Assisted Suicide - Term Paper Example

Center of discussion in this paper is an assisted suicide, a concept that is facing much controversy in legal and ethical terms. Patients who are suffering from terminal illness or unbearable pain ask their doctors to end their lives and relieve them of their suffering. This is called doctor-assisted suicide. Forman writes that the concept of assisted suicide is common to euthanasia which literally means good death. He states that, “Assisted suicide, in which a doctor or a family member takes active steps to end another person’s life, is another form of euthanasia”.

There is a thought that such a practice is a blessing for those who are suffering from endless pain that cannot be lessened even with the use of medicine or years of treatment. Some patients think that they have a right to make a decision about their life and opting for a more dignified death. Thus, they go for assisted suicide or passive euthanasia. Individual’s consent matters the most. In the other case, obviously, it becomes a murder. But if the patient agrees, then his informed consent matters a lot.

After all, it is he who is suffering from all the pain and distress. However, legislators have a controversial view on the issue. They think that assisted suicide should not be legalized even with the individual’s consent. According to Forman, Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act in 1997, which legalized the physician-assisted suicide, but later the Act was challenged by the Federal Authorities and was argued in the Supreme Court in 2005. In 2006, the decision was in its favor. United States legalizes passive euthanasia and terminally ill people are given the choice to refuse medical treatments that are doing nothing to improve their conditions and are only prolonging their illnesses.

In my perspective, assisted suicide should be legalized with the individual’s consent under extreme conditions like when he is suffering from terminal illness with extreme pain. Methods used As illustrated earlier, the most common form of assisted suicide is the doctor-assisted suicide. Under this form, the terminally ill person, with his consent, is made to undergo processes like overmedication. Panzer states that, “One method of hastening death used by physicians, nurses and even family members is to administer overly high dosages of narcotics, sedatives or antidepressants when the patient has no need for them.

” Inappropriately high doses of narcotics and sedatives result in respiratory depression which stops breathing and causes death to occur. Lethal injections are also used to hasten death and this is the more humane method, according to me. High doses of morphine are also given. Many doctors report that they gave high doses of morphine to the patient after telling him that the aim is to hasten the end of life and eliminate his pain forever. Hence, the primary aim is never to kill and to get relieved ourselves, but to help the patient to die an easy death and relieve him of his pain.

My perspective It is a very hard task to decide whether or not to take a patient’s life deliberately. However, in some extreme conditions, it is appropriate to take the patient’s consent and give his choice priority. Consider a patient with a deadly disease or cruel debility which has made his life so unbearable and so troublesome with pain that pleasing, significant, focused survival has ceased to exist. If such a patient says himself, “I am unable to bear this pain. This is becoming intolerable for me and I no longer want to become a burden on my family.

Please relieve me of this torment.” After considering all alternatives, I think it would be wise for the physician to respect and honor his choice of dignified death. The role of the physician is to do what is in the best interest of the patient, and sometimes it becomes better for the patient to die instead of living in torment and despair when there is