Does an individual who has no hope of recovery have the right to decide how and when to end their life - Essay Example

The English case law clearly established that actively hastening the death of a patient by means of medical intervention is illegal and unlawful1. The United Kingdom is preparing the ground work to make assisted suicide legal. This move has been opposed by many doctors and medical practitioners. The British Medical Association opposed the government’s initiative. The proposed Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill would have permitted physicians to prescribe and administer lethal dosages of drugs to patients suffering from terminal illnesses.

However, that Bill was rejected by the House of Lords. Nevertheless, Church leaders fear that this Bill could made law in the next attempt to pass it. According to Lord Joffe, only six hundred fifty people would be allowed to undergo assisted suicide, every year, but it was predicted that there would be more than fifteen thousand people seeking such a death, on an annual basis. Critics claim that the law is pushing terminally ill patients who think that they will be a burden on their family members, to seek assisted suicide.

Some hospitals still employ the ruse whereby, patients would be asked to utilise a tick a box and die scheme in the event of their becoming physically incapacitated2. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are controversial medical practices, and they are surrounded by ethical arguments. Although euthanasia is an ethical and moral issue, under certain circumstances, such as terminal illnesses, unbearable pain and other extreme conditions; physicians and medical practitioners are to be allowed to perform it on their patients, subsequent to providing the necessary information to their patients.

These patients, after obtaining such information that had been provided by their doctors, can decide to die with dignity by choosing the circumstances and time of their death. In physician assisted suicide, doctors administer