Physician-Assisted Suicide

Physician-Assisted Suicide

Introduction

There are different countries and states in the world that have legalized physician assisted suicide. In Germany, the practice has been widely accepted while in United States, some of the states such as; Oregon, Washington DC, and Montana legalized physician assisted suicide (PAS) (Lachman, 2010). PAS is generally defined by Bernat (2002) is as the physician makes an act on the response of an individual who is competent and critically sick by providing a substance that will ultimately result in the suicide of the patient.

This is whereby, the patient is provided with a prescription that has a deadly dosage of medications for depression with directions on how they can be taken in order to commit suicide. The patient is expected to independently employ the medical measures rather than the physician directly being involved to administer euthanasia (physicians heeding patient's request to kill them) (Bernat, 2002).

Thesis statement

PAS should be legalized in order to grant the patients the right to make autonomous decisions regarding their terminal illness, to end their suffering and to die in dignity.

Physician- Assisted Suicide - Argument

The main argument in support of PAS is that, it grants the patients the right to end their suffering rather than prolong their suffering yet they will eventually die. Wellman (2003) has argued that, rather than letting patients continue suffering from pain that would eventually lead to death, it would be considerate to allow them to request for PAS. The patients undergoing such suffering should be granted a legal right because; it is the only way that they can be able to escape from the suffering their health condition has exposed them to.

A case study example has been noted by Bernat (2002) that, most of the terminally ill patients are not able to commit suicide without help and few people are willing to go against the law with the aim of rescuing them from distress. In other situations, the patients may be willing to commit suicide but they often fail and this leaves them in a condition that is worse than before (Bernat, 2002). Therefore, Wellman (2003) states that, PAS helps to end suffering while Bernat (2002) supports that, legalization of PAS would mean that, such patients can die without being exposed to the risk of greater harm than the current health suffering they are experiencing.

Secondly, PAS is the only avenue for which qualified patients can legally die with dignity. Dying with dignity is a fundamental aspect because it depicts honor and worthiness. Wellman (2003) asserts that, irrespective of the social status of a person, each person should be respected. In that effect, when a patient dies under gross deterioration and lack of capacity to engage in self-control or to meaningfully interact with others, the person's dignity fades and lacks respect. Therefore, the author suggests that, PAS makes it possible for such individuals to die with dignity because they can be able to show that they are still in control of their ...