Physician Assisted Suicide

Seeing a loved one enduring excruciating agony due to an illness or medical condition can be unquestionably painful, especially terminal illnesses. By legalizing the physician-assisted suicide it gives the person enduring pain, as well as the family, another choice to help their loved one not suffer. However, only five states in the U.S. passed legislation for legalized physician-assisted suicide. This particular procedure differs in each state; however, it mainly involves a prescription from a licensed doctor approved by the state in which the patient legally resides. In the states that passed the “Death with Dignity Act”, such as Oregon, “The law requires the patient to be: 1) 18 years of age or older, 2) a resident of Oregon, 3) capable …show more content…
No one wishes to live in pain; most people cannot survive through the agony. Some people consider slitting the wrist, gunshot to the head, gunshot to the chest, hanging themselves, or even walking in front of a moving vehicle. Whether the patient decides physician-assisted or self-inflicted suicide, most people will favor suicide than to live in excruciating pain. By not having the medical professional assistance the patient takes the chance of not committing suicide correctly which may make matters worse. Either way, people still consider physician-assisted death as committing suicide, not nearly as messy or as painful but still suicide. Physician-assisted suicide gives the patient an option of two different medications to take, Seconal or Nembutal. Seconal, which costs $125 for a ten gram lethal dose, comes in 100 individual capsules that must be broken apart to produce about three tablespoons of powder that can be mixed in water, pudding or applesauce. Nembutal, which costs $1,000 for a dose, comes in a liquid form. Insurance companies almost never cover lethal drugs; therefore the patient must pay for the medication out of pocket. Once the he or she has consumed the drug, “the patient will slip into a coma about five minutes after” (Engber, Daniel) and then death within about a half an hour depending on the health of the patient. In most cases, the time of death is …show more content…
A section of the oath that physicians take state “I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug” (“Bioethics”). Not every drug that physicians acquire can help cure the patient or putting them under the knife can save the patient’s life. The physician embraces the physician-assisted suicide by reason of sympathy and understanding that the patient cannot and refuses to push through any more excruciating pain; therefore, the physician stands by the Hippocratic Oath. The oath also states “I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability” (“Bioethics”). Individuals believe murder still exists when the physician assists in the suicide; as a result, they feel the physician goes against the oath. When a patient has a terminal illness; it means the person will die, normally within six months. The physician’s responsibility requires them to ensure the patient feels no more pain and stays at peace. The patient must not be obliged to wait to find a sense of contentment; the Hippocratic Oath goes off on the basis that requires for the physician-assisted suicide acquire legalization across the