Physician-assisted suicide, as defined by Pozgar, G. D., is an action in which a physician voluntarily aids a patient in bringing about his or her own death (2016). There is much controversy over this topic …show more content…
According to Berger, J. M., MS, MD, PhD, & Vadivelu, N., MD., the principle of double effect, initially developed in Catholic tradition from the thirteenth-century teachings of Thomas Aquinas, states that an action that has two effects, one good and one bad (2013). There are four principles of the double effect, described by Kockler, N. J., include the act-in-itself cannot be morally wrong or intrinsically evil, the bad effect cannot cause the good effect, the agent cannot intend the bad effect, and the bad effect cannot outweigh the good effect (2007). These four principles must be met to