Dying with Dignity
I present to you a reality of intolerable suffering and torment with it’s not so distant relative, disease. Disease, who is often times incurable, malicious, seeking to make life intolerable, all the while inducing the hopeless to die. Indeed, even the rapid development of modern medicine does not assure the victim a means to cheat death. So if death is inevitable, what do we do to help those that fall under such circumstances? The answer is to let them decide to when and how to die, in other words, euthanasia. Although, it may seem euthanasia defies all ethnics and morals, it concedes terminally ill patients, the right to die with dignity and a means to unbearable suffering. Specialists, researchers, doctors, and legislators …show more content…
McLachlan states, “To have the patient’s permission to kill him does not mean that the doctor has thereby a moral duty to kill him. To lack his patient’s permission to keep him plugged into a life support system does mean that the doctor has thereby a moral duty, and not merely a moral excuse, to unplug it.” (766) I find McLachlan statement to be an obscure opinion on what morality is. Morality is a particular system of values and way of thinking of a specific individual or society. So just because McLachlan has an opinion what he feels is humane, doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s the only correct way of thinking. “Physicians who treated dying patients found themselves caught between several forces: progressive expectations of patients, laws prohibiting assisted suicide, and the professional bias against accepting death. As patients demanded better end-of-life care, doctors who heard the calls for change lamented that their hands were tied by current law” (Hillyard et al 19). Author Daniel Hillyard research shows, that while legal demands continue to take hold of practices, the legal position of patients continue to grow exponentially. Because of laws prohibiting euthanasia, all options for terminally ill patients are limited. So how do physicians abide by the unofficial rule of doing everything possible to help terminally ill patients? The good news is, more and more physicians and …show more content…
Moreover, euthanasia is a form of relieving a patient from misery. Many times we often make decisions for others without actually ever being in their own shoes. This brings me to highlighting the importance of human rights and having the ability to make your own decisions. There is an on going issue where family and friends thinking they know what is in the patient’s best interest, often times leading them to a slow and painful death. It is important that patients remain the driving force when discussing their life. When we look into the financial aspects of euthanasia, thousands of dollars are spent trying to conserve the last bit of a dying body. The common cost for proper health care is $35,000-40,000. The cost for assisted suicide drugs averages around $35.00. Also, in a recent survey in Oregon, one of the few places where "assisted dying" is legal, showed, however, that in 66% of cases the reason for patients ' requests was because they did not want to be a burden (“Economical Aspects,” 2011). Not only are these patients feeling the pressure of very expensive health care expenses, but also the feeling of
I present to you a reality of intolerable suffering and torment with it’s not so distant relative, disease. Disease, who is often times incurable, malicious, seeking to make life intolerable, all the while inducing the hopeless to die. Indeed, even the rapid development of modern medicine does not assure the victim a means to cheat death. So if death is inevitable, what do we do to help those that fall under such circumstances? The answer is to let them decide to when and how to die, in other words, euthanasia. Although, it may seem euthanasia defies all ethnics and morals, it concedes terminally ill patients, the right to die with dignity and a means to unbearable suffering. Specialists, researchers, doctors, and legislators …show more content…
McLachlan states, “To have the patient’s permission to kill him does not mean that the doctor has thereby a moral duty to kill him. To lack his patient’s permission to keep him plugged into a life support system does mean that the doctor has thereby a moral duty, and not merely a moral excuse, to unplug it.” (766) I find McLachlan statement to be an obscure opinion on what morality is. Morality is a particular system of values and way of thinking of a specific individual or society. So just because McLachlan has an opinion what he feels is humane, doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s the only correct way of thinking. “Physicians who treated dying patients found themselves caught between several forces: progressive expectations of patients, laws prohibiting assisted suicide, and the professional bias against accepting death. As patients demanded better end-of-life care, doctors who heard the calls for change lamented that their hands were tied by current law” (Hillyard et al 19). Author Daniel Hillyard research shows, that while legal demands continue to take hold of practices, the legal position of patients continue to grow exponentially. Because of laws prohibiting euthanasia, all options for terminally ill patients are limited. So how do physicians abide by the unofficial rule of doing everything possible to help terminally ill patients? The good news is, more and more physicians and …show more content…
Moreover, euthanasia is a form of relieving a patient from misery. Many times we often make decisions for others without actually ever being in their own shoes. This brings me to highlighting the importance of human rights and having the ability to make your own decisions. There is an on going issue where family and friends thinking they know what is in the patient’s best interest, often times leading them to a slow and painful death. It is important that patients remain the driving force when discussing their life. When we look into the financial aspects of euthanasia, thousands of dollars are spent trying to conserve the last bit of a dying body. The common cost for proper health care is $35,000-40,000. The cost for assisted suicide drugs averages around $35.00. Also, in a recent survey in Oregon, one of the few places where "assisted dying" is legal, showed, however, that in 66% of cases the reason for patients ' requests was because they did not want to be a burden (“Economical Aspects,” 2011). Not only are these patients feeling the pressure of very expensive health care expenses, but also the feeling of