ASSISTED SUICIDE

Should Assisted Suicide be Legal?

Should Assisted Suicide be Legal?

Thesis Statement

The paper aims at identifying whether the assisted suicide be legalized or not and consider the arguments from the both sides.

Introduction

The term euthanasia often elicits a kind of answers from individuals. The reactions may be associated to one's understanding of what euthanasia is and one's know-how with end-of-life decision making, one's devout or religious conviction scheme, or any number of other factors. This reconsider will try to clarify some of the definitions affiliated with distinct kinds of euthanasia, as well as present a chronicled viewpoint of the discourse on euthanasia in alignment to supply a context for the more present developments in the area. Attitudes in the direction of euthanasia discovered over the foremost racial-ethnic assemblies inside the United States will be explored. International perspectives on euthanasia legislation will furthermore be discussed. Finally, some of the contentions for and contrary to legalizing euthanasia are offered. (Braun 2000)

Assisted Suicide, Or Physician-Assisted

Suicide refers to the ending of life, usually for terminally ill patients, through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose. This is seen as morally distinct from euthanasia because the physician does not cause the patient's death, but gives the patient the choice of the time and circumstances of his or her own death. The ethical basis for assisted suicide is derived from the doctrine of double effect, which states that if the conduct of a morally good act (here, relief of pain) has a morally bad side effect (namely, death); it is ethically permissible provided the bad side effect was not intended. The check for the intention is based on the Sulmasy test, where physicians are supposed to ponder if they would feel a sense of failure if the patient were not to die after the prescription.

Terminologies Used

Euthanasia, from the Greek eu (“good”) and thanatos (“death”), is the intentional premature termination of another person's life either by direct intervention (active euthanasia) or by withholding life-prolonging measures and resources (passive euthanasia), either at the express or implied consent of that person (voluntary euthanasia), or in the absence of such approval (nonvoluntary euthanasia). Physician-assisted suicide is where doctors provide a prescription for a terminally ill patient to hasten the person's death. This term has been replaced with physician-assisted dying in the state of Oregon to describe the action of its Death with Dignity Act. This act legalizes physician-assisted suicide but prohibits euthanasia.

Assisted suicide should not be confused with death after treatment is stopped on the instructions of the patient, either directly or through a do not resuscitate (DNR) order. This is a written order based on an advance directive from a person, or from someone entitled to make decisions on the person's behalf, that resuscitation should not be attempted if the person suffers cardiac or respiratory arrest. Enforcing a DNR order is legally not considered assisted suicide or suicide of any kind. However, in any Cases of doubt, emergency medical technicians, ...