By: Jami Cannan
Physician-assisted suicide is legal in five U.S. states. It is an option given to people by the state laws in Oregon, Vermont, Washington and California. It is an option given to individuals in Montana via court decision too. Also, everyone must have a terminal illness as well as a prognosis of six months or less to live in order to continue to the option process of physician assisted suicide. Physicians cannot be prosecuted for prescribing medications to quicken death. It is part of a physician’s job to respect a patient's refusal of treatment, and to relieve the person's individual pain and suffering he/she must go through. Only they know what they want and feel inside after going through everything, in their own personal medical situation. Based on the several studies, 57% of students practicing today have received a request for physician assisted suicide in many different forms (Lurie). Physician-assisted suicide differs from euthanasia which is, “the act of assisting people with their death in order to end their suffering, but without the backing of a controlling legal authority” (CNN 2014). These are some reasons to consider physician suicide legal.
Everyone undertakes physical pain in their lives, but mental/emotional pain… If you are told by a doctor that you only have six months or less to live, how do you think you are going to feel at first? Having the mindset of death coming up on you is clearly awful for anyone, and could affect not only your emotions, but possibly your brain and how you think too. If you are not in the correct mindset, and you drastically jump to conclusions, the doctors have no choice but to follow your every demand and decision. The family and friends of that one person will have to constantly worry and fear the chance of their loved one making the wrong decision at the wrong time. Six months or under may not seem like a lot of time, but when it comes to terrible outcomes such as these happening daily, every minute and every second counts. Patients are not in a
good state of mind after figuring out heartbreaking information that has to do with death. It is not only the individual going through the pain and worries yourself, but also you have to think about your loved ones and closest friends and how they are feeling right now. These are some opinions and some facts, but it all comes down to the question, should physician assisted suicide be legal or not?
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Physician-Assisted Suicide - Introduction.” Physician-Assisted Suicide - Introduction, endlink.lurie.northwestern.edu/physician_assisted_suicide_debate/what.cfm.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/physician-assisted-suicide-fast-facts/index.html
Physician-assisted suicide is legal in five U.S. states. It is an option given to people by the state laws in Oregon, Vermont, Washington and California. It is an option given to individuals in Montana via court decision too. Also, everyone must have a terminal illness as well as a prognosis of six months or less to live in order to continue to the option process of physician assisted suicide. Physicians cannot be prosecuted for prescribing medications to quicken death. It is part of a physician’s job to respect a patient's refusal of treatment, and to relieve the person's individual pain and suffering he/she must go through. Only they know what they want and feel inside after going through everything, in their own personal medical situation. Based on the several studies, 57% of students practicing today have received a request for physician assisted suicide in many different forms (Lurie). Physician-assisted suicide differs from euthanasia which is, “the act of assisting people with their death in order to end their suffering, but without the backing of a controlling legal authority” (CNN 2014). These are some reasons to consider physician suicide legal.
Everyone undertakes physical pain in their lives, but mental/emotional pain… If you are told by a doctor that you only have six months or less to live, how do you think you are going to feel at first? Having the mindset of death coming up on you is clearly awful for anyone, and could affect not only your emotions, but possibly your brain and how you think too. If you are not in the correct mindset, and you drastically jump to conclusions, the doctors have no choice but to follow your every demand and decision. The family and friends of that one person will have to constantly worry and fear the chance of their loved one making the wrong decision at the wrong time. Six months or under may not seem like a lot of time, but when it comes to terrible outcomes such as these happening daily, every minute and every second counts. Patients are not in a
good state of mind after figuring out heartbreaking information that has to do with death. It is not only the individual going through the pain and worries yourself, but also you have to think about your loved ones and closest friends and how they are feeling right now. These are some opinions and some facts, but it all comes down to the question, should physician assisted suicide be legal or not?
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Physician-Assisted Suicide - Introduction.” Physician-Assisted Suicide - Introduction, endlink.lurie.northwestern.edu/physician_assisted_suicide_debate/what.cfm.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/physician-assisted-suicide-fast-facts/index.html