Watching a family member slowly die is one of the toughest experiences someone could go through. I had to do this when I was in my early teens with someone who I admired greatly and held a large place in my heart, my father. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS and Lou Gehrig 's disease, and I watched for almost two years as he lost the ability to use his right hand, then both of his legs, right up to the point where he couldn’t speak to us and he had to blink once for yes and twice for no. It hurt our family immensely to watch him struggle to ask for something as simple as water, but it hurt him in a way that was much worse than the disease itself. He had to look into the world hearing everyone go by his room
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Hippocrates, a Greek physician in the 5th century BCE, is misquoted with saying “First, do no harm” in the oath, where in actuality, this quote was from another of his publications, Of the Epidemics. Nowhere in the original oath, or the modern version is this phrase, making the position who uses this phrase as evidence against P-AS is obsolete (Shmerling). However, if one were to use this phrase in the argument against physician-assisted suicide, it can be turned around easily in favor of it. There is no harm in hastening a patient’s inevitable death, except for the prevention of prolonged pain (Palmore). According to Peter Tyson, the editor in chief for PBS NOVA, more and more physicians are taking a different oath or no oath at all because they feel the oath cannot address current and changing medical practices of the modern world (Tyson). I agree with his statement because taking an oath that was written in the 5th century BCE is silly and irresponsible. As times change, so do medical procedures and an oath restricting the progression of medicine and treatment should not be taken. If a patient expresses that their pain is too much to bear for their last months, it should be the duty of the doctor to aid them in any way they
Hippocrates, a Greek physician in the 5th century BCE, is misquoted with saying “First, do no harm” in the oath, where in actuality, this quote was from another of his publications, Of the Epidemics. Nowhere in the original oath, or the modern version is this phrase, making the position who uses this phrase as evidence against P-AS is obsolete (Shmerling). However, if one were to use this phrase in the argument against physician-assisted suicide, it can be turned around easily in favor of it. There is no harm in hastening a patient’s inevitable death, except for the prevention of prolonged pain (Palmore). According to Peter Tyson, the editor in chief for PBS NOVA, more and more physicians are taking a different oath or no oath at all because they feel the oath cannot address current and changing medical practices of the modern world (Tyson). I agree with his statement because taking an oath that was written in the 5th century BCE is silly and irresponsible. As times change, so do medical procedures and an oath restricting the progression of medicine and treatment should not be taken. If a patient expresses that their pain is too much to bear for their last months, it should be the duty of the doctor to aid them in any way they