School of Health Ethics Form - Essay Example

School of Health Ethics Form Research Project Rationale There has been various debates supporting and opposing legal laws on physician assisted suicide and euthanasia within the country. A look at public opinion says that majority of the citizens are support of the legalization of the rules to allow physicians assist patients in dire condition with suicide with the consent of key family members. However, currently guidelines which are being used have little relationship to the different clinical circumstances in which physicians care for patients nearing their deaths. However, decisions concerning laws created to serve this purpose should be responsive to the patients and doctors experiences about taking a life of a patient staring at death and there is nothing that can be done to salvage the situation. The research paper therefore is about a survey of a representative of a physician in the United States who can be deemed to care for patients nearing their deaths so as to assess the frequency in which request for assisted euthanasia or suicide and compliance with such requests (Atwood-Gailey, 2003: 2). Literature and Research Review Euthanasia is said is said to have historical rooting from the Greek language meaning “good health”. However, over time, the meaning has evolved to mean that one person knowingly leads to the death of the other who is considered terminally or seriously ill and can not be saved from the situation. The main emphasis attached this mercy killing is always to bring to an end the suffering of the later like for example patients diagnosed with bone cancer among other ailments. Within the country, the procedure for taking a away life in order to end is not allowed in all the fifty states, however countries like Netherlands and Belgium practice as it is legal under the law. In spite of euthanasia not being legal within the country, physician assisted suicide is legal and being practiced and being practiced in different states within the country. Examples of states practicing physician assisted suicide are Washington, Oregon and Montana (Lo, 2009). However, the two are always similar but the main difference depends on who administers the medicine to bring a patient life to an end (Mcdougall, Gorman & Roberts, 2008). In physician assisted suicide, a physician plays a crucial role in creating lethal medications for the patients, but the medications are always used by the patient at his own time and comfort however, this is the opposite of euthanasia because the physician here takes an active role in ending a patient’s life. Euthanasia can be broadly categorized into three (Manning, 1998). Voluntary euthanasia where a competent patient asks a physician ends his or her life without further persuasion from any party. Secondly, involuntary euthanasia is when an individual who is capable of making decisions is put top death against his wishes of not dying by empathetic physician. Lastly, non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when a persons who is not capable of making informed decisions but suffering from terminal illness is put to death through lethal injections, and last but not least is passive euthanasia where treatment is withheld leading to the death of a terminally ill patient (Otlowski, 1997: 312). Focus and Research Questions This literature review will seek explore physician assisted deaths in euthanasia perspectives while answering the following questions: This literature review will examine various key attributes of euthanasia in the larger discussion of its controversial nature 1. What are the ethical and moral perspectives of the medical profession regarding euthanasia? 2. What are the ethical and moral perspectives of patients and/or family members regarding Euthanasia? 3. What are some suggested courses of action for euthanasia? Methodology and Methods The research was conducted through self administration of questionnaires and via email methods. A stratified sample of physicians within the country was drawn but those doctors ho were included in the process were those of the ages of sixty years and above. In addition, those doctors whose age could not be accurately determined through medical records were selected based on the year they graduated from different medical schools. Those who were considered for this exercise were those who were graduates from 1970 and they had or were practicing in both private and public sectors. The percentage of physicians with over sixty five years represented a total of thirty percent of practicing physicians within the country. Those physicians who were considered to be eligible for the study were expected to have at least one specialty code and the sample was derived from a eight specialist obtained from initial surveys conducted by other researchers in other studies as they were considered to be well prone with cases related to assisted suicide (Pappas, 2012). Moreover three thousand practicing physicians were used to conduct the research. Questionnaires were the tools which were used to collect data from different respondents in the study. These questionnaires were anonymous as the details of the respondents who agreed to be part of the study were not revealed anywhere. This made it difficult to link the data collected from other original sample which had been collected initially therefore the sample and data collected were weighed to determine the differences which were present during the study or survey. The questionnaires were developed from different focus groups and carrying out different interviews on physicians. The seeded samples which were collected at the end were used for substantiating the questionnaires therefore making them effective towards the research question. In the end, statistical analysis was used to find out the differences which existed on characteristics existing between physicians’ attitudes and actions towards assisted suicide (United States., 2008). Ethical Issues Currently, euthanasia is not a legal process within the country. Therefore this makes it difficult for doctors who are always in dilemma for opposing moral and