Whose Life Is It Anyway Essay

Whose Life Is It Anyway? An Oregon woman by the name of Helen, diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, was troubled by the thought of her future, which would eventually require feeding tubes and palliative care. Rather than accepting the terms of her fate, Helen sought a physician to prescribe medication to help ease her suffering and end her life. The two primary physicians’ that evaluated Helen for consideration of physician-assisted suicide provided two different sets of opinions— one had known her for a long period of time and denied her request. The other deemed Helen depressed and not in the correct mental capacity to make the decision to receive assistance in death. Rather than an ethics committee reviewing Helen’s case, she utilized her right as an American citizen to receive a different opinion from another physician, one whom would grant her …show more content…
The Hippocratic Oath states, “I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:… Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient… I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at God,” (Hippocratic)
Individuals in support of physician-assisted death argue the Hippocratic Oath has been modified and interpreted in the past. Does mention of ‘do no harm’ support a physician prolonging a painful and terminally ill life that the patient deems a burden? Proponents answer no to this question, rather they advocate a physician assisting a patient in death is quality medical end-of-life care (Top). But under Oath, physicians swear to uphold their responsibilities as a doctor, most importantly not assuming the role as the manager of