Analysis Of Physician Assisted Suicide

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When determining which practitioner should be granted the task of deciding what individuals merit physician-assisted suicide, many individuals believe attending physicians would be the correct choice for that matter. On the contrary, allowing attending physicians to decide whether or not patients are cogent enough to select physician-assisted suicide would not be wise. Selecting physicians to determine if a patient were cogent enough for physician-assisted suicide would be troublesome for this type of treatment as many professionals in the health care industry including doctors hold a bias towards the life individuals with an illness live. Additionally, physicians are also not qualified or trained to assess whether or not a patient’s wish to …show more content…
For instance, after being hit by a drunk driver in September 1992, Gayle Taira was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). As a result of her TBI, Gayle’s ability to signal and verbally express herself were limited (Amundson & Taira, 2005). While being transported to another centre for treatment via an elevator, Gayle overhead two health care professionals tactlessly discussing their viewpoint on her current situation in front of her. While discussing the injuries that accompanied Gayle’s TBI, one of the women said “You know, I’d kill myself if that ever happened to me. I don’t want to end up like that” with such an opinion, it is not possible to assume that physicians would be able to refrain from imposing their views while determining if a patient desire to end their life is logical. For example, if Gayle expressed a willingness to have physician-assisted suicide from the two health care professionals that were discussing her condition, it is likely that they would deem her cogent since they would believe that wanting to die would be an appropriate decision when an individual has a disability.
The experience that Gayle endured in the elevator of her treatment center denotes

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