Physician Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay

Physician Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay
Physician assisted suicide is an act of compassion that respects patient's choice and fulfills an obligation of non–abandonment (Sulmasy & Mueller,
2017). Death is the inevitable end of life of a person or organism. As humans, we live the best way we can and with medicine and technology, humans
can live a quality and healthy life–style. However, there is no human who is supernaturally immune from diseases and accidents.
When a person becomes sick or involved in a serious accident, every effort is made through the use of technology and medicine to either cure the
disease or sustain the person's life. When a person becomes terminally sick, it is probably that the person is going to die. Some patients become so
sick that their body becomes ravaged by the disease in a way that completely lose...show more content...
Most patients suffering from incurable diseases or chronic illnesses will suffer and may experience physical deterioration or psychological impacts.
Depending on the illness, many people in these conditions must deal with grueling side effects of their debilitating medical condition, which is why I
believe that it is best to have a patient die with the physician assisted suicide. Because they are still entitled to their dignity and still have their
autonomy. With physician assisted suicide, I believe that people have a right to die in a humane way. If a person were to take their own life, would
you rather have them be assisted by a compassionate doctor who can ensure they feel no pain, or would you want the person to make clumsy attempts
of suicide by hanging themselves, jumping off buildings, or even shooting themselves. I think if you were a family member to that individual who
tried those things, I think it would be a much more traumatic experience than if you were to say your goodbyes at a hospital. In my opinion, if people
truly wanted to die, nothing is going to stop
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Title: Physician Assisted Suicide
Topic: Assisted Suicide
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience on the right to choose your path with P.A.S.
Thesis Statement: Physician Assisted Suicide should be a matter of free will and not just law.
Introduction
Attention Material: "But it may also be within my power to take a life, this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and
awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play God". (Hippocratic oath)
Thesis Statement: Physician Assisted Suicide should be a matter of free will and not just law. Preview: Today i will first discuss what Physician
assisted suicide is. Then, i will discuss why I think it should be...show more content...
III. On the flip side of this coin it could said that there is extenuating circumstances in this situation. A) Doctors take an oath not to do harm and
assisting a patient with suicide could be a Violation of their oath. B) According to the " Journal ofMedical Ethics" it may not be that simple to assist
with Suicide, some people have violent reactions to the medications and do not die.
IV. Some would say that there are religious issues with suicide, but according to "Clarifying Christianity" the Bible speaks in Exodus (20) verse 1–17
that we should not murder. That is often taken out of context and one cannot simply murder their own self.
V. Death is not easy at all, not for the patient of their family, but it can be more "peaceful" and everyone should have the right to choose their own end
when all that lies ahead is needless pain and suffering for an end that is certainly coming.
Closing
I. Imagine yourself or a loved one just diagnosed with a terminal debilitating illness. You are given at best six months to live. During those six months
your prognosis will turn from bad to worse. You know you will eventually be in an uncontrollable amount of persistent pain. You will eventually lose
the ability to feed, dress, or bathe and toilet yourself. Your once very active life will become one

Physician Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia Essay
Physician Assisted Suicide
Is physician assisted suicide ethical? Physician assisted suicide is an up and coming ethical question that examines a person's right to their own death.
Many people support physician assisted suicide, citing that it can save a lot of pain and suffering. Others claim that the concept of physician assisted
suicide is a slippery slope. A slippery slope in the sense that if society acceptseuthanasia as a rightful death for the terminally ill, they will potentially
accept it for other ailments as well.
There are multiple types of physician assisted suicide. Collectively, they fall under the categories: active or passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is
when someone steps in and deliberately ends a life. An example of this would be a physician administering a lethal dose of muscle relaxants to end
the life of a patient. Passive euthanasia is best described as when a patient withdraws from a life preserving treatment. Euthanasia in general can also be
classified as either voluntary, non–voluntary, and involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia is when a person makes the conscious decision to end his or her
life. Non–voluntary euthanasia is when a person is unable to give their consent, and another person makes this decision on their behalf. This usually is
the case for patients who are in a coma who have previously expressed this wish. Involuntary euthanasia is when a person is killed against their wishes.
Involuntary euthanasia is almost always considered