ethical perspectives. On the contrary, there are some doctors whop share a feeling that their duty is to help those who need their help, but share a feeling that they should be forced to perform certain procedure like euthanasia as they believe that this would change the meaning of the reputations as healers. Euthanasia is therefore not compatible with a physician role as healer because instead of giving life to a patient, it will be taking life away from a patient (Magnusson, 2001: 26). Moreover, the relationship existing between a doctor and his patients is always that doctors value the lives of his patients equally and when this is corroded, then there will be no essence in the relationship between physicians and patients as there will be trust towards physicians by the patients. In addition, many physicians share a view that it is not courteous to turn down a patient who needs help since when left on their own their decisions are always characterized by trauma when the physicians are capable of assisting them with their desires (Keown, 2002: 37). Data Collections and Analysis An analysis of the three thousand practicing physicians who mailed their response via questionnaires revealed that almost one hundred were considered not be eligible for the test. In addition, sixty of them through the questioners were discovered to be out of practice and the remaining ten were above the selected age of sixty years. Therefore, the total number of questionnaires which were deemed good for the research was estimated to be one thousand and forty nine making the general percentages be estimated at sixty percent. Those respondents who were considered in the third mailing were coaxed by given an incentive did not show much differences as expected from those of the first mailing sent. This is because both respondents interviewed in both mailing through the use of questionnaires shared similar demographic characteristics like sex and age. Willingness to Provide Assistance From those respondents who were interviewed as with regards to the research question revealed that ten percent were ready under the law and in different circumstances they would write down the prescription for patients staring at their death to take to aid them in the process. An additional of thirty physicians interviewed also said admitted that when the laws of the country allowed them to assist patients with terminal illness to take their lives, they would gladly consider giving out a prescription to aid in this. Six percent of the physicians also agreed that in spite of the current laws which are against assisted suicide, they would still give out prescriptions to patients who are in dire need of it to assist them through the process of taking their own lives (Fernandes, 2008). Requests for Assistance Moreover, of the physicians interviewed through the use of questionnaires, seventeen percent admitted that there are certain points in the life of work that they received one more request from patients asking them to assist in taking away life. These physicians stated that on average they had received more than five requests from patients since they started their practice. An estimated ten percent of these physicians also agreed to having received request from patients to assist in ending their lives through lethal injection with each admitting to having received an average of three requests throughout their practice (Downie, 2004). Compliance with Requests for Assistance Of the seventeen percent physicians who admitted to having received the request from patients to aid in taking away their lives, only ten percent agreed to have conducted the exercise in spite of experiencing other sentiments against this. It was also pointed out that not all the patients who asked for these prescriptions and were given ended their lives, but that only forty percent of the total patients used this prescription to end their lives (Yount, 2000). Most Recent Request Honored The seventeen percent of the physicians who agreed to respond to at least one of the request received from different patients of ending their lives using either suicide or lethal injection were humbly requested to give a description of the incidences which led to the process. Of the percentage three quarter were determined to having written prescription pills to aid in ending life while the remaining quarter performed lethal injection to assist in ending life. Those who prescribed pills pointed out that they were not comfortable with performing lethal injections and deemed that in doping so directly, they were degrading their moral standards. They opted that prescribing pills were better as in at least cleared their conscientious. For those who did accept to administering the request gave out reasons like discomfort, pain and religious practices. Reported by percentages of the eighty three who admitted not to have performed assisted suicide were categorized in the following structures. Sixteen percent agreed that the symptoms were untreatable. Twenty percent suggested that it was not realistic to take life, but that there were ways life prolonging therapy which could be administered to these patients. Twenty four percent had found themselves discussing the topic with other physicians but could not reach an agreement. Twenty five percent admitted to giving advice of patients who were having terminal and other illness which not could be corrected on the importance and significance of life. Twenty five percent agreed to debate over the issue with their different religious leaders. The seventeen percent who agreed to have received from different patients when asked on the different methods that they used. An estimated seventy five percent of the seventeen percent admitted to applying opiods while twenty five percent of the seventeen percent used barbiturates. An estimated seventy percent of those who administered lethal injections said that they used opiods in ending life while thirty percent admitted they preferred the use of potassium chloride. In addition, of the seventeen percent who received request of assisted suicide, forty six percent of the total fraction admitted to doing