Preview

Pros And Cons Of Active Euthanasia

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
954 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Pros And Cons Of Active Euthanasia
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of 2004 defines euthanasia as the act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from terminal illness or an incurable condition as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment. But how could anyone pick a side on this topic? You either think it is all right or not right at all. The sides of this debate are equally divided, and both make good points that come with it.
In her book, Euthanasia, Sunni Bloyd defines euthanasia as "the taking of a human life, either one's own or that of another person. The person must be suffering from a disease or condition from which they are not expected to recover. The action must be deliberate and intentional." In active euthanasia,
…show more content…

According to Melinda Lee, M.D. in an article for the New England Journal of Medicine, "1375 (Oregon) physicians (50%) were not confident that they could predict that a patient had less than six months to live. Moreover, 761 (28%) indicated that they were not confident they could recognize depression in a patient who requested a prescription for a lethal dose of medication" (Marker). The Journal of the American Medical Association also did a survey regarding physicians' attitudes. A questionnaire was mailed in February 1999 to Oregon physicians eligible to prescribe under the Death with Dignity Oregon act. Of the 3981 physicians, 2461 (66%) returned the questionnaire. Only 73 physicians indicated that they were willing to write a lethal prescription. Of those, 27% were not confident they could determine whether or not a patient had less than six months to live (Oregon Physicians). Since the law has been passed in Oregon, an HMO has actually had to solicit doctors willing to give a lethal overdose. Kaiser Permanente had to resort to sending out a memo to 829 physicians asking them to submit their name to a Kaiser administrator if they were willing to give a lethal overdose to patients. The memo complained that the Ethics Service could not find a physician to give deadly drugs to a patient who was suffering and dying for three weeks (HMO Seeks). One has to wonder why the patient was not adequately …show more content…

In recent years, many of us have witnessed the emphasis placed on insurance companies trying to contain cost. Euthanasia and assisted suicide could certainly become an area in which society will try to save costs. Drugs for assisted suicide cost about $45 compared to the $40,000(or more) to provide suicidal patient with proper care (Marker). In the U.S., millions of people have no insurance. For those people who have no insurance, euthanasia or assisted suicide might be chosen as it represents an affordable option. They might not want to leave their family with astronomical medical bills after their death. Many people might not have thought of the correlation between assisted suicide and the strain in healthcare budgets. It is chilling to think of the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    I believe euthanasia can be the most humane option for those suffering enough if the patient chooses it. I would say I am for active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia in some circumstances seems less humane than active because with passive the person is left to die slowly from lack of treatment or sustenance whereas active would put an instant relatively painless end to the pain. Active euthanasia should be administered only in special circumstances where the suffering is great and the patient has little time left to live. It needs to be distinct from suicide.…

    • 94 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this article, William Toffler, a professor at Oregon Health & Science University and licensed physician, claims that legalizing assisted suicide in his state has had a negative effect on the medical profession. The author presents the reader with accounts of patients considering assisted suicide, as well as statistics surrounding the practice and legality. He supports his thesis by presenting the fears patients have when seeking medical care in a pro-suicide state. He also cites the laws put into effect that allows a doctor not to disclose how a patient died and the unreliability in knowing exactly how long a patient is expected to live; therefore the state is not giving the public access to certain data surrounding the issue. He goes on…

    • 228 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Euthanasia is another term for mercy killing. It is said to be the act of putting to death painlessly a person suffering from such incurable or painful disease. Meanwhile, in the 21st century it has been argued that euthanasia is one of the famous social concerns nowadays. Moreover, it is usually done by doctors to their patients who are terminally ill. Although euthanasia ends the suffering of the patients, it can damage the teachings of some religions, principle of medical ethics, and the patients trust.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Euthanasia is very controversial and in most countries illegal. Even though it is illegal there are a lot of people who think that it should be legalized. Euthanasia is when a medical professional administers medicine that will end the patient`s life. People would make the option to have this done if they were suffering or if they had someone in their life who come make the decision for them when they could not , then that person would. This would put them out of their misery and they would pass away shortly after.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Physicians assisted suicide can be defined as the voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician (Snyder 2001). In order to truly explore the ethical dilemma of physicians assisted suicide we must first understand and grasp the base meaning of the term, as well as let go of any prior misconceptions we may have surrounding the topic. The process of physician-assisted suicide is different than you might imagine. Before I had researched this topic I had the inaccurate impression that physician assisted suicide was a procedure similar to that which you would imagine for an animal being put down or euthanized. As many of us unfamiliar with the topic might believe,…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Euthanasia is an act or omission intended to cause the death of a person in order to eliminate suffering, allegedly for his/her benefit. Euthanasia can be voluntary (at the request of the person), involuntary (against the person’s wishes), or non-voluntary (when the person is unable to refuse…

    • 2028 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rough Draft On Euthanasia

