Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Always Wrong: Article Analysis

As a doctor, you swear to an oath that is to provide lifesaving medical care and to try and extend life comfortably, the best way you can. In “Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Always Wrong” Ryan T. Anderson states why a physician assisting in a terminally ill patient’s death is ethically and morally wrong. This article that I chose was published on Newsweek on March 26, 2015, but first appeared on The Daily Signal. As the article describes what and how this particular approach works, it goes in great detail to explain why it should not even be an option for physicians. “Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Always Wrong” begins with the heartbreaking story of American, Brittany Maynard, who was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma.
Instead of embracing this act of death, we should respond to suffering with compassion and solidarity. (Anderson, Screen 1) Many of the patients seeking to end their lives in this way usually suffer from depression or other mental illnesses, but also from loneliness. Instead of us giving them pills to kill them, the doctors should provide the suitable medical care they need. As for the patients in physical pain, pain management drugs can be administered to improve their quality of life. The terminally ill patients are provided with hospice care and fellowship to accompany them on their last days of life. Doctors should help their patients die a dignified death of natural causes, not assist in killing them. (Anderson, Screen 1) Physicians take the oath to always heal and care, never to kill intentionally. Palliative care focuses on the patient’s quality of life and improving it by alleviating pain and other distressing symptoms of a serious illness. At any age or stage in illness, palliative care is available to help improve the patient’s life as a whole. It does not matter if the illness is curable, chronic, or even life-threatening, medicine can improve your symptoms dramatically, helping you live with your