Physician-Assisted Suicide: Is It Right?

PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2011 Wondering whether we should do what our aging mother or father wants and end their lives when they have no hope for recovery is a question we with aging parents may have to face. Should we respect their wishes and terminate life support or medical support should our parents, have no hope for recovery. The answer depends on what the person believes. Ending a human life by means of mercy-killing is murder in the technical sense, but we get so caught up in our aging parents misery, pain and discomfort, that some of us feel that letting them go would do them best. For others, they see it as a clear sign of murder. We all want to know when to let go of a loved one and give them permission to die when their time is up and be okay with letting them go. Some pros to physician-assisted suicide would be that it would end the patient's discomfort and pain and the patient gets to decide whether or not to continue with their plan of treatment. Some cons to physician-assisted suicide would include the patient's life continues, despite their pain and discomfort, it may not be morally ethical in some states, and some people may argue whether it is the best for the patient. What is the difference between euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide? Euthanasia is the speeding up the process of death in a terminally ill patient by means of removing life support, stopping medical procedures and medications, stopping food or water and allowing a patient to dehydrate or starve to death, or not performing CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) on a terminally ill patient whose heart has stopped and allowing him to die. Another form of euthanasia is active euthanasia which is causing the death of a person in direct action by the request of that person. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is an example of a physician who was charged with second-degree murder of a patient with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) that was scared of the advancing staging of the disease would cause him to die a horrible death by injecting him with a controlled substance that caused the patient to die. Physician-assisted suicide is where the physician supplies the information or the means to allow a patient to commit suicide by supplying them with a lethal dose of sleeping pills or leaving them with instructions on how to lethally use helium or carbon monoxide in order for them to commit suicide. This can also be called Voluntary Passive Euthanasia (VPE). There is also Involuntary Euthanasia, which would be the killing of a patient that has not explicitly requested aid in dying, like a patient in a persistent vegetative state and has no hope for recovery and will most likely never come to a conscious state. When it comes to ending a loved one's life because of depression, pain or discomfort depends on the beliefs of the patient and on the beliefs of the people who have to make the decision to end the person's life. Having to face the question of ending their loved one's life is a morally ethical decision about whether we have the right to end their life or let them go naturally. Resources Copyright © 1997 to 2010, by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Author: B.A. Robinson. www.religioustolerance.org/euthanas.htm * Wolf, Susan. (2008, Sep/Oct). Confronting Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: My Father's Death. Hastings Center Report. 38(5), 23-26. Retrieved from EBSCO Host Database located at the Ashford Online Library