Physician-Assisted Suicide: Is It Morally Permissible?
PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE | IS IT MORALLY PERMISSIBLE?
INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE-QUESTION
My essay topic is whether or not physician assisted suicide is morally permissible. I intend to argue that it is permissible because a competent patient ultimately has the right to choose for themselves the course of their life, including how it will end. To lie in a hospital bed in a vegetative state, unable to see, think, speak, eat, being totally unaware of your surroundings or those of your loved ones nearby speaks loudly of the pain and suffering at all levels for a terminally ill patient. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is ethically justifiable in certain cases, most often those cases involving unrelenting suffering. While PAS is not legal in the United States, the Supreme Court has upheld individual states right to decide on the legality of it. The debate for PAS has been going for many centuries and the most common reason for the request of PAS were wanting to die in a dignified way, being in pain, being dependable on others for personal care, being tired of life and fearing future loss of control. PAS may be a rational choice for a person who is choosing to die to escape unbearable suffering and the physicians’ duty to alleviate suffering may, at times, justify the act of providing assistance with suicide. However, others have argued that PAS is unethical and runs directly counter to the traditional duty of the physician to preserve life. Furthermore, many argue if PAS were legal, abuses would take place.
ARGUMENTS CONCLUDING “YES” TO ISSUE-QUESTION
THE FIRST ARGUMENT BEGINS BY ASSERTING THAT a patient’s autonomy must be respected. Individuals should be able to control the time and circumstances of their own deaths. PAS is the act of a licensed physician providing medication or other assistance to a patient knowing that the patient will be using medications of information to end their life. The physician is counselor and witness and makes the
INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE-QUESTION
My essay topic is whether or not physician assisted suicide is morally permissible. I intend to argue that it is permissible because a competent patient ultimately has the right to choose for themselves the course of their life, including how it will end. To lie in a hospital bed in a vegetative state, unable to see, think, speak, eat, being totally unaware of your surroundings or those of your loved ones nearby speaks loudly of the pain and suffering at all levels for a terminally ill patient. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is ethically justifiable in certain cases, most often those cases involving unrelenting suffering. While PAS is not legal in the United States, the Supreme Court has upheld individual states right to decide on the legality of it. The debate for PAS has been going for many centuries and the most common reason for the request of PAS were wanting to die in a dignified way, being in pain, being dependable on others for personal care, being tired of life and fearing future loss of control. PAS may be a rational choice for a person who is choosing to die to escape unbearable suffering and the physicians’ duty to alleviate suffering may, at times, justify the act of providing assistance with suicide. However, others have argued that PAS is unethical and runs directly counter to the traditional duty of the physician to preserve life. Furthermore, many argue if PAS were legal, abuses would take place.
ARGUMENTS CONCLUDING “YES” TO ISSUE-QUESTION
THE FIRST ARGUMENT BEGINS BY ASSERTING THAT a patient’s autonomy must be respected. Individuals should be able to control the time and circumstances of their own deaths. PAS is the act of a licensed physician providing medication or other assistance to a patient knowing that the patient will be using medications of information to end their life. The physician is counselor and witness and makes the