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Other factors include the desire to preserve dignity and personhood in the dying process and opposition to prolonging life by using sophisticated medical technology when it is recognized that care is futile. Closely related to self-determination is the principle of autonomy. This principle states that persons should have the right to make their own decisions about the course of their own lives whenever they can. By extension, they should also have the right to determine the course of their own dying as much as possible.
The ethics of physician assisted suicide (PAS) continue to be debated. Some argue that PAS is ethical. Often this is argued on the grounds that PAS may be a rational choice for a person who is choosing to die to escape unbearable suffering. Furthermore, the physician's duty to alleviate suffering may, at times, justify the act of providing assistance with suicide. This relies a great deal on the notion of individual autonomy, recognizing the right of competent people to choose for themselves the course of their life, including how it will …show more content…
No person should have to endure terminal suffering that is unremitting, unbearable, or prolonged. When the burdens of life outweigh the benefits because of uncontrollable pain, severe psychological suffering, loss of dignity, or loss of quality of life as judged by the patient, and when the circumstances are not remediable, the dying person should be able to ask for and receive help in assisted suicide (Marker, Smith 47-51). It is further argued that assisted suicide for incurably ill persons experiencing extreme suffering can be distinguished from euthanasia used for the purpose of genocide on the grounds that it is based on principles of dignity, honor, and respect and is chosen and enacted by the dying individuals, rather than being forced on them against their …show more content…
People who are against euthanasia think that these laws against euthanasia are in place to prevent abuse and to protect people from unscrupulous doctors and others. They are not, and never have been, intended to make anyone suffer. In the other hand, supporters for active euthanasia believe that legislation against it is “violative of the fundamental concepts of liberty, freedom of choice, and self determination.” They base these beliefs on the content of the “Fourteenth Amendment” to the United States Constitution. The voluntary choice between life and death is to them, a basic human right which government has no right to decide (http://www.apa.org/pi/eol/arguments). Also, neither the law nor medical ethics requires that "everything be done" to keep a person alive. Insistence, against the patient's wishes, that death be postponed by every means available is contrary to law and practice. It would also be cruel and
The ethics of physician assisted suicide (PAS) continue to be debated. Some argue that PAS is ethical. Often this is argued on the grounds that PAS may be a rational choice for a person who is choosing to die to escape unbearable suffering. Furthermore, the physician's duty to alleviate suffering may, at times, justify the act of providing assistance with suicide. This relies a great deal on the notion of individual autonomy, recognizing the right of competent people to choose for themselves the course of their life, including how it will …show more content…
No person should have to endure terminal suffering that is unremitting, unbearable, or prolonged. When the burdens of life outweigh the benefits because of uncontrollable pain, severe psychological suffering, loss of dignity, or loss of quality of life as judged by the patient, and when the circumstances are not remediable, the dying person should be able to ask for and receive help in assisted suicide (Marker, Smith 47-51). It is further argued that assisted suicide for incurably ill persons experiencing extreme suffering can be distinguished from euthanasia used for the purpose of genocide on the grounds that it is based on principles of dignity, honor, and respect and is chosen and enacted by the dying individuals, rather than being forced on them against their …show more content…
People who are against euthanasia think that these laws against euthanasia are in place to prevent abuse and to protect people from unscrupulous doctors and others. They are not, and never have been, intended to make anyone suffer. In the other hand, supporters for active euthanasia believe that legislation against it is “violative of the fundamental concepts of liberty, freedom of choice, and self determination.” They base these beliefs on the content of the “Fourteenth Amendment” to the United States Constitution. The voluntary choice between life and death is to them, a basic human right which government has no right to decide (http://www.apa.org/pi/eol/arguments). Also, neither the law nor medical ethics requires that "everything be done" to keep a person alive. Insistence, against the patient's wishes, that death be postponed by every means available is contrary to law and practice. It would also be cruel and