Euthanasia opponent always claims that doctors have the duty to help the patient to continue alive even depending on machines only. Otherwise, it is murder. This is ridicules. First, is life-sustaining treatment or artificial feeding methods really “helping” the patients? Can these kinds of treatment really get patient and their families out of suffering as well as give hope?
Physician-assisted suicide as defined under the bill is the right to request lethal drugs by the “terminally-ill” who have only six-months to live. The so-called helpless patients then self-administer the drugs with the intent to end their lives. Physician-assisted suicide is more commonly known as doctor-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia. The first problem with voluntary euthanasia is that it is biblically wrong. Psalm 71:9 states, “Do not cast me off when I am old, do not forsake me when my strength is gone,” and Proverbs 24:11, “Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering towards slaughter.” Both of these state that we should do the opposite of voluntary euthanasia.
Medical Ethics of Active Euthanasia Abstract This paper explains what active euthanasia is and how it ethically has an effect on the practice of medicine. As time passes there are increasing numbers of terminally ill cases, such as cancer or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. These patients endure physical symptoms other than pain often contributes to suffering near the end of lift. Most physicians and their patients strive to for cures. However, there are some patients who give up and opt to end their life by way of active euthanasia.
Assisting in suicide or any aid considering this question is prohibited in the United States. These actions are regarded as crime (Hosseini, 2012). The only state that legalized assisted suicide was Oregon (Hosseini, 2012). Kevorkian created the machine, which delivered euthanasia drugs intravenously to patients. Other people died due to machine which supplied carbon monoxide to face mask.
The Dangers of Assisted Suicide “Advocates of physician assisted suicide try to convey the impression that in terminally ill patients the wish to die is totally different from suicidal intent in those without terminal illness” (Herbert and Klerman 118.) Physician assisted suicide is when a physician assists their patient in dying upon their request. In some states there are laws giving limitations to who can request such a “procedure,“ but these laws are not enough to prevent the dangers of assisted suicide. Assisted suicide should be illegal in all fifty states because it is immoral, dangerous to society, and can lead to the deaths of millions of depressed people. “Critics of physician assisted suicide believe that doctors like Jack Kevorkian are doing nothing less than playing God“ (Gay 47.)
However, there are many pros and cons to each side of the argument. Physician-assisted suicide is unethical based on the Hippocratic Oath, but is ethical based on the patient’s views – which sometimes outweigh the morals of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide first became an issue when our society decided that it was neither moral nor ethical for a physician to help end a terminally ill patient’s life. According to Katie Pickert, Dr. Jack Kevorkian brought lots of attention to the topic during the “epic assisted suicide battle of the 1990s” (1). People who argue with Kevorkian for physician-assisted suicide feel that by helping a patient end his or her life peacefully is helpful to family and friends.
Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal? Dion O. Hales SOC120 Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility Prof. Theodore Framan June 22, 2012 Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal? While killing yourself is harder than having someone do it for you is that killing yourself requires firmer resolve, Should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal? Because a patient's last will and last testament should be honored, a competent patient's request to terminate life-sustaining treatment, and it is our moral right to prevent a person from suffering if they suffer from a disease we cannot cure. First, Should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal?
* Jack Kevorkian, MD, the pathologist sentenced on Apr. 13, 1999 to 10-25 years in prison for his role in the euthanasia of Thomas Youk was paroled on June 1, 2007 after serving 8 years. * Between Oct. 27, 1997 (when the Oregon Death with Dignity Act was passed) and 2007, 341 people in the state of Oregon have died from lethal drugs prescribed under the terms of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. * On Nov. 5, 2008, Washington became the second US state to legalize physician-assisted suicide after voters approved a ballot initiative (59% to 41%) to implement the Washington Death with Dignity Act. * The original text of the ancient Greek Hippocratic Oath, written sometime between 460 and 380 BC, contained prohibitions against surgery, abortion, and euthanasia.
Community physicians have been around almost as long in some capacity, dealing with these sufferings with the technology available. Helping people deal with their suffering is a high calling, and how far this calling is taken is the topic of this work. How far should a physician go to ease suffering? Physician assisted suicide is a method for doctors to manage a voluntary patient death without administering the lethal medication. Doctors prescribe the medication and the patient administers their own death.
If a person is suffering in unbearable pain and cannot enjoy life then euthanasia would be the best option to help that person die a dignified and peaceful death, rather than a period of lost dignity and prolonged suffering. Current laws state that active euthanasia is illegal in most of the country. Patients can refuse medical treatment and receive pain management, even if the patient’s choices hasten their death. Futile or burdensome treatments, such as life support machines, may be withdrawn under specific circumstances. Under federal and some state laws medical facilities need consent from patients or, in the event of incompetency of the patient, informed consent of the legal surrogate.