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages

    What is euthanasia? Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful diseases, in other words assisted suicide. There are different types of euthanasia that can be distinguish, the performing of killing with drugs or life-saving treatment because the patient…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Any action or social policy is morally right if it serves to increase the amount of happiness in the word or to decrease the amount of misery. Conversely, an action or social policy is morally wrong if it serves to decrease happiness or to increase misery.” (RSL/Rachels, EL 247) The utilitarian argument is used to justify and condemn many policies, however, I believe that the argument is especially fitting when it comes to the matter of active euthanasia. Mercy, an action that serves to decrease the overall misery in the world, is an unquestionable sign of kindness and correctness. Mercy comes in many forms and is rarely frowned upon. Following this reasoning, why is mercy that takes the form of ending a suffering patient’s life considered…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Physician-assisted suicide is currently a hotly debate issue within the United States government. Physician-assisted suicide is defined as when “a physician assists a patient in dying by writing a prescription for a legal dose of a drug that the patient self-administers.” (Behuniak & Svenson, 2003). Physician-assisted suicide is illegal on a federal level, however; the practice has been legalized within 6 states: California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Montana (Author, 2017). The practice of physician-assisted suicide is flawed in several aspects. Firstly, it places people of a lower socioeconomic class and people that suffer from mental illnesses at a greater risk. Secondly, physician-assisted suicide degrades the sanctity of life. Lastly, physician-assisted suicide is exploited by insurance companies as a way to cut costs, because medication for a lethal-dose prescription costs less money than the care of a patient over several months or years. Physician-assisted suicide is a…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Physician-Assisted Suicide

    • 2144 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Do you believe that physician-assisted suicide is a humane and ethical solution to the suffering of the terminally ill? Is one acknowledging their life’s value by having another person doom them to their death? Two esteemed physicians, Dr. Laurence Hartmann and Dr. Jack Kevorkian have both suggested that there should be no negative effects to having a physician assist in one’s suicide. When it comes to the topic of physician-assisted suicide, many readily agree that physician-assisted suicide is a very controversial and misinterpreted topic. One misconception of physician-assisted suicide is the requirements needed to fulfill the act. There are many requirements for a patient to receive a physician-assisted suicide, each varying from state to state. Dr. Hartmann cites that within the state of “Oregon, a mentally competent adult suffering from a terminal illness that is likely to result in death within six months may choose to receive a lethal dose of medication, after consulting with two doctors and 15 days” (1468). The Oregon Death with Dignity Act currently states that “On October 27, 1997 Oregon enacted the Death with Dignity Act which allows terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act requires the Oregon Health Authority to collect information about the patients and physicians who participate in the Act, and publish an annual statistical report” (Oregon Government 1). As one can see, the act takes a large amount of research to be constructed and committed. Another…

    • 2144 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Euthanasia is known as the practice of deliberately ending a life which releases an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering. This mercy killing is often referred as an easy and painless death. This can be done from the request of a dying patient or that person’s legal representative.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Physician Assisted Suicide

    • 3170 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Drickamer, M.A., Melinda A.L. & Ganzini, L. (2008). Practical Issues in Physician-Assisted Suicide. Annals of Internal Medicine. Retrieved on June 20, 2012, from: www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/126/2/146…

    • 3170 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death of a Loved One

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Another opponent belief of assisted suicide is the question of are the safeguards being followed. What happens to the unused drugs that have been prescribed? Are they just sitting in the medicine cabinet leading to a disaster if the wrong person took them? Is the patient who requested them actually the one taking them? Only sixty four percent of the known patients to have received the lethal drugs are known to have died from them. There is a growing trend showing that some patients are receiving these prescriptions from an unfamiliar source. That shows that there are ways that patients are able to around one of the safeguards that are in place. This was supposed to be a decision between a long time doctor and the patient. The…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assisted Suicide Essay

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Medicine were created in order to save people from the edge of death instead of pushing people out of the way of live. Therefore, regarding to Hippocratic oath and the original use of medicine, assisted suicide should not be allowed. California passed assisted suicide law recently. California is the largest state so far that legalized assisted-suicide law whihc potentially present challenges other states have not experienced. According to Dena Davis, chair of the health department and professor of bioethics at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, “California is the first really big state, so we'll get to watch how this unfolds now, and it might be a game changer. You are going to have a very large state with enormous diversity, a very religiously, ethnically, and economically diverse bunch of people, and it will be interesting to see what happens.” Terminal patients might have a certain right to choose to end their life, however, there is always a difference between ‘assisted suicide’ and having a doctor intentionally end a person’s…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Medically Assisted Suicide

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Medically assisted suicide is an event in which a physician honors a patient’s request for a lethal dose of medication. It has become a very emotional and controversial issue for many in the United States. The only state legally allowing medically assisted suicide is Oregon since 1997. Although some feel it is unethical and morally wrong, medically assisted suicide should be legalized to patients who are terminally ill because it would relieve them from constant and unbearable physical and psychological pain in a respectable and painless way.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays