Death as a Decision: The Effects of Physician-Assisted Suicide For many years, the ongoing controversy of whether or not a person should be able to be clinically assisted by a physician to end their own life has been circling the minds of many people. According to the textbook, assisted suicide differs from medical euthanasia in that the physician is necessary but not sufficient for the act. In assisted suicide the patient needs to do the final act which is to take the lethal medication. Dr. Kevorkian, nicknamed “Dr. Death” is well known for being an advocate for assisted suicide. On November 22, 1998 the American pathologist videotaped the death of 52 year old Thomas Youk, submitted it to CBS’s 60 minutes and it was broadcasted on television. Immediately following the airing, Kevorkian was charged with murder, because he personally injected the drug into Youk, who was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). The most debatable arguments involving physician-assisted suicide include pros such as eliminating patient’s pain and suffering, reducing healthcare costs, sparing vital organs to save other patients, and preventing horrifying and traumatic suicide attempts.
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The cons however consist of violating Hippocratic Oath, decreasing value of human life, conflicting religious beliefs, and giving doctors too much power. Both sides of the assisted suicide argument are pretty strong, but because of religious reasons the physician assisted suicide should not be legalized. According to the book, The Good Doctor, doctors play God all the time. When they prescribe medicines designed to heal patients they are essentially doing what God is supposed to do. The belief, however, is that physician-assisted suicide is right, because God works through these people to perform the procedures that they do. Who is to say that God doesn’t work though the doctors to commit suicide in hopes that the termally ill patient can save another’s life? In the bible, First John 15:13 says “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one 's life for one 's friends.” This could be an indication that there is spiritual good in physician assisted suicide. The story of Matthew Donnelly is an eye opener for anyone who is completely bias towards death with dignity. Donnelly suffered from skin cancer, and after 30 years of undergoing painful treatments he had lost his nose, his left hand, two fingers on his right hand, and part of his jaw. He was blinded and was slowly deteriorating. The doctors estimated Donnelly having a year left to live. At this time Matthew was begging to die and his pleas were never answered. Then, one day, Matthew’s brother Harold, unable to ignore Matthew’s repeated cry, removed a .30 caliber pistol from his dresser drawer, walked into the hospital and shot and killed his brother. Harold was charged with murder, and all of this could have been prevented with the physician-assisted suicide laws being in affect. Initially, Dr. Kevorkian could have been viewed as a very evil old man who had took pride in killing people for years. Although it is still not easy to agree completely with all of his actions, after watching the videos it is possible to have a much clearer understanding of what he did and why he did the things he did. The fact that he created his own death machine called the Thanatron to help people
The cons however consist of violating Hippocratic Oath, decreasing value of human life, conflicting religious beliefs, and giving doctors too much power. Both sides of the assisted suicide argument are pretty strong, but because of religious reasons the physician assisted suicide should not be legalized. According to the book, The Good Doctor, doctors play God all the time. When they prescribe medicines designed to heal patients they are essentially doing what God is supposed to do. The belief, however, is that physician-assisted suicide is right, because God works through these people to perform the procedures that they do. Who is to say that God doesn’t work though the doctors to commit suicide in hopes that the termally ill patient can save another’s life? In the bible, First John 15:13 says “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one 's life for one 's friends.” This could be an indication that there is spiritual good in physician assisted suicide. The story of Matthew Donnelly is an eye opener for anyone who is completely bias towards death with dignity. Donnelly suffered from skin cancer, and after 30 years of undergoing painful treatments he had lost his nose, his left hand, two fingers on his right hand, and part of his jaw. He was blinded and was slowly deteriorating. The doctors estimated Donnelly having a year left to live. At this time Matthew was begging to die and his pleas were never answered. Then, one day, Matthew’s brother Harold, unable to ignore Matthew’s repeated cry, removed a .30 caliber pistol from his dresser drawer, walked into the hospital and shot and killed his brother. Harold was charged with murder, and all of this could have been prevented with the physician-assisted suicide laws being in affect. Initially, Dr. Kevorkian could have been viewed as a very evil old man who had took pride in killing people for years. Although it is still not easy to agree completely with all of his actions, after watching the videos it is possible to have a much clearer understanding of what he did and why he did the things he did. The fact that he created his own death machine called the Thanatron to help people