Essay on Physician-Assisted Suicide
Suicide is one person's personal decision; physician–assisted suicide is a patient who is not capable of carrying the task out themselves asking a
physician for access to lethal medication. What people may fail to see however is that the physician is not the only healthcare personnel involved; it
may include, but is not limited to, a physician, nurse, and pharmacist. This may conflict with the healthcare worker's own morals and there are cases in
which the patient suffers from depression, or the patient is not receiving proper palliative care. Allowing physician–assisted suicide causes the physician
to become entangled in an ethical and moral discrepancy and has too many other issues surrounding it for it to be legal. Physician–assisted...show more
content...
Physician–assisted suicide was first made legal in the state of Oregon. (Hendin) In cases of euthanasia, physicians often give lethal doses of a
medication to terminate a patient's life because they're experiencing intolerable pain. Patients who wish to use the Death with Dignity law in Oregon
must be eighteen or older, must be a resident of Oregon, and they must be able to make their own health care decisions. (Sharp 53) However, the law
does not require the patient to be in unmanageable pain, they must just have a prognosis of less than six months to live. (Sharp 54) This law seems to
be in place to kill patients more quickly to open up hospital space, instead of compassionately ending someone's suffering.
Oregon's physicians are required by law to recommend hospice and palliative care, but are often not qualified, therefore only thirteen percent of dying
patients get to hear their alternatives. (Hendin) Oregon also does not require a psychiatric evaluation when a patient makes a request for suicide.
(Hendin) Studies have shown that 13–77% of patients who request assisted suicide are suffering from depression; however, psychiatrists believe that
depression is a normal response to a severe illness. (Boyd) Also, patients who are aware they are going to receive a psychological evaluation which
may allow them to commit suicide may lie during the evaluation so that they seem fine.

Physician-Assisted Suicide Essay
Physician–Assisted Suicide
Imagine a frail elderly woman laying in the nursing home in pain. This woman is 80 years old and has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer
and her heart cannot withstand treatment via radiation or chemotherapy. She has less than six months to live. Day in and day out you pass her room
and hear her crying out from the immense pain. The pain medications are no longer working. She's tired of fighting, tired of hurting, and tired of
waiting to die. After consideration and discussions with her family she has decided to ask the doctor to help and end her life. The doctor feels
remorse for the elderly lady and wants to help but cannot decide if it is the ethical thing to do because he knows that what he's...show more content...
Doctors also try and keep their patients as free from pain and discomfort as possible. Most people take comfort in knowing that their loved ones are
receiving the best care possible from their doctors. Not all individuals look down on doctors for respecting the wishes of the terminally ill, even if that
desire is to end their lives so that they no longer have to deal with the pain and suffering. People like to feel as if their loved ones are protected by
doctors, they do not want to think of the doctors as murderers. Should a doctor be considered a murderer if they are just fulfilling a patients request?
Sometimes doctors are unable to convince a determined patient of any other options, which may lead to them fulfilling the patient's requests. Is it
right for a person to see the doctor as a murderer if they are giving the patient what they want? Just because a doctor try's to give a patient what they
want, does that make him wrong? Many may say that doctors should not have consequences because they are helping a patient out of his pain and
agony. What a lot of people do not consider is how is physician–assisted suicide any different than a doctor taking someone off of life support or a
physician respecting a person's DNR and not resuscitating them? When a doctor respects the family's request and removes a person off of life support
they do not receive

Physician Assisted Suicide Essay
A poll in 1999 found that 52% of Americans though that Kevorkian should have been found guilty on some charge, while only 27% said that he was
not guilty. The survey also found that 45% of Americans have a positive opinion of Kevorkian while 36% have an unfavorable one. After being
informed that Kevorkian does not have a license to practice medicine and that he supports the right of doctors to help healthy patients die, his approval
rating dropped to 19%, while his unfavorable rating rose to 57%.
Public support for physician assisted suicide was confined to the limited situation where a terminally ill patient would ask a doctor for help to commit
suicide. Fifty four percent thought that doctors should...show more content...
Thirty six states have statutes that explicitly criminalize assisted suicide: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,
Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,
Texas, Washington, Wisconsin. Eight states criminalize it through common law: Alabama, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada,
Vermont, West Virginia. Three have abolished common law crimes and do not have statutes criminalizing assisted suicide: North Carolina, Utah,
Wyoming. In Ohio, the state's supreme court ruled in Oct 1996 that assisted suicide is not a crime. In Virginia, there is no real clear case law on
assisted suicide, nor is there a statute criminalizing the act. However, there is a statute that imposes civil sanctions on person assisting in suicide.
Oregon permits physician assisted suicide.
Many of these states have challenged the laws throughout the recent years. In result, no state has changed its ban on physician assisted suicide,
however, South Carolina recently joined the list of states that have

The United States is a nation founded on freedoms and liberties, giving each citizen the ability to make their own life decisions. This freedom includes
all aspects of one's life, including medical care. With freedom comes responsibility, and this is true in terms of physician–assisted suicide. The ongoing
struggle between those in favor and those opposed to this subject has ravaged the medical field, bringing into question what is morally and ethically
right. The fact of the matter is that physician–assisted suicide is neither morally nor ethically acceptable under any circumstance. Not only is it a direct
violation of a doctor's Hippocratic Oath, but it is not constitutionally binding. Physician–assisted suicide would also lead to...show more content...
This line directly refutes the idea of a doctor assisting in the suicide of another living being. By promoting physician–assisted suicide, doctors invalidate
their pledge to be the best healer they possibly can. This, in essence, ruins their credibility and their reputation as a physician. The opposition to this
idea states that the no harm claim within the Hippocratic Oath allows for a doctor to end a patient's life if they are suffering. They claim that it is
more harmful to the patient to suffer the pain and agony of a terminal illness than for doctors to assist in the death of their patient (Humphry). The
problem lies with the definition of no harm. Hippocrates intended for doctors to heal their patients, not kill them. The Hippocratic Oath is clear when it
states that no lethal drugs or other methods of assisted suicide should be practiced ("Greek Medicine"). Ignoring these principles goes against the
Hippocratic Oath, degrading a doctor's credibility and character. Not only does physician–assisted suicide discredit a doctor, but it is not
constitutionally sound. Physician–assisted suicide has been brought to the attention of the Supreme Court on several occasions, in order to test the
constitutional backing. The result is always quite similar: the Supreme Court rules against physician–assisted suicide. There was one particular
supreme court case, Washington v. Glucksberg. The state of

Summary Of Physician Assisted Suicide
Michele M. Mathes presents the topic of physician–assisted suicide in health care and expands on the views of professional health organizations and
the opposing views of others. Health organizations such as the American Nurses Association have a specific code for nurses which goes against
assisting in the suicide of a patient while other qualified individuals believe assisted suicide should be practiced but with a few modifications to the
process currently in place. Though there are opposing views, a single nurse has the ability to decide whether or not they are willing to participate in
assisted suicide if they find themselves in that situation. The author of this source is qualified both in her degree and in advocacy, and the article was
...show more content...
They provide the opinions of nurses nationwide and analyze suggestions from a large number of nurses to improve the care provided to patients at the
end of their life. Since there are many suggestions as to how end–of–life care can be improved from not only a specific area of the United States but
from nurses representing the nation as a whole, this proves that the care provided to these patients had become an issue. The authors have expertise in
the nursing profession and have all acquired their PhD, proving that this is a reliable source. I will use this in my research paper to explore different
ways of improving end–of–life care to help patients feel comfortable and how improving the system can cause physician–assisted suicide to no longer
be

Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide
Paper topic: Physician assisted suicide
Research question:
Physician assisted suicide (a.k.a. PAS) is a pain–free alternative to whatever methods an individual who is suffering from a terminal illness (or
something similar) may come up with. With proper vetting and the ability to obtain informed consent from the individual, physician assisted suicide
should be included in all individual's healthcare rights.
Description/Introduction:
This topic is an ethical issue due to the fact that several people are constantly struggling with where they should draw the line between "personal
choices" and "unneeded loss of life". Similar to the ethical issues surrounding abortion, physician assisted suicide is frowned upon by those who's
religious beliefs reject loss of life, regardless of their living conditions or quality of life. However, for those who are affected that do not share these
religious believes and do not wish to die a slow and painful death (such as having a terminal illness), should...show more content...
Humane and legal solution for those set on committing suicide
C.Detriments of PAS
1.Individuals can be coerced into suicide
2.Those with mental illness could choose suicide instead of treatment
III.Conclusion
First Perspective (Pros):
People deserve to decide how they die if they are to face the miserable fact that they will meet a premature and terrible demise. PAS affords patients
with terminal illnesses the option to choose a peaceful, stress–free death with the aid of a medical professional (Acker, 2015).
Second Perspective (Cons):
If individuals have access to PAS on a wide scale, it is possible that the service can lead to abuses of power or those who have treatable mental illness
may choose to end their lives rather than seek non–terminal help. The majority of individuals who oppose PAS often utilize the argument that PAS can
lead to situations in which people can be forced to take their own lives, to include those with reversible illnesses (Lee, 2013).

Physician Assisted Suicide Research Paper
1. In the United States today, only several states legally recognize physician–assisted suicide as an option for families and terminally ill patients hoping
to embrace a death with dignity. Although there is a growing movement to promote access to physician–assisted suicide, the topic is still widely
regarded as taboo. As of 2016, the states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Colorado, New Jersey, and California are the only states to allow full and
legal access to physician–assisted suicide. Alongside those states are Montana and New Mexico, which legally offer "aid in dying," meaning the state
allows for physicians to assist in alleviating the longevity of the dying process. For terminally ill patients living in states where...show more content...
On a living will, an individual can express if they would prefer not to be resuscitated or if they don't want to be living artificially on life–support.
Additionally, living wills establish a written declaration of a power of attorney, establishing a person who may legally speak on behalf of a patient
who is unable to do so. Living wills are crucial pieces of documentation that are necessary for the dignity and wishes of a person who may fall
unexpectedly into a life–threatening condition. If a person does not wish to live artificially on life support, a living will may be the only
documentation that can secure their right to die with what they choose to be a dignified death. Unfortunately, living wills are not too common,
resulting in countless Americans whose lives are extended long after they wish to live. In order to get a living will, one can either hire an attorney and
have the attorney draft a living will or there are templates available that can be filled out and submitted for notarization.
3.
The American movement to expand legal access to physician–assisted suicide has been waging on for decades, making significant progress in
humanizing death with dignity and reducing the social taboos against the movement, but has made relatively little progress in creating federally
protected access to physician–assisted suicide. It is fundamental that physicians and insurance companies are involved and actively working with the
PAS movement

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide
The word suicide gives many people negative feelings and is a socially taboo subject. However, suicide might be beneficial to terminally ill patients.
Physician– assisted suicide has been one of the most controversial modern topics. Many wonder if it is morally correct to put a terminally ill patient
out of their misery. Physicians should be able to meet the requests of their terminally ill patients. Unfortunately, a physician can be doing more harm by
keeping someone alive instead of letting them die peacefully. For example, an assisted suicide can bring comfort to patients. These patients are in
excruciating pain and will eventually perish. The government should not be involved in such a personal decision. A physician– assisted suicide comes
with many benefits for the patient. If a person is terminally ill and wants a physician assisted suicide, then they should receive one.
Physician– assisted suicide was first popularized in 1997 by the Oregon Death with Dignity Act (ODDA) . This act states that a physician has the
power to prescribe a lethal amount of medication to terminally ill patients. However, the patients must have the knowledge of upcoming death. In order
to receive the medication the patient must, be over eighteen years of age, a resident of Oregon, and must orally ask for the prescription twice. The oral
requests must be fifteen days apart. The patient's physician and a consulting physician must agree that the patient is mentally capable of making such a

