Assisted Suicide by Mark Friedman defines physician assisted suicide as a,” form of suicide in which a doctor or nurse provides advice, instruction, or materials to the person who commits suicide” (Friedman). Physician assisted suicide and whether or not it should be legal is an age-old ethical issue sparking severe controversy. The debate dates back to “Greek and roman philosophers”. (Ferguson) There are books, news stories and movies that have been made about the issue. As far back as 1998 60 min’s even broadcasted Dr. Jack Kevorkian administer as legal dose of medication to a terminally ill individual. Though Dr.Kevorkian spent many stents in jail his sentences never stuck due to the lack of legislation regarding the subject of physician-assisted
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“ If a patient’s pain and suffering cannot be sufficiently relieved with state-of-the-art palliative care, then the physician has an obligation to do everything within his or her power to relieve that suffering, even to the point of hastening death if there are no realistic alternatives acceptable to the patient.”(Quill) When physicians fail to meet the request of their patients who seek relief and comfort the healthcare/patient relationship will suffer irrevocable damage and force patients into more extreme measures to end their pain.” Virtually all hospice clinicians remember people who came to a point in their illness when they could be described as having "lost their will to live" (Byock) “Patient refusal of nutrition and hydration” is a common way patients choose to die in states that physician assisted suicide is not legal. (Byock) The body grows weaker and weaker until it can’t function anymore at which time organs start to fail and only then does the patient pass away. A firsthand account of a blogger by the name of Kain on sucideproject.org reports “I feel weak, every movement is slowly becoming a battle and I …show more content…
A failed suicide attempt can sometimes lead to more harm than good. It can leave the patient with side effects that are sometimes worse than the disease itself such as brain damage or organ failure. In a controlled setting under doctor supervision success is almost if not certain and families as well as the patients don't have to deal with additional hardships that could have easily been avoided. Hospice is about providing comfort to patients in the last stage of their life and physician assisted suicide allows them the choice as well as the proper means to leave on their own terms if they so choose.
Physician assisted suicide should be legalized in all states because it “looks out for the little guy”. It saves the individual from an expanding financial burden, allows physicians to look out for their patients best interests, and keeps patients from finding more extreme measures of ending their lives. Healthcare decisions should be left in the hands of the patient for as long as they are capable of making them. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide allows the patient the autonomy to leave on his or her own
“ If a patient’s pain and suffering cannot be sufficiently relieved with state-of-the-art palliative care, then the physician has an obligation to do everything within his or her power to relieve that suffering, even to the point of hastening death if there are no realistic alternatives acceptable to the patient.”(Quill) When physicians fail to meet the request of their patients who seek relief and comfort the healthcare/patient relationship will suffer irrevocable damage and force patients into more extreme measures to end their pain.” Virtually all hospice clinicians remember people who came to a point in their illness when they could be described as having "lost their will to live" (Byock) “Patient refusal of nutrition and hydration” is a common way patients choose to die in states that physician assisted suicide is not legal. (Byock) The body grows weaker and weaker until it can’t function anymore at which time organs start to fail and only then does the patient pass away. A firsthand account of a blogger by the name of Kain on sucideproject.org reports “I feel weak, every movement is slowly becoming a battle and I …show more content…
A failed suicide attempt can sometimes lead to more harm than good. It can leave the patient with side effects that are sometimes worse than the disease itself such as brain damage or organ failure. In a controlled setting under doctor supervision success is almost if not certain and families as well as the patients don't have to deal with additional hardships that could have easily been avoided. Hospice is about providing comfort to patients in the last stage of their life and physician assisted suicide allows them the choice as well as the proper means to leave on their own terms if they so choose.
Physician assisted suicide should be legalized in all states because it “looks out for the little guy”. It saves the individual from an expanding financial burden, allows physicians to look out for their patients best interests, and keeps patients from finding more extreme measures of ending their lives. Healthcare decisions should be left in the hands of the patient for as long as they are capable of making them. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide allows the patient the autonomy to leave on his or her own