Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is the exact opposite of a physician’s professional duty. Physicians want to be looked at by society as a healer, not a killer. The oath is what keeps doctors from accepting PAS. They must do anything in their power to heal a patient and in no way will they lessen the amount of life
Well, there are many debates about this practice. Some argue that it is ethical because it is argued on the grounds that physician assisted suicide is a rational choice for a person who is choosing to die to escape unbearable suffering. Even more, the physician’s duty to alleviate pain and suffering is justified by the act of providing assistance with suicide upon the patient’s request. Some have argued that this practice is unethical. They feel that physician assisted suicide conflicts with the duty of the physician to preserve life.
Sometimes, for medical employees, it is hard to maintain confidentiality when family members want to know about their loved ones. They can be awful demanding and hurtful when their heart is breaking over a seriously ill family member. But we must remember our duty is to the patient and what we can do is refer that mother, father, brother, sister, wife or husband to someone better equipped to deal with them. I read a statement once by the American Medical Association that states that no physician or medical staff should reveal any confidential communication or information without the express written consent of the patient unless required by law. To me that is pretty cut and dry….Glenn’s lips are sealed.
The purpose is to end unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement. Physician-assisted suicide also falls under this definition. Only under certain conditions is euthanasia not considered an offence. a. Terminal Illness Many people think physician assisted suicide should be an option for those who have a terminal illness, however there is disagreement about the definition of 'terminal'. Right-to-die activists oppose using terminal illness as one of the criteria in physician assisted suicide legislation, as that would exclude those whose death is not imminent.
31).Conversely, no-one can be appropriately assigned the right to say life-saving means should be abandoned because someone else determines that a patient is an excessive burden or that it costs too much to treat a condition. Humans deserve the right to life, even if that life is not what others may judge as a good one. The government and doctors’ cannot decide who lives and dies by passing a law that relieves patients of their rights. Mankind’s right to die has been extensively discussed; however, passing laws in support of physician-assisted suicide takes that option from the patient and puts into the hands of those who may not have the patient’s best interest in mind. This topic is bigger than allowing a loved one to go softly from life, it involves too much room for the abuse of the nation’s elderly, mentally ill, and poor, which should not, and cannot be allowed to
The Argument Essay: Yes to Medically Assisted Suicide! Terminally-ill people should have the right to medically assisted suicide. A person should have the choice of deciding whether or not they want to continue living if they know they only have a lifetime of pain and suffering ahead of them. Medically assisted suicide will not be the first choice a patient receives to fight their terminal illness; it will be the last resort if all else is futile. Many people are against medically assisted suicide because they feel it goes against a doctor’s code of ethics but not allowing a patient to have options is unfair to them; let them decide what they want for themselves.
Research has proven that neither patients nor doctors are taking unreasonable advantage of the doctor assisted suicide laws in place in Washington and Oregon. As far as the law leading to the deaths of the poor and disadvantaged, this has been proven not to be true; it is just pure speculation. The laws allowing doctors to assist with suicide for the terminally ill will prevent the failed attempts that some physicians are trying to perform at this time. With all of the medical advances in the world today, making it possible for the terminally ill to live much longer, there needs to be an option for the patient. Doctor assisted suicide definitely needs to be legalized in all of the states in America.
Many argue on the legality of physicians assisting patients to commit suicide and how moral this action is. There are many groups focusing on whether physician assisted suicide is moral to be allowed to be practiced in patients. Some of these groups include the point of view of lawyer, world critics, medical professionals and even the patient themselves, who at some point in their life wanted to ask for assistant themselves. Several debates argue on the religious objections that exist against assisted suicide, while others believe that every patient should have the option to end their suffering at any time they choose and die with dignity. In my opinion, before digging into the debate on physician assisted suicide, I believe patients should have the right to ask a licensed physician for assistance to commit suicide as no one is the owner of a person’s life but the individual itself, therefore the license physician should be allowed to assist patients to end their
Monitoring the release of patient information is extremely important, especially now with the HIPAA Laws. If I was in his situation, I would not release information to anyone regarding any of my patients unless the patient has signed the proper consent for HIPAA and all of the steps have been taken to make sure that they only receive the information that is necessary. Some of his patients may have had hereditary, cultural, and environmental influences that impacted their behavior when making the decision to let Kevorkian assist them with suicide. Someone that is very religious may be against this because they would feel that only God is in control of what happens to us and we are not supposed to play his role in deciding when our lives end. There are some cultures that do not believe in suffering and that it is ok to end your life when it gets to that
Proponents view expediting death as an action of merciful compassion in that it may be the only way to relieve intolerable suffering and to allow individuals to have control of their own lives (Pretzer, 2000). Although some argue it is unethical for doctors to actively assist in ending someone’s life, some also argue that not doing so in certain situations would actually be more unethical. I feel that doctors have the obligation to do no harm to patients, but to the best of their ability at all times. The supporters of physician- assisted interpret this to mean that physicians should do anything they can to keep patients out of prolonged pain and suffering (Battin, 1998). It is the duties and responsibility of a doctor to assist a dying patient in having a comfortable, easy death, which in some cases may call for physician-assisted suicide, assuming it is the patient’s wish.