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Apr 3, 2024

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1 RUNNING HEAD: END OF LIFE End of Life: Physician Assisted Suicide Melaine Valle West Coast University PHIL 434 Professor Rosh Mishra May 29th, 2022
2 RUNNING HEAD: END OF LIFE End of Life Euthanasia is the deliberate practice of ending a person’s life to end suffering. Euthanasia can be performed at the request of the patient or their family of people who are terminally ill or experiencing severe pain and/or suffering. Euthanasia a practice that is not legal in the United States. There are different forms of Euthanasia; Active Euthanasia in which a patient’s life is ended by active means, for example a lethal injection. Passive Euthanasia in which a patient is intentionally allowed to die by withholding life sustaining support such as feeding tube, or ventilator. Euthanasia can be voluntary mean with the patients consent or involuntary meaning without the patient consent. Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) is a practice that assist patients with certain terminal illnesses to end their life with prescription medication provided by a doctor at the patients request. In the United States there are currently 11 states in which the practice of Physician Assisted Suicide is legal under the death with dignity act. These states include California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state. The death with dignity act requires that patients meet a certain criterion to be eligible for Physician Assisted Suicide. The act requires that the patient be terminally with a life expectancy of 6 months, the patient must be of sound mind, the patient must be able to self-administer medication and that the patient be a resident of the state in which physician assisted suicide is being requested. The patient may only request PAS if all other options have been explored.
3 RUNNING HEAD: END OF LIFE In the United States there are currently 40 states in which affirmatively prohibit Physician Assisted Suicide. Criminal penalties are imposed on anyone who assist another person in the act of ending their own lives. The supreme Court argues that in the U.S Constitution there is no fundamental right to the act of Physician Assisted Suicide. Instead, the U.S Constitution states that there is “unqualified interest in the preservation of human life”, which means preventing suicide, and in studying, identifying and treating the causes of suicide. Many believe that Physician Assisted Suicide goes against the states duty to protect life. It is believed that if Physician Assisted Suicide is legalized it can put vulnerable groups such as elderly and children at risk. Discussing the ethics of Physician Assisted suicide and Euthanasia is complicated because PAS and Euthanasia are seen as “bad” or “immoral” in society. The re fine point and details regarding the discussion of physician assisted suicide arise against its acceptance and legalization. It is argued that before considering the legality of Physician Assisted Suicide, we need to focus on improving access to hospice care and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Due to limited funding and restrictions of Medicare patients often have limited access to funding for palliative and hospice care. This leads to ineffective treatment of pain and poor access to care, which causes terminally ill patient’s distress. It is argued that this may lead them into making a decision of ending their life unnecessarily. Patients on hospice and palliative care often opt for physician assisted suicide because treatments are not enough to relieve severe pain and suffering.
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