Preview

Physician Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
641 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Physician Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay
Imagine laying in bed, unable to do anything for yourself; your quality of life is slowly diminishing to nothing. Now, imagine having the worst pain imaginable. This is what life is like when having a life threatening disease, like terminal cancer. Terminally ill patients have the most unbearable pain, yet have to die suffering. What if there was an option to end one's life with dignity, to be able to still make a choice while you could? This option is called physician-assisted suicide, and people should have the right to make this type of very difficult decision if ever needed to. It goes against the Hippocratic Oath a physician takes (www.pbs.org); but, this oath is not required for modern medicine schools. As long as a person is of sane …show more content…
Could you imagine what it must feel like to be in constant pain, knowing one's life would end? What a terrible way to die. This option gives people a peaceful death, despite what some researchers say. Some researchers say this is indeed not a peaceful way to die, and dying can include gasping, muscle spasms, nausea, vomiting, panic, confusion, failure to produce unconsciousness, waking from unconsciousness, and the actual inability to die (www.njrtl.org). However, patientd know the risk they are taking and are determined to die with …show more content…
It helps with pain management, but when one is diagnosed with terminal cancer, the quality of life is gone. That is no way to live, laying in bed in pain, or having visitors come and mourn you before you're even gone. Speaking from personal experience, I have seen patients suffer tremendously on pallative care. Yes, the nurses and doctors try their best to keep a patient comfortable. But being kept comfortable can only do so much. I have seen first hand patients begging to die, struggling to take their last breath. If they were given the option of physician-assisted suicide, most would probably jump at the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The question is should incurable patients be able to commit physician assisted suicide, and depending on which group you talk to the pros or cons they both have well developed arguments as to which is right and which one is wrong. Even though physician assisted suicide may help patients with debilitating conditions that medicine cannot manage, I am against it because suicide even for the terminally ill is wrong and with the appropriate care like palliative treatment it is an unnecessary act. The theory that I believe to be the foundation of my beliefs is the deontological and the argument for the sanctity of life. It is the simplest moral outlook on suicide. The sanctity of life holds that it is wrong because human life is sacred. Though this position is mainly associated with the church or religious realm, Ronald Darrkin (1993) points out that atheists may also find appeal to this claim as well. According to the “sanctity of life” the human life is very precious and valuable and demanding respect from others and reverence for oneself. Suicide is so wrong because it violates our moral duty in honoring the value of life. The position of physician assisted suicide is a view of the deontological theory and the sanctity of life.…

    • 2380 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Everyone has a right to their own opinion when it comes to physician assisted suicide, but what about those patients who are suffering from an incurable type of cancer, or what about the patients that have suffered from a major stroke or even been involved in a major car accident that has left them paralyzed and are unable to care for themselves. Patients who are suffering from an incurable bout with cancer experiences unbearable pain, vomiting, coughing, lack of energy, as well as other debilitating symptoms. Physician assisted suicide occurs when a physician helps someone to end their life rather than a close friend, or a family member. Physician assisted suicide take place when a physician prescribes a drug to their terminally ill patient resulting in that patient’s death. There are many physicians that are against physician assisted suicide because they feel as though it violates the Hippocratic Oath they took, to do no…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine you're bedridden, unable to move, and every breath you take fills your body with pain. Would you prefer to stay alive unable to move or would you choose the option to end the suffering? Physician assisted suicide should be a legal option for dying patients, because the benefits are worth the cost. People should have the right to choose their fate, it's their life they have the right to choose.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Not all terminally ill patients will choose this option, but it should be available for those who want it. Coping with the diagnosis of a terminal illness is difficult for both the patient and the patient’s loved ones and it only becomes more difficult as the disease progresses. Being given the ability to decide when to die allows the patient to feel a sense of dignity and control during a time when he or she may not have control over anything else in life. Not only does physician-assisted suicide provide a sense of relief to the patient, it provides relief to family and friends. Watching a loved one die is one of the most challenging things to endure in life. It only becomes more challenging when forced to watch a loved one die a slow and painful death. Physician-assisted suicide can provide closure to everyone involved in a situation dealing with a terminal illness; therefore, it must become legal in all fifty…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When a patient has a terminal illness and seeks results of physician-assisted suicide, the patient values the quality of life and not the quantity. According to, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, "No State shall... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." (Stokely, Anne. Points of View: Assisted Suicide. 3/1/2016, p6-6. 