Disadvantages Of Physician-Assisted Suicide

Visiting the doctor is a task that no one looks forward to, but everyone does. This time during a doctor visit the nurse asks to draw blood. The nurse says “we will send the blood to the lab; it’s routine, we will call when the results come in.” One week later there is a call from the doctor who solemnly says he would like to meet with them in person. Upon arriving at the office the doctor says “I am sorry, but the results indicate terminal cancer.” Once the shock, and paralyzing fear subsides, what resources are there? Physician-assisted suicide is when “lethal drugs are prescribed or supplied by the physician at the patient’s request and self-administered by the patient with the aim of ending his or her life” (Emanuel et al. 80). This should be one among the many …show more content…
Pentobarbital and Seconal are two of the possible prescribed medications. Pentobarbital and Seconal are powerful sedatives in that when taken in extreme dosages will cause the slowing and eventually stopping of the heart (Death with Dignity Organization). In the previous years, the price of Pentobarbital has risen from 500 dollars to 15,000 to 25,000 dollars. However, with price increase alternative cocktails have been created which cost approximately 400 to 500 dollars. Seconal at a lethal dose costs 3,000 to 5,000 dollars and with the price increase Washington state has created a substitute mixture which only cost 450 to 500 dollars (Death with Dignity Organization). Even with the price increase in available life-ending medication, the price to maintain an inevitably dying patient on life support for three days supersedes even the most expensive dosage that a terminally ill patient could acquire. If physician-assisted suicide was a federally regulated treatment option, not only would the individuals save themselves physical suffering, but financial suffering as