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The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide

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In 2008, two terminally ill patients on rationed Medicaid from Oregon were denied coverage for life-extending chemotherapy, but received letters from administrators offering to pay for their assisted suicides(Smith 1). It does not end there. In 2018, a Canadian man with serious disabilities, has been refused coverage for independent-living services but was offered payment by Canadian Medicare for the costs of obtaining a lethal injection(Smith 1). Instances like these will continue to happen as long as Euthanasia is legal. Assisted-suicide not only belittles the value of life but patients are more susceptible to being pressured into euthanasia because of costs. Notably, Euthanasia goes against both a Supreme Court banning of physician-assisted …show more content…

Thus, savings to governments and insurance companies could become a consideration for the end of someone’s life. The two terminally ill patients from Oregon and the disabled man from Canada exemplify this dilemma. Correspondingly, assisted suicide and euthanasia will be practiced through the prism of social inequality, because of the punishing effects of poverty. But those who will be most vulnerable to abuse, error, or indifference are the poor, minorities, and those who are least educated and least empowered, because these groups do not have the resources to care for themselves (Newyorkhealth.gov 1). In essence, the cheap costs of the death drug compared to the alternative of keeping the person alive will be amoral and another reason why euthanasia should not be …show more content…

Any Physicians that partakes in assisted-suicide are breaking their Hippocratic oath of harming patients instead of healing patients. Doctors were never supposed to be trained killers but compassionate caregivers. In like manner, euthanasia is just a halfway house to legalizing murder. Henceforth, If terminating life is a beneficial to that person, the reasoning goes, why should euthanasia be limited only to those who can give consent if it is beneficial to society? The effects of legalizing Euthanasia completely could be very detrimental and unneeded in

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In the book Assisted Suicide in Canada: Moral, Legal, and Policy Considerations by Travis Dumsday, a counter argument to the legal precedent for medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada is constructed. The main approach Dumsday makes to substantiate his stance is exhibiting the moral and ethical controversy that MAID creates in Canda, and how the Legality of MAID should be overturned. Several types of avenues of data and methodologies are used in the book to support Dumsday’s anti-MAID arguments. Firstly, they develop the historical context of MAID in Canada and attempt to express errors in the original Carter V. Canda supreme court case and how flawed logic and immoral practices corrupted the case, which has led to the expansion of Medically assisted euthanasia in Canada. The author then begins an explanation of the morality and ethical quandary he feels about MAID and how morality should point toward if not a cessation of MAID that a governmental decision to not fund the program.

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Anna Acton writes the reading “The Progressive Case Against Assisted Suicide”. In this argument she states she is against assisted suicide. Acton says that money and power play a huge impacting role when it comes to the topic of assisted suicide. Some health care companies are rejecting treatments in order to raise their bottom line. This is outrageous to know that people companies put their financial stability before the well being of those who are disabled, poor, and sick.

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Since Oregon began allowing physician-assisted suicide of the terminally ill in 1997, more than seven hundred people have ended their own lives with prescription medications in the state alone (NPR.org). Physician-assisted suicide is not only becoming a topic of controversy in the United States, but foreign countries as well. Supporters of the issue believe that competent people who do not have a chance of longevity should be able to choose their fate. Opponents argue that terminal diagnoses can be inaccurate, or that the person with the illness may not be capable of making informed decisions. Assisted suicide refers to the act of one giving another the “Instructions, means, or capability to bring about their own demise.”

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The article, “After struggling, Jerry Brown Makes Assisted Suicide Legal in California” by Patrick McGreevy discusses the controversial topic of assisted suicide. This new law in California should be overturned. The author states, “As someone of wealth and access to the world’s best medical care and doctors, the governor 's background is very different than that of millions of Californians living in healthcare poverty without that same access — these are the people and families potentially hurt by giving doctors the power to prescribe lethal overdoses to patients.” This is important because people who have terminal illnesses that can’t afford their medical treatment can be pressured into taking lethal overdoses. The author continues, “They also

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Monday October 5th the governor of California, Jerry Brown, signed the “Right to Die” bill. This bill would allow doctors in California to prescribe lethal amounts of medications to end a terminally ill patient’s life. Brown signed this controversial bill after explaining that he did this based on his personal decision “of want he would want if ever faced with his own death.” Governor Brown wrote in his letter to addressing state law makers that he “is certain that he would find comfort in being able to consider the options afford by this bill”(Botelho). But the Californians Against Assisted Suicide (CAAS) called this bill flawed saying that lawmakers should first consider how this bill could affect the disadvantaged people of America.

