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Legal and Ethical Issues Involving Assisted Suicide
Should assisted suicide be lawful
The cons of euthanasia
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“The real reason for not committing suicide is because you always know how well life gets again after the hell is over.” People are unable to realize how their situation can be resolved better than having to kill themselves. Terminally ill patients are notorious for taking their lives before they can realize the mistake they are making. They believe that it is best for their situation, however, there are multiple reasons for why they should reconsider their actions before something terrible happens. Doctor assisted suicides should not be allowed because of the effects it has on the deceased loved ones and how more terminally ill patients are overcoming their disabilities.
The right to assisted suicide is a heavily controversial and debated over topic that concerns people all around the United States. The arguments go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to end their life with the assistance of a doctor or physician. Some people are against it because of moral and religious reasons. Others are for it because of their compassions and respect for unhappy patients waiting to die naturally. Assisted suicide is prohibited by common law or criminal statute in all 50 U.S. states; medical aid in dying is specifically authorized in 5 states: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, and California.
Threatening to diminish the value of life is very dangerous. Euthanasia, also called mercy killing, is the practice of doctors intentionally ending a terminally ill patient’s life in what is purportedly a gentle and dignified manner. The term originated in ancient Greek and means “easy death.” Doctors perform euthanasia by administering lethal drugs or by withholding treatment that would prolong the patient’s life. Physician-assisted suicide is also a form of euthanasia, but the difference between the two methods is that in euthanasia, doctors end the patient’s life with lethal injections, whereas, in physician-assisted suicide, patients kill themselves with a lethal amount of drugs prescribed by the doctors.
Euthanasia vs. Physician Assisted Suicide Euthanasia is the medical practice of taking someone’s life due to a terminal illness in a pain free way to end the suffering of a dying patient. Doctors would enforce this practice of deliberately killing the ill patient by using a lethal injection, on scene, with no second chances. The
At first assisted suicide was available only to those with a terminal illness. Citizens from with different backgrounds and scenarios fought for their own right to assisted suicide. The laws where eventually changed and now almost anyone can go to the doctor for an assisted suicide, including the mentally ill. If assisted suicide becomes legal in America it is only a matter
Physician assisted suicide is morally and ethically wrong due to the Hippocratic oath doctors take at the beginning of their term, and unlike euthanasia, it is therefore the patient that triggers the death and not a third party. Our culture subscribes to the notion of the “absolute sanctity of life”, Western religions do not plainly forbid suicide, and assisted suicide would result in overall no harm on the society. The physician-assisted suicide controversy surrounds the idea that assisted suicide rests on the difference between dying with dignity and dying suffering. The ethical issues of physician-assisted suicide are both emotional and controversial. It is ethically permissible for a dying person who has chosen to escape the unbearable
Right or Wrong Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) is one of the most controversial, ethical issues in our society today. Physician Assisted Suicide is the voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect help of a physician. Physician Assisted Suicide has its proponents and opponents. Among the opponents are physicians who believe it violates the fundamental principles of medicine. They believe doctors should not aid in suicides because to do so is incompatible with the doctor’s role as a healer.
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
Physician assisted suicide is a current controversial issue that has been debated over since the colonial days of the United States. The Oxford dictionary defines assisted suicide as, “the act of killing himself/herself with help of somebody such as a doctor, especially because he/she is suffering from a disease that has no cure.” Although the definition seems like a doctor can put easily put a suffering patient out of their pain and misery by euthanizing the patient, the concept is much more complex than that. Euthanizing and medically assisting a patient to commit suicide are two completely different things. According to The World Federation of Right to Die Societies, “euthanasia usually means that the physician would act directly, for instance by giving a lethal injection, to end a patient’s life.”
Physician Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Ten out of ten people die at some time, but the way a person dies is different in each case. Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (PAS) are two controversial ways to end a life. These processes differ but they have the same end result. If practice correctly, euthanasia and PAS are meant to end suffering near the end of a person’s life.
Both Smith and Jones acted with the same motive, personal gain and both had the same ending in mind when they acted. Jones argument “ I only let him die.” Morally speaking, according to Rachael this is no defense at all. The central point is the same, the bare difference killing and letting die does not, and in itself have any form of moral difference. Rachael argues that killing is not in itself any worse than letting die, “ if my contention is right, it follows that active euthanasia is not any worse than passive euthanasia.”
People who suffer from mental retardation, autism, anxiety disorders, depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, dementia or Alzheimer’s, will have a tougher time getting approved for assisted suicide. There is not a sequence of behaviors or outcome results on tests, that a physician can accurately trust to determine if this person wants to in fact, end their life. Unfortunately, a number of guardians take matters into their own hands when someone who is mentally ill wants to die, but are not granted to do so. Legally, people have the right to take another life off life support. This is not the case for assisted suicide, a guardian or caregiver of someone who is mentally ill, could be the voice for someone who is suffering that cannot make that choice for themselves because they are not physically able to do so.
Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide is an act in which a terminally ill patient should have all rights to participate in such actions. Many individuals mistaken the difference between the two, euthanasia is the act of which the doctor or third party is performing the final act of death. In the case of physician assisted suicide, the last and final act is performed by the terminally ill themselves. No matter which option a patient decides to choose, it is their choice on how they decide to handle their bodies. We often forget as a society that abortions and living wills are examples of how we choose to govern and treat our own bodies.
An estimated 44,193 suicides occur a year in the United States (“Physician-Assisted Suicide”). This fact shows how many people suffer each year in the United States. This large number of suicides are from people killing themselves due to depression, suffering, and much more. Assisted suicide can help people die peacefully without having to cause pain to themselves. It is an easy and painless way to end suffering to a person of any age.
The difference between the two is that euthanasia is when the doctor themselves will conduct the action of killing the patient with a lethal dose of medication with or without the patient’s consent whereas physician-assisted suicide is when the doctor will open up ideas and make suggestions on how the patient wants to go about ending their own life (“Euthanasia and Physician Assisted” para 1, 2). They are both pretty similar in a sense that they will both result in death the only difference is the process or the way each practice is done. Physician-assisted suicide can also be identified as a type of euthanasia which is voluntary active euthanasia to be
