ipl-logo

The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

571 Words3 Pages

Physician assisted suicide is a moral issue the country has been debating about for a very long time. Sources conflict with each other about when the start of the debating rose to attention, but Jack Kevorkian was a huge impact to the cause. Along with the Hemlock Society, both worked to provide patients, that are considered terminally ill, the care they asked for, which was death.
The states that allow physician assisted suicide, or the Death with Dignity laws/End of Life Action Acts/, are Oregon (1994), Washington (2008), Montana (2009), Vermont (2013), California (2015), Colorado (2016), and Washington D.C. (2016). There are many regulations and rules that the patients have to participate and meet the criteria for to even be considered for assisted suicide. Even through all these hardships, the patients are still undergoing a terrible disease that, for all states (except Montana), has to be a determined death within 6 months. The patients only wish to for someone to alleviate them of the pain and suffering they going through. …show more content…

There are only two differences between the two. The first being that assisted suicide is injected into a terminally ill person and life support removal is a mask or tube being removed so a person can naturally die. The second difference, assisted suicide is legal in 6 states (and D.C.), while life support removal is legal in every state. That is completely unjust, and violates one’s constitutional right because the person who is having the life support tube/mask removed may want to still keep living, but because they are unable to speak or communicate it is assumed, by love ones, that it would be the choice they wanted to make (if they were able to say so); unlike assisted suicide, where the patient is physically and mentally asking for the suffering they are going through to

Show More
Related
1554 Words | 7 Pages

Public opinion polls showed increased support for physician assisted suicide. This was due in part to technological advances in medicine as well as a greater recognition of patient’s rights.” Twenty-nine-year-old Brittany Maynard, utilized Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, took her own life in November 2014 following a diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. “A Pew poll conducted after Ms. Maynard’s death, revealed that people viewed this as a heroic act. Also, revealed, the majority of Americans, most likely including physicians, now favor legalizing physician-assisted suicide for painful and incurable conditions: 68 percent in favor, 28 percent opposed.

Read More
106 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
1347 Words | 6 Pages

In my opinion, I think assisted suicide and euthanasia should not be legal. What causes Dr. Kevorkian and I to have differentiating opinions on this matter I believe is our religious faith. Dr. Kevorkian as a non-religious man might have the view that one lives life and then gets buried under the ground soil like everyone else, which might be a reason as to why he thinks if someone wants to die there’s nothing wrong with helping them, instead you are kind of doing them a favour. Also, possible PTSD from all the deaths he witnessed when he did his service in Korea could account to his mere significance towards human life. On the other hand, not stating that this is the correct side since no one will ever know, I believe that only God should decide when it is someone

Read More
1086 Words | 5 Pages

Physician-Assisted suicide is legal in five out of the fifty states in America. These states include: California, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Physician-assisted suicide is considered acceptable when a patient has less than six months to live. Physician-assisted suicide was publicly brought to attention in 1990 after Dr. Kevorkian assisted over 40 people into committing suicide in Michigan. Before the process starts, the patient must meet the certain requirements before given a lethal drug.

Read More
953 Words | 4 Pages

Assisted suicide is a tough decision that comes down to what you morally believe in. The author of the article “The right to die” believes that doctor assisted suicide should be legalized in more states than just the four that it is. He approaches the topic from an ethical standpoint, stating its rights and wrongs. This essay will include reasons as to why assisted suicide should be legalized, how the system of death should work and if it is morally right. Only in four states is assisted suicide mandated by state law: Oregon, Washington, Vermont and California.

Read More
649 Words | 3 Pages

Only four states in the USA have legalized it, California, Oregon, Vermont and, Washington. These states allow patients to end their lives require that the patient be 18 years of age or older, a resident of the state, competent and capable of communicating their wishes, and diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months. Legalizing it across America would beneficial because, it allows the patient to end pain and suffering, relieves some stress from family and/or care takers, and allows them to stay home in comfort.

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

In the 1900s there was a man named , Dr. Jack Kevorkian aka Dr. Death who exercised and respected the people's right to die . Dr. Jack Kevorkian went around the rules when it came to the Physician Assisted Suicide to give the patients the option to have the right to die. He got out of many cases of “ murder” for going through with what he believed was right. He assisted in over 130 deaths in the 1900s until the law was passed and assisted suicide was illegal. This proves that a patient should be able to have the choice of living through the pain but what about all the patients or are on their deathbed and are going to have to go through pain for a prolonged time period before actually dying?

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

Physician-assisted suicide is currently a controversial topic in the state of California.

Read More
1069 Words | 5 Pages

Whenever U.S politics considered the question of euthanasia, they consistently stated that it is inadmissible, and legalizing it in our society is inhumane and damaging. In the state of Oregon law on medical suicide (Death with Dignity Act) was adopted in 1994, but only came into effect in November 1997, after fierce litigation over its cancellation. Opponents of the adoption of this law state that it will begin mass pilgrimage of terminally ill people in the world, so far the only place where euthanasia procedure can be carried out in compliance with all legal formalities. Lately in our country there has been talk about suicide when physician assisted. Although some doctors say that medical mediated suicide is a totally different thing, in reality, it's all the same euthanasia, with a difference in process.

Read More
942 Words | 4 Pages

Jack Kevorkian’s case opened the eyes of the people and his actions had lasting effects on the Nation. According to the existing Hippocratic Oath, “an oath or promise all physicians must swear to uphold regarding the ethical practices of the medical profession.” (“Assisted Suicide”) This oath was a guide in many states decisions regarding assisted suicide cases. In 1997, the Supreme Court banned assisted suicide laws in New York and Washington.

Read More
977 Words | 4 Pages

People have the right to choose what they want and assisted suicide should be no different. If someone wants to end their life based on extreme pain and physical suffering, they should have the right to do so. For people that do choose to end their lives, they should be able to do it in little to no pain. By keeping assisted suicide illegal, people are finding ways to kill themselves that require unimaginable physical and mental pain. Lastly, the legalization of assisted suicide ensures that if people want to end their suffering they can.

Read More
573 Words | 3 Pages

idea of euthanasia or assisted suicide has been around since the sixteenth century and to this day is still talked about. In the United States assisted suicide is a widely debated topic on whether it should be legal or illegal. Only six states have currently legalized euthanasia (State by State...par 4). The process would help individuals who are suffering from an illness be able to end their suffering with an official administered drug prescribed by a physician. Assisted suicide should be legal because it is a way for people to humanely take their life if they cannot handle their illness any longer and it can also give family an opportunity to say goodbye without watching their loved one suffer.

Read More
1651 Words | 7 Pages

There are many reasons why assisted suicide should become legal. When someone is suffering their quality of life has been taken, those people are no longer able to do the activities they once adored. Terminal illness tends to take everything from a person including their dignity. There was a young woman, Britney Maynard, who was twenty-nine years old when she was diagnosed with stage four Glioblastoma multiform (a malignant brain tumor) she moved to Oregon for that reason to be able to have right to assisted suicide.

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

In the United States freedom, liberty, and pursuit of happiness has always been important in people’s lives, the right to choose and the right for people to do what they would like with their lives. When it comes to terminally ill patients there is a debate if it is ethical to allow them to end their life with aid from a physician. There are many names for this, euthanasia, assisted suicide, death with dignity, physician aided suicide, and right to die. It all comes down to the patient’s rights and their suffering. By legalizing assisted suicide, it will allow patients to have control of the end of their life and will allow, provide a safer, clean environment for them to pass, and ease patients suffering.

Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

Related Topics

Open Document