Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is now allowed in five different U.S. states, among these are: Oregon, Vermont, Washington, California, and Montana with a court ruling. Montana follows a model where individuals must have a terminal illness as well as a prognosis of six months or less to live. Physicians cannot be prosecuted for prescribing medications to hasten death(Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts, par. 1). PAS is defined as, “Suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or by information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient 's intent(Physician–assisted Suicide, par. 1).” Recently the argument between whether or not a state can sanction this sort of action has been
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One major point made by most people is whether or not it is ethically right to allow someone to suffer or to intentionally end an individual 's life. Another factor is whether or not a patient has the ability to make a decision without being affected by depression, drugs, peer-pressure, etc. Lastly, an enormous element added to the debate is the medical realm: incorrect diagnosis’, innovative medical equipment and medicines, and the huge cost of medical attention. I think that Physician-Assisted Suicide should be legal, but only with court order, similar to Montana’s model because of ethical reasons, whether or not a person can make a conscious decision, and lastly the innovative aspect of the constantly evolving medical …show more content…
Imagine the case of a terminally ill cancer patient given six months to live. This patient may be in great pain and may be just tired of constant treatments. They decide that they are ready to end the suffering. What they may not know is that due to the need to constantly expand our understanding of the human anatomy we’ve developed a cure to cancer three months after they used the PAS method. This goes straight back to the ethical side of this argument, is it really okay for someone to be in severe pain for 3 more months and still not make it? This also brings me to think that there should also be some sort of stipulations with the legalization of PAS. Some of these stipulations could include: a certain time given by a certified physician that the patient has left to live, and if the condition is
One major point made by most people is whether or not it is ethically right to allow someone to suffer or to intentionally end an individual 's life. Another factor is whether or not a patient has the ability to make a decision without being affected by depression, drugs, peer-pressure, etc. Lastly, an enormous element added to the debate is the medical realm: incorrect diagnosis’, innovative medical equipment and medicines, and the huge cost of medical attention. I think that Physician-Assisted Suicide should be legal, but only with court order, similar to Montana’s model because of ethical reasons, whether or not a person can make a conscious decision, and lastly the innovative aspect of the constantly evolving medical …show more content…
Imagine the case of a terminally ill cancer patient given six months to live. This patient may be in great pain and may be just tired of constant treatments. They decide that they are ready to end the suffering. What they may not know is that due to the need to constantly expand our understanding of the human anatomy we’ve developed a cure to cancer three months after they used the PAS method. This goes straight back to the ethical side of this argument, is it really okay for someone to be in severe pain for 3 more months and still not make it? This also brings me to think that there should also be some sort of stipulations with the legalization of PAS. Some of these stipulations could include: a certain time given by a certified physician that the patient has left to live, and if the condition is