Physician_Assisted_Suicide

Should physician assisted suicide be legal' A patient should be allowed to end their life because they are suffering from pain, chronic illness, or because they just do not want to live anymore.Allowing access to a physician that can help you end your life by prescribing a lethal dose of medication could be one option for help with the process of discontinuing life but it is not legal in most states.The definition of physician assisted suicide is a physician prescribing a lethal dose of medication for a patient to take at home or where ever and whenever they choose. Physician have taken a Hippocratic Oath stating that they will “cause no harm” so does assisting in a suicide count as causing harm, does it count as murder, or are you just ending someone’s suffering.If physician assisted suicide is legalizedshould it berequired to change the Hippocratic Oath and would this change the way end of life and terminal illnesses are managed' The few states that have legalized physician assisted suicide have also increased end of life care options to have assisted suicide be a last resort. That we die is certain. When and how we die is not. Because we want to live and not to die, we resort to medicine to delay the inevitable. Yet in some cases, medicine’s success in preserving life has been purchased at a heavy price, paid in the coin of how we die: often in conditions of great pain and suffering, irreversible incompetence, and terminal loss of control. In these circumstances, many Americans increasingly seek greater control over the end of life, and some even wish to elect death to avoid the burdens of lingering on.(Foley) Three states have put physician assisted suicide parameters in to law and those states are Oregon, Montana and Washington. Oregon is the only state that has explicitly legalized physician assisted suicides and it is call the Death with Dignity Act. Oregon was the first state to allow physicians the right to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to someone who is terminally ill, mentally competent, and has been offered other alternatives. Approximately 1 out of 1,000 dying Oregon residents obtain and use a lethal dose of medication which means that even though it is available as an option most are choosing another method of managing their end of life process. (Lachman) The benefit of having the physician assisted suicide laws has been that the state governments have been working to improve the palliative care plans to make it a more appealing option due to people do not like thinking of doctors as killers. The strongest argument against physician assisted suicide is that turning physicians into the roles of killers dangerously alters their roles as healer and will degrade the trust which is the foundation of the patient- physician relationship. Patient may trust their physicians enough that they may be coerced into a physician assisted suicide because they feel obligated to save their surviving families money, prevent emotional stress, and ease their physician’s burden. (Bernat) Some see the attention that is being placed on physician assisted suicide as being misdirected. All terminally ill patients need good palliative care and all the money that is being spent on getting physician assisted suicide legalized should be put towards furthering the education of physician regarding palliative care of the dying patient.(Bernat) This would educate the physicians on having a plan of care for a dying patient that would allow for proper pain management, personal cares, and hospice. There is always the chance for abuse of the physician assisted suicides which will inevitably lead to the acceptance of inappropriate death, including those of patient who are not terminally ill and who do not wish to die. It may also be used against those who cannot advocate on their own behalf. The motivation to prolong life could be further eroded in cases where organ transplant potential is involved. With the pros and cons being weighed it all comes down to quality of life. There are several conditions such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Cancer, and Aids that do not have cures they just have treatments that prolong the agony of not being in control of your body and your mind. Killing is killing but if it is to prevent the further suffering of someone then it should be okay so long as there is no other course of action that could be done to make their end of life more comfortable.(Woods) In a physician assisted suicides the physician is not there with the patient and the only role the physician plays is giving them the medication and directing them on how to take it. The physician is not there giving them more medication to make the process of dying more comfortable or quicker. If it is physician directed the chance of surviving is lower than if someone takes a bunch of medications in the attempt to end their life without knowing the exact effects the medications or the combination of medications would have on their body. If we can have our pets “put to sleep” and it be okay and legal then why can we not do the same to our loved ones that are beyond medical help and that want to die not only to ease their pain and suffering but to ease the pain and suffering of their families and friends that are having to watch them slowly slip into a state of not having control. Patient at the hospital can die a slow death from cancer or heart failure because all staff can do is try and control their pain and make their dying more comfortable. The best thing a physician could have done for these patients is allow them to die with dignity while they still had control over their mind and body. Reference 1. Foley M.D., Kathleen (Editor); Hendin M.D., Herbert (Editor). Case against Assisted Suicide : For the Right to End-of-Life Care. Retrieved from: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc'id=10021569 2. Woods, Simon. Death's Dominion: Ethics at the End of Life. Buckingham, GBR: Open University -+Press. Retrieved from: http://site.ebrary.com.proxylibrary.ashford.edu/lib/ashford/docDetail.action'docID=10197056 3. Bernat, James L. MD, Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized'; Neurology Today February 2002- Volume 2- Issue 2 4. Lachman, Vicki, Physician-Assisted Suicide: Compassionate Liberation or Murder'; Ethics, Law, and Policy Medsurg Nursing, March/April 2010 Vol 19/No.2