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Since Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill in 1997, euthanasia has been receiving close attention. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, euthanasia is the act or practice of killing someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent any more suffering. Many states in the U.S have been debating the pros and cons of euthanasia with hopes of legalizing it or having it remain illegal. Advocates for assisted suicide believe those who are mentally competent and suffering from a terminal illness, with no chance of long-term survival, should have the right the end their suffering. They argue if people here legally able to refuse medical treatment they should also have the freedom the end their lives in a quick,

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Physician-assisted suicide is here to help aid in the area of the terminally ill, and today it still remains illegal. This is one of the areas that cannot be ignored and yet here it stands,

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Physician assisted suicide, although legal in some states, should remain illegal because it goes against religious and moral beliefs. “In physician assisted suicide, the physician provides the necessary means or information and the patient performs the act” (Endlink). Supporters of assisted-suicide laws believe that mentally competent people who are in misery and have no chance of long-term survival, should have the right to die if and when they choose. I agree that people should have the right to refuse life-saving treatments, written in the patient bill of rights.

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In the defense of Physician Assisted Suicide, a wide publicly talked about topic, it should be a choice every terminally ill patient receives. Physician Assisted suicide is when a patient is terminally ill and has no chances of recovering. The patient themselves can make the decision, with the help from their physician, to get lethally injected and end their life reducing and ending the pain. In America each state has a little over 3,000 patients that are terminally ill contact an advocacy group known as the Compassion and Choices to try to reduce end-of- life suffering and perhaps hasten their death. Physician Assisted Suicide shouldn’t be looked at as suicide, but as ending the pain and suffering from an individual whose life is going to be taken away anyway.

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Even though the ban of PAS was challenged in several court cases such as Vacco versus Quill in 1997 and Glucksberg versus Washington also in 1997, the Supreme Court and Congress left it as a state issue not a federal law because of the violation of the due process clause of the fifth amendment which states, “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…” and the fourteenth amendment which states “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without the due process of law”. The United States Constitution allows states to prohibit physician assisted suicide but in 1997 the Supreme Court ruled that “assisted suicide is not a constitutional right” (Hall, Kermit). In 1997, U.S. Congress

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It is believed that once practicing physician-assisted suicides becomes an acceptable concept in society, the next steps will easily be taken toward unethical actions such as involuntary euthanasia. Edmund D. Pellegrino, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Ethics at Georgetown University claims that our healthcare system is too obsessed with costs and principles of utility. He defies the belief that the slippery slope effect is no more than a prediction, by reminding the outlooks and inclinations of our society. Furthermore, he believes there comes a day that incompetent patients and those in coma won’t be asked for their permission to use euthanasia. The Netherlands is another example of such misuse.

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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.

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1064 Words | 5 Pages

Assisted Suicide is the act of doctors prescribing deathly medications to people wanting to end their life. Oregon, Washington, countries overseas, and more are beginning to legalize this act. The fear is that these laws target the most vulnerable, elderly, disabled, and terminally ill patients. For example, Barbara Wagner was notified by letter that the Oregon Health Plan wouldn’t cover her prescription to help with her cancer, but the letter notified her that it would cover a prescription for assisted suicide (Not Suicide Help). This shows that assisted suicide laws are set up to pressure the vulnerable population into giving into suicide.

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In 1997, in the case of Vacco v. Quill, the Supreme Court ruled there is no constitutional right to die; therefore, proving euthanasia is wrong. The 14th amendment states “No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property; without due process of law” (Issitt and Newton). These 2 statements prove that assisted suicide is morally wrong. This shows that is should not be allowed anywhere in the U.S. Euthanasia is completely unfair to doctors who are putting down another human being just like themselves. Doctors shouldn’t be allowed to do euthanasia on patients if they have taken the Hippocratic oath; which states, “I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel.”

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1321 Words | 6 Pages

The Right to Die has been taking effect in many states and is rapidly spreading around the world. Patients who have life threatening conditions usually choose to die quickly with the help of their physicians. Many people question this right because of its inhumane authority. Euthanasia or assisted suicide are done by physicians to end the lives of their patients only in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, New Mexico and soon California that have the Right to Die so that patients don’t have to live with depression, cancer and immobility would rather die quick in peace.

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