Ethical Dilemmas Dealing with Physician-assisted Suicide

Abstract

Medical technology has progressed at a rapid pace, thereby increasing the limits of its implications which have raised certain ethical and legal issues. As a consequence of prolonged suffering, people divert towards methods for avoiding agony, irrespective of the consideration of them being unethical. Physician-assisted suicide provides them with one such technique to hasten their death. Therefore, this research aimed at exploring various ethical dilemmas related to physician-assisted suicide. These ethical issues comprise religious objections, contradiction to the norms of the medical profession and misinterpretation of the self-determinative right of an individual. It was concluded that ethical dilemmas are commonly confronted in pain management practice. In order to resolve these issues, commitment and efforts are required to be made by the medical professionals to provide adequate care and treatment to patients, thereby ending the underlying causes which motivates patients to die deliberately.

Abstractii

Introduction1

Physician-Assisted Suicide2

Ethical Considerations2

Contradiction with Physician's Role3

Ethical Overburden on Family and Friends3

Misuse of the Right of Treatment Refusal4

Religious Considerations4

Development of Misleading Concepts in Society5

Reasons Behind Selection of Physician-Assisted Suicide5

The “Slippery Slope” Argument6

Preventative Measures6

Conclusion7

References9

Ethical Dilemmas Dealing with Physician-assisted Suicide

Introduction

Pain and suffering are considered to be very impactful in persuading a person to deliberately bring an end to life. Since the beginning, medicine have encountered requests for physician-assisted suicide to relieve suffering and pain. Due to rapid advancement in technology, modern medicine has developed information and competence to deal efficaciously with suffering. At present, medical professionals have access to the modern techniques and equipments which can intensify the care and treatment processes and supportive care, thereby eliminating the desire of the terminally ill patients to expedite their death (EPEC Project, 1999).

Ethical, legal and moral concerns generates in this regard as it is considered unethical to end one's life as and when desired. It is condemned by majority of the religions as they belief life to be precious and a gift of God which should be taken care of and not to be finished deliberately.

Physicians are considered as healers and life savers since they treat people by applying all their knowledge and capabilities for the benefit of mankind. However, due to some circumstances they encounter some ethical challenges in their professional career. One of these challenges includes physician assisted suicide which is defined as the urge by the patient to assist in ending his/her life to ease the suffering or any other reason thereof. Physician thus provides the patient with medical knowledge or medical sources which enables them to commit suicide e.g. by providing lethal dose of a sedative drug.

There has been a long debate on the ethical issues and concerns regarding physician-assisted suicide (CEJA Report, 1993). Society has granted the patients with the self-determination right to decide the refusal of life-sustaining medical treatment even if it leads to their death. Refusal to accept life-sustaining treatment does not mean that patient is allowed to decide to end his/her life ( Bryant, 2003)

Physician-Assisted Suicide

Physician-assisted suicide is a term to describe the process of deliberate death in which a ...