Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicides Essay Example for Free

Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicides Essay Proponents of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide argue that terminally ill people should have the right to end their suffering with a quick, dignified, and compassionate death. Opponents of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide argue that doctors have a moral responsibility to keep their patients alive as reflected by the Hippocratic Oath. Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide should be legal because terminally ill people should have the right to end their suffering with a quick, dignified, and compassionate death. On October 1, 1976, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed the California Natural Death Act into law and California became the first state in the nation to grant terminally ill persons the right to authorize withdrawal of life-sustaining medical treatment when death is believed to be imminent. By 1977, eight states California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, North Carolina, and Texas had signed right- to-die bills into law. The World Federation of Right to Die Societies was founded in 1980. Margaret P. Battin, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah, and Timothy E. Quill, MD, Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Medical Humanities at the University of Rochester, stated the following in their 2004 book Physician-Assisted Dying: The Case for Palliative Care Patient Choice: We firmly believe that physician-assisted death should be onenot the only one, but oneof the last-resort options available to a patient facing a hard death. We agree that these options should include high dose pain medication if needed, cessation of life-sustaining therapy, voluntary cessation of eating and drinking, and terminal sedation. We also believe, however, that physician-assisted dying, whether it is called physician-assisted death or physician aid in dying or physician-assisted suicide, should be among the options available to patients at the end of life. Terminally ill patients feel like life is no longer worth living. Physicians indicated that patient requests for lethal medications stemmed from multiple concerns, with eight in ten patients having at least three concerns. The most frequently mentioned end-of-life concerns during 2005 were: a decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable, loss of dignity, and loss of autonomy. The United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stated in its 1996 Opinion from Compassion in Dying v. Washington: While some people refer to the liberty interest implicated in right-to-die cases as a liberty interest in committing suicide, we do not describe it that way. We use the broader and more accurate terms, the right to die, determining the time and manner of ones death, and hastening ones death for an important reason. The liberty interest we examine encompasses a whole range of acts that are generally not considered to constitute suicide. Included within the liberty interest we examine, is for example, the act of refusing or terminating unwanted medical treatment Casey and Cruzan provide persuasive evidence that the Constitution encompasses a due process liberty interest in controlling the time and manner of ones death that there is, in short, a constitutionally recognized right to die.' Legalizing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide would save money for the American healthcare system. The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide wrote: Savings to governments could become a consideration. Drugs for assisted suicide cost about $35 to $45, making them far less expensive than providing medical care. This could fill the void from cutbacks for treatment and care with the treatment of death. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should be made legal. To do this, all states must follow in California’s footsteps and put right-to-die bills into effect. And anyone with terminally ill loved ones will agree, unless they’re comfortable with loved ones losing their dignity, autonomy, and ability to enjoy life. Works Cited Is There a Legal Right to Die? Euthanasia ProCon.org. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. Should Euthanasia or Physician-assisted Suicide Be Legal? Euthanasia ProCon.org. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. Why Do Patients Request Physician-assisted Death (a.k.a. Physician-assisted Suicide)? Euthanasia ProCon.org. Web. 05 Jan. 2012. Would Legalizing Euthanasia and Physician-assisted Suicide save Money for the American Healthcare System? Euthanasia ProCon.org. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.