Physician Assisted Suicide - Research Paper Example

?Over the years, there has been a lot of debate about physician-assisted suicide with those who are for it stating that the patient has the right to ask their physician to help them die a dignified death free of any pain or being a burden to their families. Those against this practice on the other hand state that it is unethical for physicians to help their patients commit suicide when they have taken the Hippocratic oath to protect and preserve the lives of their patients. Both sides of this debate have made some very pertinent arguments in support of their sides and it has been very difficult for many societies and people to come to an understanding concerning this matter. In this paper, we shall look at this debate from the point of view of those who are for physician-assisted suicide. It is our opinion that physician assisted suicide is the right of the person who requests it so long as this person has a very valid reason why his life should be ended. Physician assisted suicide is not a new occurrence and it has in fact existed for as long as suffering has been a part of human reality. Since time immemorial, physicians have been receiving requests from their patients who are suffering to end it all by helping them to die. It is a fact today that some fifty seven percent of physicians have received a request from their patient to assist them to die in one way or the other. In most of these cases, physicians have declined the requests of their patients and have instead suggested alternatives to this course of action. One of these alternatives is the availability of modern medicine, which can relieve their pain because in the past, before the coming of this medicine, unrelieved physical pain may have been better and the physicians in those times do not seem to have had much choice in the matter. Another alternative would be for a patient to be given access to the best care possible by the government and this would most likely eliminate their desire to have a hastening of their deaths until such a time when their lives end naturally. The debate about the legalization of physician-assisted suicide as a means of ending a patients’ suffering remains controversial to this day and the history of this debate suggests that it is periodically given intense attention especially when the cases have the attention of the media. Because there is always the fear that a physician might misunderstand their patient’s wishes, there is currently very little support for physician-assisted suicide. However, physicians need to know how to respond to a request from their patients because whether they like it or not, the requests will keep on coming and some cases may be so bad that they will have no other choice other than assisting them to die. As the debate on physician assisted suicide continues, there are two principles, which are agreed upon within the medical circles. The first is that the physician is obliged not only to relieve the pain and suffering of their dying patients, but also to ensure their dignity. The second principle is the fact that a physician must do all in his power to ensure that the competent decision made by their patients to forego treatment that sustains their lives is respected. One of the most important events that took place in this debate happened in 1997 when the United States Supreme Court made a decision concerning it. Firstly, it recognized that there was no right in the federal constitution to physician-assisted suicide, and secondly, it made the affirmation that the legislature at the state level may choose to legalize it. There are several arguments why some people are in favor of physician-assisted suicide among those patients whose suffering cannot be relieved by modern medicine. One of these arguments is that it helps to protect patients who know that they are dying but do not want to suffer deaths that are lingering and painful. Furthermore, it has been argued that physician assisted suicide is in line with respecting the independence of a patient in making decisions concerning their own lives. In addition, it has been stated that physician assisted suicide is very defensible as a policy because it can be performed on anybody who needs it and not just people from specific backgrounds. In other words, this procedure is very respectful of social diversity if looked upon as a policy. It can be argued that this way of ending the life of a suffering person protects them from the unnecessary attention of a physician as well as from unwanted treatment, which does nothing to alleviate the suffering that they are going through. Moreover, physician assisted suicide helps to protect the patient affected by a debilitating condition that is not easy to manage using medicine and instead allows them to die a more dignified death. Lastly, there is really no point in prolonging the life a person in severe pain if this person wishes to die so that his suffering can end (Frileux et al, 2003). Although it is a very logical thing for a physician to honor a suffering patient’s request to assist them to end the suffering through death, there is in reality very little moral or legal support for it. Even the most fervent supporters of physician-assisted suicide are very reserved when it comes to the argument of whether a physician should take part in the assisting of their patient’s death. The supporters of this action recognize that it is the right of the physician to decline to take part in assisted suicide for the various moral reasons that they may have. It is however argued that whatever their own views about this issue, they should not disregard the wishes of their patients and they should instead refer them to other physicians who may be able to help them in whatever way the patients desire. There have been many arguments against physician-assisted suicide from many circles and these arguments are mostly based on the morality of this action. One of the most often repeated arguments of people on this side of the debate is that suicide is wrong and that it should not be done even by those who are in great suffering. Furthermore, they state that physician assisted suicide is incompatible with the goals of medicine which is to heal the sick and to preserve lives, and that it is immoral for any physician to even think of assisting their patients’ suicide because he would be defeating the purpose of his profession. They argue that so long as the patient is given the palliative care that is appropriate then it would not be necessary for them to resort to suicide because there would be a relief to their pain. Moreover, they state that if the patients were to be given proper medical care and their psychological needs taken care of, then there would be a very significant reduction of requests of deaths, if any, to their physicians. It is argued that the practice of physician assisted suicide damages the physician, making him insensitive to the needs of his patients and this leads to his not taking as good care of them as he would have if he did not indulge in the practice of assisted death (Stevens, 2006). The insensitivity of the physician towards his patients may lead him to kill indiscriminately those patients who are weak or disabled, all in the name of taking away their suffering. When all of these arguments against physician-assisted suicide are combined, they are found to be very convincing by some physicians as well as the public. Currently, the American Medical Association (AMA) states that it is opposed to physician assisted suicide but this is not a very strong statement because despite its opposition, the number of physician-assisted deaths is going up every year. In fact, many physicians actively participate in it because they realize that they are doing what is necessary to protect their patients’ interests. Contrary to the views of AMA, some people believe that it is moral for physician-assisted suicide to be done under certain limited circumstances and because of this, there are both political and judicial organizations that are working hard towards making this practice legal all over the country and in many parts of the world. It can therefore be said that physician assisted suicide is a very necessary thing for those patients who are terminally ill and request their physician’s assistance in dying. Not only does this allow them to die a more dignified death than if they were to die naturally, but it also allows them to escape their pain earlier. Although some argue that the suicide of such patients is wrong, they should be made to understand that it is immoral of them to allow a person who obviously wishes to die due to severe pain to live. This is because doing so would not only cause this person severe pain, but it will defeat the purpose because he will end up dying anyway. In the United States, only three states, Oregon, Montana, and Washington, have made the practice of physician assisted suicide legal and this has been after very long legislative processes. Although the practice is legal in these states, there are certain guidelines that have been put in place for physicians to follow when assisting the suicide of their patients. One of these is that the patients should take the drugs, which will induce their death themselves because the physician are not allowed to administer the drugs directly. Another of the guidelines state that a physician can prescribe an overdose of a drug to certain patient to induce their deaths without any fear of legal reprisals (Sullivan et al, 2000). It may be too early to say whether these three states have opened the way for the legalization of physician assisted suicide in the other states of America but it is quite possible that this right will come to be recognized all over the nation. Everybody has the right to choose his or her own destiny and this should not be dictated by either the government or any religious institution. This right also applies to those terminally ill patients or those patients who are in such severe pain that cannot be treated. If these patients were to choose to end their lives to stop their suffering, then no one should question their decision or the action taken by their physician to fulfill their wishes. References Frileux, S., Lelievre, C., Munoz Sastre, M.T., Mullet, E., and Sorum, P. C. (2003). When is physician assisted suicide or euthanasia acceptable? Journal of Medical Ethics, 29(6), 330-6. Stevens, Kenneth R. Jr. (2006). Emotional and psychological effects of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia on participating physicians. Issues in Law & Medicine, 21(3), 187-200. Sullivan, A. D., Hedberg, K., and Fleming, D. W. (2000). Special report: Legalized physician-assisted suicide in Oregon--the second year. The New England Journal of Medicine, 342(8), 598-604. Read More