as an acceptable medical practice (Shibata, 2017). In fact, physicians who do not believe in this practice can transfer the care of these patients to other physicians who participate in physician-assisted dying. Pharmacists also have a choice to not participate. Pharmacists’ right to “conscientious objection,” or the refusal to participate in activities they consider to be against their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs, comes to mind when faced with the personal decision of whether to dispense a medication dose that is intended for use in ending a patient’s life (Fass and Fass, 2011). A survey was conducted and findings suggest that among younger pharmacists and only about one third would be willing to personally dispense lethal medication doses (Fass and Fass, 2011). When addressing physician-assisted dying, nurses must determine whether they believe assisting a suffering human being to commit suicide is compassionate and merciful or an “overt act of killing.” (Harris, 2014). A study that was done revealed that some nurses may view physician-assisted dying as compassionate release from senseless suffering but …show more content…

It is an option that does not guarantee ethical outcomes and has been criticized for being unable to prevent individuals with depression from obtaining a lethal means (Shibata, 2017). Our society needs to respect and uphold the sanctity of life and commit to a more effective and accessible palliative care and hospice to the terminally ill. Improved palliative care should be created because life is sacred and should never be ended by a direct human act and the law does not give an individual a constitutional “right to assistance in dying” (Shibata, 2017). The role of the physician needs to be preserved to maintain a trustful physician-patient relationship and not one of an agent of hastened death. Physicians are supposed to save lives and abide by their Hippocratic Oath to do no harm and not assist in the dying process. And although we have a moral responsibility to address medical futility in the terminally ill, effective palliative care and comfort provided by an interdisciplinary team in collaboration with the patient and family is a better and more comprehensive approach of addressing the medical and emotional needs of the terminally ill

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