The Death with Dignity Act was first implemented in Oregon during 1997. This law allows mentally competent, terminally-ill adult state residents to voluntarily request to receive a prescription medication to accelerate their death. The purpose of this research is to identify the ethical and religious controversies preventing the Death with Dignity Act from being passed nationwide. As of today, only four states have approved the Death with Dignity Act, including, Vermont, Oregon, California, and Washington. Ethically speaking, surveys of patients and members of the general public show that the majority of people believe physician-assisted death is justifiable in the case of ending unremitting suffering. From a physician’s standpoint, only half
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The results of the surveys were based heavily on the wording of questions. When presented with the question containing the word “suicide” voters were more likely to vote no. When the same question was reworded to omit the word “suicide”, voters were more likely to vote yes. In both surveys conducted, however, over half of the voters said yes, doctors should be allowed by law to assist in ending a patient’s life if the patient meets the qualifications (Jones, Saad 2). When posing a similar survey question to qualified physicians, only about half agreed that the Act should be legal while the other half claimed euthanasia is never ethically justifiable. In efforts to prevent illegal means of acquiring medications and to end unnecessary suffering for terminally ill patients, the majority of the general public agrees the Death with Dignity Act is morally …show more content…
According to Courtney Campbell, a professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University, “Catholic leaders have long been supportive of pain-management measures, up to and including high doses of morphine that slow a patient’s respiration to the point of death” (1). The Catholic viewpoints seem to be heavily contradicted since high levels of morphine, which cause complete unawareness in order to minimize suffering, is preferred over a peaceful and voluntary death. Also according to Courtney Campbell, Catholic opinion of contraception is unmoving but statistics show that Catholics use birth control and have abortions at the same rate as non-religious people (2). This proves that the pro-life lifestyle of the Catholic faith is profoundly hypocritical. Religious advocates are partaking in pro-choice preferences when it applies to their personal benefit while preaching against the Death with Dignity Act for others who may not even be
The results of the surveys were based heavily on the wording of questions. When presented with the question containing the word “suicide” voters were more likely to vote no. When the same question was reworded to omit the word “suicide”, voters were more likely to vote yes. In both surveys conducted, however, over half of the voters said yes, doctors should be allowed by law to assist in ending a patient’s life if the patient meets the qualifications (Jones, Saad 2). When posing a similar survey question to qualified physicians, only about half agreed that the Act should be legal while the other half claimed euthanasia is never ethically justifiable. In efforts to prevent illegal means of acquiring medications and to end unnecessary suffering for terminally ill patients, the majority of the general public agrees the Death with Dignity Act is morally …show more content…
According to Courtney Campbell, a professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University, “Catholic leaders have long been supportive of pain-management measures, up to and including high doses of morphine that slow a patient’s respiration to the point of death” (1). The Catholic viewpoints seem to be heavily contradicted since high levels of morphine, which cause complete unawareness in order to minimize suffering, is preferred over a peaceful and voluntary death. Also according to Courtney Campbell, Catholic opinion of contraception is unmoving but statistics show that Catholics use birth control and have abortions at the same rate as non-religious people (2). This proves that the pro-life lifestyle of the Catholic faith is profoundly hypocritical. Religious advocates are partaking in pro-choice preferences when it applies to their personal benefit while preaching against the Death with Dignity Act for others who may not even be