What Is The Right To Choose Physician Assisted Suicide?

Improved Essays
Eighteen states across the country are contemplating whether or not to make Physician assisted suicide (PAS) legal. PAS is legal in five states: Oregon, California, Vermont and Washington. Accepting physician-assisted suicide or a “right to suicide,” produces a wall between the patient and mental health treatments. PAS is when a licensed physician guides and aids a terminally ill patient, who which decides to kill himself by using prescribed drugs. Physicians are meant to care and have respect for the life of every human being. The intrinsic values of people and their life, such as health, friendship and wisdom are apart of humans. So, to act against any of these goods is also directly acting against the person. Human life is indistinguishable …show more content…
Why can’t physicians be able to eliminate a patient 's suffering by helping them to die? Yet, we need to know the distinction between suffering, and the person who is suffering. It is a mistake to intentionally destroy an innocent person; their dignity, by removing their pain through suicide. The moral or ethical side of this argument does not resolve the legal issue. Supporters of physician-assisted suicide claim that people 's freedom of choice should be honored, which means PAS should be legal. Given that, our autonomy should be respected; the law and medical foundations each have restrictions to people’s rights. All laws limit our autonomy to some expanse. For example, the law states that, “You shall not steal,” which must be followed but it is a limitation of our desire to perform that action. Is there something about the public good that needs to be protected by misuse of a freedom, that that freedom can be …show more content…
Agreeing to the process of PAS, shows terminally ill patients their live is not worth living. PAS communicates to the vulnerable, that by poor example, other patients will choose death as a benefit, over life that has become miserable to them. Physicians should not give up completely on the patient if their is no possible cure. The patient should die naturally with emotional support, be provided with a sufficient amount of pain control and keep a well communicated relationship with their physician and family. Advocates of Physician-assisted suicide propose that mercy killing is required because patients with a terminal illness, undergo unmanageable suffering. They insist that the only way to eradicate pain is to kill the patient. Patients and their physicians assume that those with a condition will be in a better state of not existing than suffering through pain and depression. Instead of killing the patient who is enduring pain, the better alternative is to guarantee that their suffering is controlled. Once the patient’s illness is managed, they will become less despondent, more in control with their thoughts and will be open to alternative

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    In Michael Gill’s article “A moral defense of Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law” he defends the law against two objections by providing arguments from opponents of PAS and proponents of PAS. The first objection that Gill defends is “that it is intrinsically wrong for someone to kill herself” (2005). The second objection is that “it is intrinsically wrong for physicians to assist someone in killing herself” (Gill, 2005). The physician assisted suicide law allows terminally ill residents of Oregon who are mentally competent and have less than six months to live to request a doctor to prescribe a medication that will cause a quick and painless death.…

    • 2296 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS), has been a moral dilemma in the hot seat since the passing of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act in 1997. All throughout the US, states have been trying to pass acts that allow people to die with dignity using PAS, the most recent being Colorado. PAS is a conflicting topic because it causes concern if the choice is morally ethical for the patient and for the others making these decisions like, doctors, psychologist, and other family members. PAS can cause conflict among religion and personal beliefs but it should be seen as an individual 's right not a communal right. The article referenced within this paper is “The Role of and Challenge for Psychologist in Physician Assisted Suicide” written by Shara M. Johnson,…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Physician-Assisted Suicide which is also known as PAS has been a topic that has been highly debated for years, it gives patients in critical medical conditions the right to end their lives. Many people think that PAS and euthanasia are the same, while both actions include medications in lethal doses, Physician Assisted Suicide is when a doctor makes a patient’s death less difficult by providing him or her with a lethal dose of medication such as barbiturates or a combination of medications to allow the life ending act or to refrain the patient from receiving treatments that are used to prolong a terminally ill patients life. The physician lends the knowledge but the person does the act. While, euthanasia is when someone actually administers the medication to the patient to fulfill…

    • 2173 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When healing a patient is no longer possible, death is imminent and suffering is unbearable the physician's role should shift from healing the patient to relieving their suffering according to their wishes (M. Angell). With that being said, physician assisted suicide should be left as a last resort to be used when all other options have been expended. Keeping someone alive against their will and forcing someone to suffer is as much of a crime as taking someone's life without their consent (F. Girsh). Without PAS patients are subjected to unwanted medical treatment or completely abandoned altogether. Medical technology has advanced incredibly over the years but for the terminally ill it only prolongs suffering (E. De La Torre).…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Recent stories in the news have posed this controversial question: should terminally ill patients have the right to end their own lives? Empathetic stories of terminally ill patients’ last wishes have captured attention of the media and created a controversial debate on the ethics and morals of physician assisted suicide, otherwise known as PAS. Some claim that PAS is inhumane and unethical, while others insist that it is a given right to anybody under such extreme circumstances. In his article, “Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Always Wrong,” Ryan T. Anderson attempts to convey to citizens and policymakers that legalizing PAS across the country would be a grave mistake. However, Anderson’s argument is weak due to a series of logical fallacies…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Physician-assisted suicide has been a hot debate topic for quite some time. People claim that physician-assisted suicide is just plain suicide, while some believe it is the right of the patient to end their own life when burdened by a terminal illness. Countries around the world have made physician-assisted suicide legal. The most famous country for physician-assisted suicide is the Netherlands. Here at home, the United States has five states that allow physician-assisted suicide while the other 45 states deny patients that right.…

    • 1539 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Controversy of Physician Assisted Suicide According to the Constitution every person has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The statement means no one needs permission to live and each person has the right to do what make him or her happy even if it means dying (Bowden 36). There are many people throughout the United States that believe Physician Assisted Suicide is wrong, however, there are also many people who believe it is a human right. The controversy of PAS can be understood by learning what it is and where it occurs, why it should be legal, and why it should not be legal.…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    No person should have to endure terminal suffering that is unremitting, unbearable, or prolonged. When the burdens of life outweigh the benefits because of uncontrollable pain, severe psychological suffering, loss of dignity, or loss of quality of life as judged by the patient, and when the circumstances are not remediable, the dying person should be able to ask for and receive help in assisted suicide (Marker, Smith 47-51). It is further argued that assisted suicide for incurably ill persons experiencing extreme suffering can be distinguished from euthanasia used for the purpose of genocide on the grounds that it is based on principles of dignity, honor, and respect and is chosen and enacted by the dying individuals, rather than being forced on them against their…

    • 1421 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is the voluntary termination of a person’s life with the assistance of a physician in a controlled environment allows a quick, painless, and dignified death for those suffering from terminal illnesses. The arguments against physician-assisted suicide are ineffective because it gives terminally ill patients the right a dignified death. Today, five states have legalized physician-assisted suicide, sparing families in those states from watching their loved ones go through unbearable suffering and pain. The question of assisted suicide, and later physician-assisted suicide, has been long debated.…

    • 2317 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Those who fight to protect life do not see this, however. They see any act of rebellion against the sanctity of life to be unjustified harm. While the end of life is indeed harm, it is not an unjustified harm. If one does not perform the necessary harm then worse agony will follow. This removes the quality, and therefore, validity of…

    • 2007 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Regarding physician assisted suicide, also known as PAS, J. David Velleman argues that a PAS policy could be harmful to patients and thus, we should not have a policy. In his work, “Against the Right to Die”, Velleman is not arguing for the morality of PAS, but rather against a PAS public policy. His argument focuses on the harm on a patient that PAS can have by adding the burden to opt for PAS. By giving more options, a PAS policy can push a patient to choose death. Without the option of PAS, Velleman says, a patient can continue to live by default.…

    • 1271 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Assisted Suicide Vs Pa

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages

    These people should have the right to decide whether or not to end their lives sooner with the help of Physician Assisted Suicide, rather than to wait and be in constant pain. PAS, Physician Assisted Suicide, can give them their right to die. It is legal in five states, including Washington and Montana. There are studies that prove terminally ill patients do not feel pain due to PAS (Lachman 57). The patient feels as if he or she…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone in the world will experience the subject of death at some point their lives. The common wishes in regards to this subject are to die a peaceful death, surrounded by loved ones, with no suffering. A practice that would allow terminally ill patients to have this wish granted is the practice of physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide, or PAS, is an action in which a physician provides a terminally ill patient with the means to end his or her own life. Most people want to be in control of their own end-of-life decisions.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One of the many ethical dilemmas surrounding health care today is physician assisted suicide. Many will misinterpret this as Euthanasia because they both accomplish the same goal, causing the death of a person. However, physician assisted suicide is different because of the way that death is accomplished. Boudreau and Somerville (2014) explain that, “In assisted suicide, the person takes the death-inducing product; in euthanasia, another individual administers it” (p. 2). The physician in the case of physician assisted suicide is removed from the actual act of death.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Against Assisted Suicide In many countries around the world, it is legal for doctors to prescribe a medicine that can potentially end a patient’s life if the patient wishes to commit suicide. In the United States, four states -Vermont, Oregon, Washington, and Montana- are the only states which have chosen to legalize assisted suicide (Backmann par. 6). Physician assisted suicide, also called assisted suicide, has become an extremely sensitive topic that has been debated by everyone, from academic scholars to everyday people, and has become almost as controversial as abortion.…

    • 1173 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays