Outline
Thesis statement: Although euthanasia ends suffering, physicians should not practice euthanasia.
I. Physicians opposing euthanasia realize that the Bible opposes euthanasia. A. Genesis states that God created man in His image. B. Exodus states that God forbade man to kill.
II. Physicians opposing euthanasia realize that euthanasia violates the patient’s trust. A. Physicians will not be trusted to treat patients. B. Physicians will not be trusted as a whole.
III. Physicians opposing euthanasia realize that they can find a better solution than euthanasia. A. The patient can still survive. B. The patient can take pain medication.
Restatement of Thesis: Even though mercy-killing terminates pain, doctors should not terminate life under the guise of euthanasia.
Killing for Mercy “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. . . . In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art” (Kass 301). Hippocrates, known by many as the “Father of Medicine,” included the above statement in his famous Hippocratic Oath. Many doctors today swear this oath, but why would they need to? In many countries in the world today such as the Netherlands, doctors practice euthanasia or physician- assisted suicide. What constitutes euthanasia? What identifies physician-assisted suicide? What distinguishes the two of them? Michele M. Mathes —Ethics Education Coordinator for the
Abstract: This paper discusses the medical ethics of Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS). Focusing on the ideas of legal vs illegal, the different views of PAS will both be addressed. While active euthanasia is illegal, passive euthanasia, or allowing natural death, is completely legal everywhere. PAS will help patients end suffering for themselves at the end of their lives, as well as the family's. The price of the drug may be expensive but the price of medical treatments continues to rise. The Hippocratic Oath does not support the aid in ending a life, however it has been changed in the past. Many citizens are afraid that is PAS was considered legal, it would grow into something even more illegal being debated. Also, the religious aspect of the end of life had conflicting views as some believe PAS is ending suffering, a good deed, and other believe PAS is not respecting a human life. PAS is only legal in seven states but has gained the attention of many others and other places around the world.
Today, there is a large debate over the situation and consequences of euthanasia. Euthanasia is the act of ending a human’s life by lethal injection or the stoppage of medication, or medical treatment. It has been denied by most of today’s population and is illegal in the fifty states of the United States. Usually, those who undergo this treatment have a disease or an “unbearable” pain somewhere in the body or the mind. Since there are ways, other than ending life, to stop pain caused by illness or depression, euthanasia is immoral, a disgrace to humanity, according to the Hippocratic Oath, and should be illegal throughout the United States.
Euthanasia is a controversial topic regarding whether or not physician-assisted suicide should be further legalized. Euthanasia is the act of a medical doctor injecting a poison into a patient 's body in order to kill them. Some argue that euthanasia should be legalized to put people out of pain and misery. However, others argue that some people with terminal illnesses would do anything to live longer and believe that it is a selfish and cowardly act. Euthanasia is disputable because of the various ethical issues, including, but not limited to: murder and suicide illegality, the Hippocratic Oath, and medical alternatives. As someone who has had many traumatic experiences and who wants to become a doctor, I am very passionate about the well-being of my future patients and the responsibility to do no harm to them. For these lawful, logical, and personal reasons, euthanasia should not be legalized.