1p). Therefore, the pros of physician-assisted suicide are; the patient can die with dignity, the patient along with relatives no longer must suffer, and health care costs for the patient are reduced. Authorizing physician-assisted suicide would make it simpler to direct its practice and shield against misuse. To…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A patient should have the liberty of choosing to end their suffering. Although, it may see has an extreme option, is an option the patient should have the right. However, some doctor think that Physician-Assisted Suicide goes against the oath they made. According to the article” Doctor-Assisted Suicide Pros and Cons List”, one of the con of this practice is “Violates the Hippocratic Oath”. Which was that every life is sacred, therefore, commanding respect. So, just because the patients give permission, doesn’t make killing right. Still, by respecting the patient’s wishes and taking him/her out of his/her misery, the doctor is respecting their life. Physician-Assisted Suicide helps the patients in many different ways like being prepare or ending their suffering. Physician-assisted Suicide helps them retain their dignity. Terminally ill, coma, or mentally competent patients are suffering every day. For some, the pain is so much, that they don’t consider themselves “living”. Physician-assisted suicide help patients properly said goodbye to their love ones at their own pace and at their own comfort. It gives them the opportunity to be surrounded by the people they love and the things they love. An article called “Doctor-Assisted Suicide Pros and Cons List” by Nyln.org, it stated that “Physician-Assisted Suicide makes grief easier to handle” (Nyln). Since, everyone its inform of the patient’s…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Every day, you lie in bed in physical and mental anguish. You are caged inside of your body; you cannot perform simple tasks like feeding yourself or using the restroom. No matter how hard you try, you cannot move or talk. Almost everything you participate in during the day cannot be done without your assistant. You are completely conscious and awake, but you are paralyzed and unable to speak. This is how a person with Locked-in syndrome lives. Locked-in syndrome is a terminal illness that currently affects about 50,000 individuals in the United States alone. People who have this symptom and other incurable sicknesses may lose the desire to live. Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) would help relieve a patient’s suffering. Physician-assisted suicide should be legalized for those who are terminally ill and/or no longer have the desire to live.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Terminal illnesses cause great pain and suffering. For example here are some words from Andy Whelan, “...we as parents could offer no comfort - Jessica pushing us away as she rode out her searing pain in solitude...her body stiffened and her face contorted in pain.” (Zhang). Mrs. Whelan’s daughter Jessica Whelan was only four years old when she was diagnosed. Jessica had a form of cancer called neuroblastoma and had been fighting cancer for 13 months. In November she was given just a few weeks to live and later died due to cancer. Patients should be allowed to have doctor-assisted suicides because they should have the right to die and end their suffering, but some people are against the legalization because they believe they will make the…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The day after you got married, the doctors realize you have a terminal illness. Your hair starts to fall out, followed with unbearable pain almost everyday, and you’re looking weaker and weaker by the minute. You think, It would be much easier to just let go than go through this pain everyday. Well, a solution would be asking your local doctor/s about assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is the suicide of a patient suffering from an incurable disease, affected by the taking of lethal drugs provided by a doctor for this purpose. In some states, like California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Although a patient has to have six or less months to live to be qualified for assisted suicide, it would be better to end the suffering…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Imagine having a family member with a terminal illness they are in pain suffering and they did all they can. Just think about if they were cured the next morning but they wanted to have assisted suicide done to them that night. They could have save them but you let them go through with it because of them having the worst night of their life you should just tell them to hang on and get through it that's why assisted suicide is wrong and unjust. assisted suicide can be stopped if we all work together and stop it at all the cause of people wanting assisted suicide.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Our nation was founded on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” -Leonard Boswell. In the constitution it states the concept that everyone have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness therefore, you get to decide if you want to live or not. For people that are terminally ill, or have less than six months to live,they have options. They can do, doctor assisted suicide, euthanasia, or they can suffer until they pass away. When using doctor assisted suicide or euthanasia, the patient doesn't have to suffer, or continue suffering until they die. Doctor assisted suicide and euthanasia are an efficient way to (1) end people's suffering, (2) euthanasia doesn’t end lives early, it prevents them from seeing…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    About 1.2 million new cancer cases are diagnosed in the U.S. annually and about 564,000 Americans will die of it each year -- more than 1,500 people per day (Caner). Terminally ill people should have the right to be able to choose assisted suicide for themselves. If a person is in extreme pain or has major complications from a treatment that they went through they shouldn’t have to suffer until the disease decides to take their life.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death, I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.” Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill, in October of 2015, making California the fifth state permitting physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill. Six states have made physician-assisted suicide legal. Assisted suicide is knowingly and intentionally providing a person with the knowledge or means or both required to commit suicide, including counseling about lethal doses of drugs, prescribing such lethal doses or supplying…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In order to address the question presented, we must seek the definition of the word Euthanasia. “The act or practice of painlessly ending the life of an animal or a willing individual who has a terminal illness or incurable condition, as by giving a lethal drug” (www.dictionary.com). Also called Mercy Killing. In certain instances, individuals express their desire not to be put under a lot of pain and suffering whenever death is inevitable. It just seemingly looks right to state that is not an individual’s choice whether to live or die. Neither the Doctor nor the patient should be given that authority to some. However, if one wants to assume that our duty is to do what is right, we then must find out what is that makes it right in order to get a thoughtful decision onto finishing the life or a person. Supporting individuals’ rights to die with dignity must be supported because it will shorten the individual’s pressure over the situation he/she may be facing. It will lessen the pain of the family members who may have to live for a long period of time with the sadness of seeing their love one suffer. The remedy will lessen hospital costs and in addition will expedite…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays