Many disagree with it but I personally believe it should be up to the patient and his/her doctor to decide what is best for their life. I would say it would be considered as ethical egoism. I don’t agree with physician-assisted-suicide being illegal. I understand that someone’s death affects many people but I do believe that at the end it should be the patient’s choice. If I were terminally ill, I would not want to suffer just to suffer.
It constitutes the intentional administering of a drug or medication into the body of a patient at his own request and with his full consent, to end his life. Voluntary euthanasia is illegal in general because it is believed that what it implies in a negative sense is greater than the good it can offer to a miserable patient. It can be vouched for by saying that, even though suicide is now legal and considered rational; the people who are disabled would be unable to take their own life without assistance. Even though Passive euthanasia is widely accepted and practiced, the withholding and withdrawing of a patient’s medication may cause much more suffering to a patient than a rapid one and hence active euthanasia may be preferable. A patient’s autonomy should be respected, that is, if a person wishes for active euthanasia, and if his wish for the same is reasonable enough, given that his suffering to come would be unbearable, then this wish of his should be respected and not deemed as illegal.
In health and social care settings someone could start using health and social services and they already have low self-esteem or those using the services could make them have low self-esteem. An example of this is an emotional teenager being targeted and bullied which would result in them having low self-worth or best known as low self-esteem. (1) Self-identity is how you view yourself away from cultural groups or society as a whole. In health and social care services you have to recognise and respect everyone own individual identities. You could be a what society calls it a Goth and you could be in a sexual hospital and the nurse seeing you has to accept how you present yourself and respect your individuality.
For example infants that are born severely mentally retarded share some of the same qualities with anencephalic infants such as lack of motor skills and bowel or bladder control. There are also concerns with using the organs of anencephalic infants like if the organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys will successfully continue to properly function. When an anencephalic infant is born there is some autonomic brain function and some reflexes however the organs can’t be removed until the infant has been certified dead. There is a need to save infants lives that are dying from liver, renal, and cardiac diseases but is it right to take the life of an existing infant because of their abnormality? What makes one patients life more valuable than another and more importantly the infant with anencephaly has a moral right to life.
Those against legalizing physician-assisted suicide argue that “If courts allow PAS to be framed as a basic personal right akin to the right to refuse treatment, and if they rely on right-to-die case precedents, then they will likely extend PAS to voluntary euthanasia and nonvoluntary euthanasia” (Walker.2001) If this occurs they argue that those on the fringes of society will be the ones to suffer, that there will be pressure for these patients to chose physician –assisted suicide, regardless of the availability of other options, or severity of the illness. The pressure could come from family members who might no longer take care of the family member, or from the hospital/insurance company as a way to reduce cost. (The New York State Task Force on Life and the Law.
It is difficult to see a loved one in such anguish for so long and when the patient does eventually dies, it is often sudden or it follows a period when the patient had lost consciousness. Vital organs can be saved, allowing doctors to save the lives of other patients who need them. There are long waiting lists for hearts, kidneys, livers, and other organs that are necessary to save the lives of people who can be saved. Patients can die with dignity rather than have the illness reduce them to shell f their former selves. Dying patients sometimes lose all ability to take care of themselves.
The violation that happens to the people with the sickness is also judge able, because how can you tell your citizen’s they have the right to life, liberty and freedom, when you’re putting a limit to their freedom? Under the Mental capacity Act (2005), it has been stated that all adults are supposed to decide for their selves whether they want any medication or not, except if they have severe illness, such as; either their mind or brain is impaired, or the impairment or disturbance shows that the person cannot make proper decisions at that time. The cons of not getting medical treatment can cause the following issues in life, brain damage caused by a severe head injury, stroke or dementia, mental health conditions, another sickness called psychosis, the damage psychosis gives you is that you cannot tell the difference between reality and your
Financial pressures also may lead to incentives for active killing by putting a limit on funding for terminal care. Legislators considering the cost of terminal care in the Medicare and Medicate programs may take it as an obligation to encourage a more cost-effective way of dying. Almost all observers agree that cost pressures will put a force on future adoption of practicing protocols based on patient condition, likely outcome, and cost of alternative treatments. If euthanasia is legal and widely acceptable it will add to this economic pressure. It is hard to imagine a future without practice protocols, basic benefits package, restrictions, or cost-sharing arrangements that provide de facto incentive for the active killing of people who are terminally
Laura Satterfield Professor Gregory Hagan English 101 15 November 2009 Public and Medical Community The Right to Die Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia should be a right granted to all terminally ill patients. Although there are many debates opposing the viewpoint on assisted suicide, it should not be up to ethicists to make decisions between life and death, but to the terminally ill patient. It should be recognized that “patients have a right to make their own decisions to preserve free choice and human dignity: this right includes the right to choose assisted suicide” (Ersek 48) Also, having the access of physician assisted suicide allows the patient to maintain control over the situation and to end life in a merciful manner.
“Relativist ethics are unfair.” Discuss. Relativist Ethics are not unfair in today’s society, as they change depending on the situations and are subjective, dealing with smaller details of actions. In the modern day, situations all have factors that can give them good or bad motives. For example, the subject of abortions differs depending on the person. Some may say that it should be allowed because it allows rape victims to abort an unwanted child.