In the “Catholic Teaching on Euthanasia and Care of the Dying” doctument it states that as a new medical student have finished they’re course of learning in the department of medicine and caring for patients, they must take the Hippocratic Oath. In this oath it incorpurates that as the medical students graduate into becoming a staffed doctors or nurse that will do anything to save a patient’s life before exuding any other options on to them. A particular pharse that has stood out in the translated oath is “firstly do no harm” meaning that as a doctor you do everything in you power to save lives and never intencially end them. ”Doctors are trained to promote life… the deliberate act of killing a patient is unethical”. In another document
Physician Assisted Suicide is said to violate the Hippocratic Oath, and it’s foundation to do no harm. While it’s commonplace for people to cite the words “Do No Harm,” it is never explicitly stated. The statement, “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan…(Hippocrates),” is explicitly stated in the original oath, however. The original Hippocratic Oath also swears that a doctor will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion or use the knife,
For those that oppose Physician Assisted Suicide, their concerns are practical. An article from Newsweek points out that, when a doctor takes the Hippocratic Oath it proclaims, “I will keep the sick from harm and injustice. I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked
When you graduate medical school and obtain your doctoral degree, you are required to state the Hippocratic Oath. This oath has a sentence that states “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effort”. The Hippocratic Oath was written in Greece during B.C.E times when physicians were poorly equipped. However, times are changing in western medicine and alternate options for the terminally ill have come to rise. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) has been a controversial debate for a long time but the call to this liberalization has been increasing much more recently. The American College of Physicians is actually against it and does not support it due to ethical and moral concerns. There
It is argued that assisting the suicide of a patient is still killing the patient. In the Hippocratic Oath, killing the patient is going against the first promise of self-restraint that medical professions are sworn to abide by in the Hippocratic Oath. Medical professionals would technically be forswearing the Hippocratic Oath if they were to partake in the assisted suicide of the patient (Top 10 Pros and Cons). Individuals against the legalization of physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia use the quote, “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect” from the Hippocratic Oath (Top 10 Pros and Cons). In conclusion, some health care professionals strongly believe that it is taboo to legalize physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia since it is once again, breaking the Hippocratic
The prohibition against killing patients stands as the first promise of self-restraint sworn to in the Hippocratic Oath, as medicine's primary interdict: 'I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect' In renouncing the giving of lethal drugs when asked for it, the Hippocratic physician rejects the view that the patient's choice for death can make killing him right.
Some feel that physician assisted death is unethical as medical doctors take the Hippocratic Oath which states, “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect” (MedicineNet). The Hippocratic Oath has been used for a long time and has not evolved in the way that medicine, technology or society has. The Hippocratic Oath also states, “First do no harm” (MedicineNet). When medical doctors oversee assisted deaths they are not harming the patient. They are overseeing the patient in one of the scariest, dramatic, or peaceful times in their life. They are
Opposing viewpoints argue that human euthanasia is inhumane and unethical to patients and the doctors responsible. Many doctors feel that physician assisted suicide stands against everything they stand for. Physicians feel that they have a responsibility to treat patients not murder them. This viewpoint is concerned incorrect to those whom support the Right to Die movement because a doctor's first responsibility to a patient is not only to heal but as quoted in the Hippocratic Oath is to,"First do no harm” which includes allowing an individual to suffering in longing
For physicians, participating in euthanasia is against the Hippocratic Oath. This is the oath for anyone in the medical practice that states the conducts and moral practices of physicians. Physicians must respect and value all human lives. Not only will this practice violate the oath, but it also will break the respect and trust between the patient and the physician. There are actually two versions of the oath. The first is the original version. The second is the modern version. Both have the same meaning but different wording. One difference between the two is the content of euthanasia and abortion. The modernized version says “If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life..”. Although this new version of the oath allows euthanasia, there is still the original version which does not allow physicians to assist any patient in death. Within the original Hippocratic Oath it states: 'I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect... '. This
This is why Euthanasia is important and summarizing the research that I found on Euthanasia. Euthanasia is important because there is a lot of arguments about Euthanasia. Some people support it and some people do not support Euthanasia (Euthanasia and assisted suicide- Arguments). Euthanasia allows people to be free from physical pain. It is the hastening of death of a patient to prevent further sufferings (Euthanasia Revisited). The religious argument states God chooses when human life ends. Euthanasia also causes mental suffering because they are in physical pain or they are experiencing with terminal illness. It is a debatable issue. There are many different opinions on Euthanasia.
Euthanasia is a controversial issue. Many people believe that doctors should not prescribe any medication that ends a person’s life since it is considered to be against the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath states that doctors are professionally obliged to save lives. Some consider euthanasia to be immoral and others say that it is murder. Euthanasia should
Euthanasia is one of the most complex and morally critical health care practice and policy issues that doctors and nurses must face and advocate for (Gardner). Even though doctors and nurses must follow some sort of code of ethics, following those codes can be difficult for some because their personal feelings about end-of-life care come into play making it problematic for them to truly rationalize the situation. Doctors are required to take the Hippocratic Oath, which in relation to euthanasia, states, “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this