Physician-Assisted_Suicide

Physician-Assisted Suicide Imagine yourself lying on a hospital bed. Your breathing is raged and you body is in agonizing pain. You try to move, but the pain hits you full force. You hear the door open and footsteps walking to your bed. You try to move your head, but the pain is unbearable. Thankfully the voice you hear is the voice of your doctor telling you about the progress of your illness. He greets you warmly and asks about your day, how you felt, and if there are any changes. An eerie silence falls in the room and you adjust your eyesight to see your doctor having a look of regret in his eyes. “I have the pills that you requested,” he says. He comes to your side and looks you in the eye. “I’ve already had your family sign the legal forms and now it’s up to you to decide.” He places his hand on your shoulder and sighs. “I’m not forcing you to do this; I want you to think about it.” He heads to the door and turns, “I wish I could have done more for you. I feel like I have already failed you as a Doctor.” He walks out the door and you are alone again. You think to yourself about all that’s happening and you ask yourself. Are you ready to die' Physician-assisted suicide, also known as PAS, is a practice where a Physician or Doctor provides a patient with medication that the patient requested by choice to end their own life. Most people tend confuse Physician-assisted suicide with Euthanasia which is the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependant person for their alleged benefit. The difference that people tend to overlook is that Euthanasia is an intentional act of killing that is forced upon a person and PAS is not. It usually is a normal reaction when people hear about PAS that they automatically think about suicide, but it should not be pushed into the same category. It is the patient’s choice to make this decision and not the doctors. Physician-assisted suicide should be legal in all states because the right to a good death is a basic human freedom. The decision to use Physician-assisted suicide in dying allows us to act on death as a choice for those suffering with terminal illnesses. Most people who support P.A.S. say that with using this method, tremendous pain and suffering of patients can be saved. Many illnesses such as certain types of cancer result in a slow, agonizing death. Doctors have enough knowledge and experience to know when a patient is not going to survive. What purpose would it serve to let a patient suffer until their body finally gives out' Imagine what it would be like to spend months in the hospital suffering with vomiting, coughing, pain spasms, not being able to breath, losing control of functions, and much more. If you do then you must consider the knowledge of a patient that knows their definitely going to die and the pain is only going to get worse. Wouldn't it be more humane to give the patient the option to say when they‘ve had enough' Reasonable laws can be constructed which prevent abuse and still protect the value of human life. The Supreme Court of the United States, in its 1997 Opinion from Vacco v. Quill, stated, "...Even as the States move to protect and promote patients' dignity at the end of life, they remain opposed to physician assisted suicide.” Oregon, since 1997, has allowed people who are terminally ill, in intractable pain, and not depressed to obtain a lethal prescription from their physician and end their chronic suffering. People who disagree with Physician-assisted suicide law often cite the potential for doctor abuse. However, recent Oregon and UK laws show that you can craft reasonable laws that prevent abuse and still protect the value of human life. For example, you can require the approval of two doctors plus a psychologist who verifies the patient has the mind to make the right decision. You can proscribe waiting periods, get the additional sign-off of family members, and limit the procedures to certain illnesses. States should have the rights to pass laws that take into account the values and wishes of the people of that state. Without physician assistance, people may commit suicide in a messy, horrifying, and traumatic way. A common statistic is that teenagers have the highest rate of suicide. However, the elderly have the highest rate. Older Americans often see nothing ahead of them but loneliness and pain. So if they are going to commit suicide, which is better' A controlled, compassionate Physician-assisted suicide or clumsy attempts like taking sleeping pills, jumping off a building, or a bullet to the head' If you were a family member, what would be more traumatic' Saying goodbye to a loved one at the hospital or coming home to see their brains splattered against the wall from a bullet' Unfortunately, if people truly want to die, nothing is going to stop them. If that is the case, then let's be humane and orderly about it. Last, but not least, patients can die with dignity rather than have the illness reduce them to depression. Dying patients sometimes lose all ability to take care of themselves. Vomit, drool, urine, feces, and other indignities have to be attended to by nurses. Virtually all people want others’ last memory of them to be how they once were, not what they ended up being. For example, Ronald Reagan died of Alzheimer’s. He and his family would like people to remember the brave man that stared down the Soviets, told Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall”, and as the “The Great Communicator”, provided historic leadership. In Japan during the feudal period, Seppuku was a ritual suicide and considered as an honorable death to many Samurai. One occasion for committing seppuku was the death of the lord. It was an expression of grief at one’s master’s death and was the utmost form of loyalty to the lord. Japan has the highest rate of suicides in the world because the idea that an honorable death is better than a life of disgrace. As said before virtually all people want others’ last memory of them to be how they once were, not what they ended up being. Physician-assisted suicide is a topic that will be passed around for a long time. Prevention of suicide is a violation of religious freedom. A significant part of religious beliefs involves what happens in the afterlife. By preventing suicide, the government is imposing its religious belief that suicide is a sin. No one knows for sure what happens after we die; it should be up to the individual to determine what they believe. The government cannot legislate morality. The right to die should be a fundamental freedom of each person. The belief of PAS is that we should let people die with their dignity, pride, and self-worth intact instead of living out the rest of their days in pain and suffering. Nowhere in the constitution does it state or imply that the government has the right to keep a person from committing suicide. After all, if the patient and the family agree it’s what they want to do, whose business is it anyway' Who else is it going to hurt' In a country that’s supposedly free, this should be a fundamental right. Remember back to the story I read at the beginning. After everything you have heard today, what would you do' Would you rather suffer your last days knowing you are not going survive or die an honorable death knowing that you did your best' It’s your choice. Work Cited http://www.balancedpolitics.org/assisted_suicide.htm http://www.artelino.com/articles/samurai.asp http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pas.html http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.answers.php'questionID=000173 http://www.religioustolerance.org/euthanas.htm http://articles.cnn.com/2000-01-25/health/assisted.suicide.wmd_1_physicianassisted-suicide-terminally-ill-patients-deadly-drug'_s=PM:HEALTH http://www.euthanasia.com/definitions.html