The debate over Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide is becoming more and more complicated as doctors develop a better understanding for its
purpose and usefulness. Euthanasia is a Greek term meaning "good death" and it can be described as a killing of a patient who chooses to take this
course in action by applying, administrating, and undergoing a procedure to end their life. Euthanasia is prescribed when a patient is in intense pain or
suffering and is ready to end their life in a safe and logical way with the help of a doctor. It is a simple procedure with a choice of either drug
administration or a lethal injection. The injection is much faster than the drugs, but both work in the same way. The significance of euthanasia is to be
able...show more content...
The human body can only tolerate so much pain before it begins to shut down slowly. The elimination of suffering can allow the patient to go to
Heaven peacefully instead of having a bad death that family members have to watch. Two examples of dealing of suffering is Brittney Maynard and
Craig Schonegevel. Both patients had long–term illnesses and were entering the final stages. (Listverse) Brittney wanted to end her life with dignity,
so she moved to Oregon, where it was legal, and died with her dignity using euthanasia to help her go peacefully. (Listverse) Craig, on the other
hand, applied for euthanasia and was denied. He decided to take 12 sleeping pills and suffocate himself with plastic bags. He wanted to die listening
to his favorite jams while his parents held his hands, but instead died harshly. (Listverse) He did not get the chance to die with dignity like Brittney
did. Doctors have reviewed both cases and do not want patients to go to the extreme measures like suicide to end their pain. Euthanasia gives patients
the opportunity to pass away in a moral and just way while taking away all the pain and

Physician-Assisted Suicide
The topic I chose to write about is Physician–assisted suicide. My position on the topic is that I agree with physician–assisted suicide because it helps
terminal ill people end their suffering faster than if they waited until the illness took their life away. Also, the terminal ill person decides that he/she
wants to end his or hers life with a clear conscious knowing what is going to happen to them taking the physician–assisted suicide route to end their
suffering. By the terminal ill person deciding that they want to end their life with physician–assisted suicide they are helping out their family. They
help their family by reducing their pain that they feel and also by helping them financially because it is cheaper to end their life with

Physician-Assisted Suicide
Physician–assisted suicide is one of the most controversial topics in the United States and other parts of the world today. Assisted death allows mentally
proficient, terminally–ill adult patients to request access to life–ending medication from their physician. This type of assisted death is promoted by
organizations such as the Death with Dignity National Center, who advocate for countrywide advances in end–of–life care and extended options for
individuals near death. Although there are various arguments that state it is both immoral and unethical, physician–assisted suicide is a viable and
honorable method to provide end–of–life options to the terminally–ill and to provide better support, relief, and comfort to dying patients. This topic
According to the Death with Dignity National Center, basic eligibility requirements for physician–assisted suicide include that a patient must be "18
years of age or older, a resident of Oregon, Washington, or Vermont, capable of making and communicating health care decisions for him/herself, and
diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months." Fortunately several steps are set in place to make that patients are deemed
appropriate for the end–of–life medication such as requiring that a minimum of two physicians confirm that all of the mentioned criteria have been met.
Furthermore, two verbal requests that are separated by fifteen days, one written request made in the presence of two impersonal sources, the ability to
repeal the request at any time, and the requirement that the patient must be able to self–administer and ingest the prescription independently protect
individuals from coercion that would hasten their death against their will. Physician assistance for the dying would not be appropriate in cases where
an individual is unable to make the decision independently with full understanding of the choice and its consequences. It would also be unfitting in
cases where it is not the individual's will to end his or her own life, since one of the

