Ashley Foster

12/02/17

Research Topic: Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician assisted suicide is a very controversial topic that still continues to create a divide

in the world of medicine. One side believes that a patient has just as much right to end their life

if they are suffering from a terminal illness as they do any other decision. The other side believes

that because the doctors have taken the Hippocratic Oath, which they have promised to do

everything they can to keep their patients alive and in the best health they can (Euthanasia,

2015). Both sides have good arguments, and the line is so vague, that it makes it hard to take a

clear stance on the matter.

In the documentary, The Suicide Plan, it goes into the world of assisted suicide. Only two states

in America currently have Physician assisted suicide legal. There are types of organizations in

other states that come together to help people get their death wish through loop holes. They

specifically talk about the group called Passion Choices; a support group that gives patients

wanting to end their lives the knowledge and information they need regarding ways to end their

lives. They never are the means of administering the lethal drug or mean to kill the patient, but

instead are the passive way of death through information. They truly believe that people should

not have to stay alive and suffer through pain that they dont want to. They say that if someone

has the total brain capacity to make the decision on their own, they should be able to choose

when and how they die. The group Passion Choices will do everything up to the actual placing

the medication in the persons mouth. They dont want the burden of saying they killed the

individual, but that it was their own choice and actions (O'Connor & Navasky, FRONTLINE:

The Suicide Plan).

The video also brings up an interesting point of how different people view physician assisted

suicide in comparison to things like a doctor allowing the patient to stop dialysis treatment or to

come off of a ventilator; both would cause eventual death. If these kinds of things are considered

legal and not assisted suicide, why is prescribing a lethal dose of medication for a patient

requesting it illegal? Different doctors have different religious and moral beliefs on the issue, so

it is a difficult matter for some to make one large overruling law that they should all abide by.

There is also the topic of what some consider to be a suffering patient or a terminal illness, and

when the assisted means of death is considered an okay time. Pain and suffering is very

subjective and it is very hard to know when someone is suffering to the point where they cannot

go on living any longer (O'Connor & Navasky, FRONTLINE: The Suicide Plan).

There is another major concern mentioned that the two main groups of people that may

be most involved in physician assisted suicide are the elderly population and the disabled. Both

of these populations are also the most vulnerable. Patients need to be able to trust their

physicians, and if they hear of them proceeding with physician assisted suicide with these

populations, they may be hesitant to trust them. On the other hand, if the physician does not go

through with the patients request, the patient might again, lose trust for their physician (Weir,

1997). It is a very gray area for autonomous primary care providers to work with. They have to

decide for themselves if it is ethical depending on themselves, the patient, the caregivers of the

patient, their circumstances, and many other factors.

The biggest reason that I am against physician assisted suicide is because I believe that

life should never be ended by means of someone else. There are other ways to make sure that the

patient receives as much comfort as they can while they are dying from their terminal illness. I

also strongly agree with the argument that doctors took an oath that stated that they would save
lives, not terminate them. Doctors should have the right to choose not to participate in aiding

their patients suicide. Although everyone has the right to do what they want to do to themselves,

whether it be end their life or not, they often times change their minds at the last minute. There

have been many suicide attempts where the victim will decide its really not what they want to

do at the last minute.

We should do more encouraging people to live their last part of their lives to the fullest

instead of trying to end it early. I think that there are very few situations that physician assisted

suicide would be the appropriate measure to take. I think that it definitely depends case to case,

but overall, I believe that it should not be legal. Life is too precious to end voluntarily. The legal

battle between the legality of it will continue as more state of the US choose to have it legalized

or not. More personal stories and testimonials involving physician assisted suicide will come

forward, and more advances in medicine to help determine its ethical standing. People deserve

peace of mind and peace in this life, and they will seek it many different ways.
 Work Cited

Euthanasia - ProCon.org. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2017, from http://euthanasia.procon.org

Lois Snyder, Daniel P. Sulmasy, . Physician-Assisted Suicide. Ann Intern Med. 2001;135:209
216. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-135-3-200108070-00015

Weir, R. F. (1997). Physician-assisted suicide. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.