this themselves while fifty three used such people like patients relatives and patients themselves (Dworkin, Frey, & Bok, 1998). Outcome and Times Scales In this study, we see that request pertaining to assisted suicide are always received by those physicians whose career makes them to spend time with patients staring at their deaths. However, such kinds of request we discover are not always given priority or honored within the country because of the strict laws constituted by different stakeholders in the society. A comparison of the country with countries like England reveals that in spite of physicians receiving request for assisted suicide, the rate at which these physicians within the country agree to such request is lower than countries like England because of a number of factors and reasons. However, the study also reveals certain states within the country like California and Washington, the rate at which physicians perform or conduct request for assisted suicide from patient is slightly higher compared to other states in the country. When the physicians are analyzed with religion, it is discovered that those of the catholic faith were more milling though not all to carry out request of assisted suicide whereas the Jewish were the last on the list because of their sacred sentiments towards ending life of any patient (Jeffrey, 2009). It was also discovered that the results were based only on physicians with a specific specialty areas as they were the ones who related well to the topic of assisted suicide. Their percentage of request they received was found to be slightly higher than those who were specialized in other areas. This said, it comes to our knowledge that the our response towards assisted suicide by patients is underestimated as the number is far much more higher than the number of grounds and most physicians at times always go free without reporting incidences or assisted suicide even when interviewed. In spite of the study which is discussed in the paper has a response rate of more than fifty percent making it similar to other studies conducted in the past, one factor noticed is that there was conflict in perception for both the respondents and nondependent’s on the study regarding the topic (Battin, 1996). Lastly, in spite of the lethal injection being adequately described to mean the issuance of lethal dose on patients, and its main aim was to assist in ending a patient’s life, some of the physicians are probable to have confused the intended meaning to mean terminal sedation. This brings to the need of educating physicians especially those requests of assisted suicide on proper ways of accessing the credibility of such request like checking on other factors like mental factors of those requesting for this process to prevent against misunderstanding of the term assisted suicide (United States., 1996). Moreover, this study reveals that the current laws on patient assisted is responsible for the few number of cases of assisted suicide and that when the process is legalized within the country, the number of request and for physicians receiving such request will tremendously increase. It is also noted through the study that majority of patients who requested for assisted suicide met the requirements of the practice as they were suffering from incurable conditions which could not be corrected by any method or medication. The findings on the study especially to those of physicians who did not perform the exercise themselves reveals conflict of interest towards the topic as it shows they were forced by circumstance to write the prescriptions and were not happy about the whole process (Mccuen, 1999: 36). Bibliography Keown, J. (2002). Euthanasia, ethics, and public policy: an argument against legislation. New York, Cambridge University Press. Atwood-Gailey, E. (2003). Write to death: news framing of the right to die conflict, from Quinlan's coma to Kevorkian's conviction. Westport, Conn, Praeger. Otlowski, M. (1997). Voluntary euthanasia and the common law. Oxford [u.a.], Clarendon Press. Mcdougall, J. F., Gorman, M., & Roberts, C. S. (2008). Euthanasia: a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif, ABC-CLIO. Magnusson, R. S. (2001). Angels of death: exploring the euthanasia underground. Carlton, Vic, Melbourne University Press. Dworkin, G., Frey, R. G., & Bok, S. (1998). Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Cambridge [u.a.], Cambridge Univ. Press. Manning, M. (1998). Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: killing or caring? New York, NY, Paulist Press Downie, J. G. (2004). Dying justice: a case for decriminalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. Toronto [u.a.], Univ. of Toronto Press. Pappas, D. M. (2012). The euthanasia/assisted-suicide debate. Santa Barbara, Calif, Greenwood. Mccuen, G. E. (1999). Doctor-assisted suicide and the euthanasia movement. Hudson, Wis, G.E. McCuen Publications. Battin, M. P. (1996). Drug use in assisted suicide and euthanasia. New York [u.a.], Pharmaceutical Products Press. Fernandes, A. K. (2008). Euthanasia, assisted suicide, and the philosophical anthropology of Karol Wojtyla. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2008. http://0- gateway.proquest.com.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88- 2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pq diss:3315456. Jeffrey, D. (2009). Against physician assisted suicide: a palliative care perspective. Oxford, Radcliffe Pub. Yount, L. (2000). Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. New York, Facts on File. United States. (2008). The consequences of legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia: hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, May 25, 2006. Washington, U.S. G.P.O. Lo, B. (2009). Resolving ethical dilemmas: a guide for clinicians. Philadelphia, Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. UNITED STATES. (1996). Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in the Netherlands: a report of Chairman Charles T. Canady to the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Fourth Congress, second session. Washington, U.S. G.P.O. Read More