As someone who is interested in pursuing a career in the medical field, it becomes apparent that medicine and ethics have a unique and pertinent
relationship. Everyday doctors, nurses, and other health care workers have to make ethical decisions or help families make ethical decisions for their
patients. For example, in the video that featured bioethicist Toby Schonfeld, she discussed some of the ethical dilemmas faced in hospitals today. The
most notable ethical conflicts she noted were physician assisted suicide, and other dilemmas such as transferring a patient to palliative care, or
whether someone should get a pacemaker or not. Perhaps, in my future I will face similar ethical problems and will have to figure out a way to draw
a conclusion that is the best for both the patient and their family. One ethical issue I feel fairly strongly about is physician assisted suicide....show more
content...
The United States has a significant shortage of organ donors, and therefore every year numerous people die waiting on transplant lists. However,
to get on the transplant list and to receive an organ is tricky. To be placed on the transplant list you have to be sick, but not too sick. A multitude of
people die each year as a result of becoming too sick and then ineligible to receive an organ. Additionally, in order to respect the generous gift of
donation organs typically go to patients who are believed to do well. Most people would agree that the sickest peoples should get the organs, but that
is not always the case. It is my hope that in the future there will be a rise in organ donors and organs available to transplant. Therefore, there would no
longer be waiting lists or having to decide which patients get to receive a transplant and which patients have to remain on the waiting list. Organ
donation is an extremely important process because it has the ability to give those at death's door another chance at

Physician Assisted Suicide Study
There has been a lot of talk over euthanasia. Some people are unaware of the difference of passive and active euthanasia and physician assisted
suicide. This study will inform the readers of the differences and what is better for a patient and doctor to do. I believe that physician assisted suicide
is the best moral option to go through in a case of a terminal illness.
Passive euthanasia can be defined as letting the patient die. The doctor takes the patient off their treatment and let the disease run through until they
die. Active euthanasia is not legal today, and leans more toward killing the patient. The patient is ready to die so the doctor gives a lethal injection to
speed up the process. Physician assisted suicide is almost a combination...show more content...
The doctor might feel guilty for ending a life so soon on purpose. It is the doctor's goal to help the patient live for as long as possible, not to end the
patient's life. Even though Mr. J is in pain, he has no right to ask his doctor to kill him with his hands and have that death on his conscious. This
option is also bad because the patient may not be ready to die. If they decide at last minute, when the drugs have already been administered, then it is
too late.
The option that is morally best to do would be option four. Mr. J would make the choice to end his own life and he does not have to go through
any pain. The doctor still has a good conscious and Mr. J is in control. He gets to decide whether or not he wants to die and and when he wants to
die, and the doctor just does whatever necessary to help him while not doing the action of killing. The other options that are morally permissible
cause pain for Mr. J. If he does not want to be in any pain he can make that choice which makes it the better option. The doctor will also not have to
watch him suffer in this

Physician Assisted Suicide Essay example
In today's society, one of the most controversial issues is physician–assisted suicide for the terminally ill. Many people feel that it is wrong for people,
regardless of their health condition, to ask their health care provider to end their life; while others feel it is their right to be able to choose how and
when they die. When a physician is asked to help a patient into death, they have many responsibilities that come along with that single question. Among
those responsibilities are: providing valid information as to the terminal illness the patient is suffering, educating the patient as to what their final
options may be, making the decision of whether or not to help the patient into death, and also if they do decide to help,...show more content...
Adkins contacted Kevorkian after hearing about his suicide machine' and asked for his help in assisting her into death, according to Kathlyn Gay. After
hearing Adkins describe her illness, Kevorkian refused to help the patient and suggested that she try experimental drug treatments. After six months had
gone by Adkins informed Dr. Kevorkian that the drug treatment had been unsuccessful and Kevorkian finally agreed to help with her request (44–45).
Adkins and her husband flew to Royal Oak, Mich., on June 3, 1990, for an interview with Kevorkian. On the basis of that one face–to–face encounter,
the doctor concluded that Adkins' euthanasia request was rational. The following day, as her husband waited in a nearby motel, Adkins was hooked up
intravenously to an inverted bottle of saline solution hanging from a metal frame in the back of Kevorkian's parked van. Acting on Kevorkian's
instructions, Adkins pressed a button that shut off the flow of saline solution and opened the line of sodium pentothal, causing her to lose
consciousness. After one minute, an automatic timer closed the pentothal line and released the contents of the third bottle. Adkins' heart stopped
beating within six minutes. (Worsnop "Assisted Suicide" 157–158)
One source reports that the second and third assisted suicides occurred on, October 21, 1991. One patient, Sherry Miller, was a multiple–sclerosis
victim, and the second patient,

Essay on Is Physician Assisted Suicide Ethical?
Is Physician Assisted Suicide Ethical?
Theresa Anderson
SOC 120 Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility
Instructor: David Jung
November 25, 2012
Physician assisted suicide, is this an ethical procedure? Many feel strongly on both sides of this issue. Some states such as Washington and Oregon
have made Physician assisted suicide legal. Other states such as Michigan and Massachusetts have put the issue to a vote and the voters have turned
down the option. What exactly is physician assisted suicide? According to Dictionary.com, the definition is a situation in which a physician provides
the means of death for a gravely ill patient .Dehal and Levy explain, "The Death With Dignity Act (DWDA) allows mentally competent,...show more
content...
Who is ethically harmed by physician assisted suicide? The family members that believe that suicide is against their family's religion may consider
themselves ethically harmed. The doctors who feel that assisting in the suicide is against the Hippocratic Oath may feel that this is unethical, but as
stated in End–of–life issues in the acute and critically ill patient, " Patient autonomy is a respect for an individual's right of self–rule. It implies that a
patient best knows his/her own goals and values relating to medical interventions. In addition, patients have the right to make decisions that may
conflict with the recommendations of family members and health care providers," (Savory & Marco, 2009) According to the utilitarianism
argument physician assisted suicide is ethical.
With deontology the conclusion would remain the same as with the utilitarianism principle. Mosser explains, "The deontologist argues that we have a
duty, or an obligation, to treat other people with respect; human beings have dignity, and we must take that dignity into consideration when dealing
with them."(Mosser, 2010, Ch1, Pg7) In letting a person choose to die with dignity, we show our respect to them during their final days. As long as the
person is able to communicate that their wish is to have a doctor help end their life the deontologist would state that physician assisted suicide is an
ethical practice.

In homes across the world, millions of victims are suffering from fatal and terminal illnesses.With death knocking on their door, should these people
have to endure pain and misery knowing what is to come? The answers to these questions are very controversial. Furthermore, there is a greater
question to be answered–should these people have the right and option to end the relentless pain and agony through physician assisted death? Physician–
Assisted Suicide PAS is highly contentious because it induces conflict of several moral and ethical questions such as who is the true director of our
lives. Is suicide an individual choice and should the highest priority to humans be alleviating pain or do we suffer for a purpose? Is suicide a purely
Secondly, the patient should be capable of making and communicating health care decisions for him or herself. Thirdly, the patient must be
diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months. Interested patients must also provide the request for termination in
writing to the physician. In addition, physicians are expected to inform patients to alternative means of care including hospice care and other
medications. Only after precautions evaluation, the laws then permit patients to make the ultimate life ending decision. A pathologist from
Michigan, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was one of the first to participate in PAS (Strate, Zalman & Hunter, 2005, p. 25). There are documented writings
discussing the severity of his patients: "those who seek him out have deteriorated by slow, painful degrees and wish to exit from their infernos on
Earth before they deteriorate cognitively and/or choke to death" (Zeldis's, 2005 p. 130). Many of his patients explain how they feel their own body
withdraw and turn on itself; and not even being able to eat or go to the bathroom (Friend, Mary and Louanne, 2011, p. 116). stress that dignity and
integrity are very personal matters; it is probable that being dependent on others to perform basic activities of daily living threaten a patient's dignity
and thus determine when an explicit request for PAS is made. Perhaps to deny someone the ability to limit their suffering is cruel. My main argument
in support of PAS bears the

Physician Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay

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