Physician-Assisted Suicide
Physician-Assisted Suicide
Imagine a frail elderly woman laying in the nursing home in pain. This woman is 80 years old and has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and her heart cannot withstand treatment via radiation or chemotherapy. She has less than six months to live. Day in and day out you pass her room and hear her crying out from the immense pain. The pain medications are no longer working. She’s tired of fighting, tired of hurting, and tired of waiting to die. After consideration and discussions with her family she has decided to ask the doctor to help and end her life. The doctor feels remorse for the elderly lady and wants to help but cannot decide if it is the ethical thing to do because he knows that what he’s being asked to do is considered physician-assisted suicide.
How is physician-assisted suicide any different than regular suicide? Does the fact that a person is terminally ill make it right? Who gets to decide if it is right? These are questions people may ask themselves when deciding whether or not they think physician-assisted suicide is ethical. Whether it is requested or not, many would say it is unethical for a physician to deliberately cause death to a person. Physicians take an oath to first do no harm. Others may say that a person has the right to make his or her own decisions about his or her life. In this paper, I will explore each side of physician-assisted suicide and how it relates to virtue ethics, along with how I feel relativist would see the issue.
Does physician-assisted suicide differ from regular suicide? Physician-assisted suicide is when a physician aides in a patients death by providing the necessary means for a patient to end their life. This is usually done in the form of prescriptions. Regular suicide is when a person intentionally does something in order to end his or her own life. So, if I were asked, is there a difference. I would respond with no. The only difference I see between
Imagine a frail elderly woman laying in the nursing home in pain. This woman is 80 years old and has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and her heart cannot withstand treatment via radiation or chemotherapy. She has less than six months to live. Day in and day out you pass her room and hear her crying out from the immense pain. The pain medications are no longer working. She’s tired of fighting, tired of hurting, and tired of waiting to die. After consideration and discussions with her family she has decided to ask the doctor to help and end her life. The doctor feels remorse for the elderly lady and wants to help but cannot decide if it is the ethical thing to do because he knows that what he’s being asked to do is considered physician-assisted suicide.
How is physician-assisted suicide any different than regular suicide? Does the fact that a person is terminally ill make it right? Who gets to decide if it is right? These are questions people may ask themselves when deciding whether or not they think physician-assisted suicide is ethical. Whether it is requested or not, many would say it is unethical for a physician to deliberately cause death to a person. Physicians take an oath to first do no harm. Others may say that a person has the right to make his or her own decisions about his or her life. In this paper, I will explore each side of physician-assisted suicide and how it relates to virtue ethics, along with how I feel relativist would see the issue.
Does physician-assisted suicide differ from regular suicide? Physician-assisted suicide is when a physician aides in a patients death by providing the necessary means for a patient to end their life. This is usually done in the form of prescriptions. Regular suicide is when a person intentionally does something in order to end his or her own life. So, if I were asked, is there a difference. I would respond with no. The only difference I see between
References: Arthur E. Chin, M., Katrina Hedberg, M. M., Grant K. Higginson, M. M., & David W. Fleming, M. (1999). Legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon- The First Year 's Experience. The New England Journal of Medicine , 577-583. Mosser, K. (2010). Ethics & Social Responsibility. San Diego: Bridgepoint Inc. ProCon.org. (2013, May 28). State-by-State Guide to Physician-Assisted Suicide. Retrieved July 12, 2013, from ProCon.org: http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000132