PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE

Physician-Assisted Suicide



Physician-Assisted Suicide

Introduction

Ethical and legal norms exist in virtually all societies to help protect human life and regulate when taking or not prolonging life is ethically permissible. Physician-assisted suicide is a compassionate option for those who suffer and have reached a clear decision to end their lives peacefully. While suicide is not the preferred way to end life, it is a perfectly reasonable option. Physicians are in the unique position of being able to prescribe medication that can, in worst cases, make such a peaceful end possible.

Thesis Statement

The debate over physician-assisted suicide is fervent and complex. Should society permit those who want to die to arrange an easy and comfortable death or not?

Discussion

An older woman has been charged with killing her 91-year-old husband, who suffered for years with progressive Alzheimer's disease, multiple strokes, Parkinson disease which completely immobilized him, and recurrent episodes of heart failure that required disruptive and anxiety-provoking visits to the local emergency room. Each time they went to the hospital, after a few hours of treatment he would be sent home, because the wife refused to have him admitted to a nursing home; years before she had promised him she would never do that. Her 2 children were supportive of her, but only 1 lived in town and had her own problems as a recent divorcee with 3 children.

At the time of the trial, the daughter recounted conversations with her mother in which the latter said that “everything will soon be okay,” but when pressed on the subject, her mother only said, “I am taking steps to assure his comfort.” It was only after his death that the police found brochures and information from the Hemlock Society, and Internet downloads from Oregon and the Netherlands about their philosophies on “death with dignity.” There were also articles about Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

Newspaper reports of the trial portrayed the case as a “mercy” killing, but the prosecution stated their case as “having to carry out the law, murder is murder.” The letters to the editor spanned the range from sympathy for her, to those who felt that she did a disservice to older disabled people suffering from any of the diseases that her husband was afflicted with and demanded that she be dealt with by the law. Generally, there was a calling for the government to put more money into community support services, such as home care and educational programming to assist families in similar situations. Those imbued with the “right to life” philosophy suggested even harsher punishments for offenders, and those from the “death with dignity” camp lobbied for a more lenient and supportive approach, pointing to the accomplishments in the state of Oregon and the Netherlands (Emanuel, Fairclough, & Emanuel, 2000; Globe and Mail, 2004). In the case described here, the euthanasia was of an incompetent adult and was carried out by a layperson who was emotionally attached to the person who died. Would the considerations be different if the patient was competent, and if the ...