Physician-Assisted Suicide = ?

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]Physician-Assisted suicide. The prescription and use of a drug (typically an injection) that is intended to end the patient's life.

What it is [b]not[/b]:

-giving a patient pain-treatment drugs that quicken death as a side-effect
-failing to provide a patient with life-support, for whatever reason
-sedating a patient so they are unconcious while they die of their ailment

Now that those few points are clear, comes the question: is it moral?

On the one hand, you could say that PAS is murder: a doctor has no right offering a patient a death-inducing prescription. The patient may be confused or depressed, may not be in a state during which they can properly think it over.
What if there is a medical break-through the next day? What if their condition suddenly picks up?
And it doesn't only apply to the ill. What about depressed people who simply don't want to live any more? Young people, with their lives ahead of them? What business does a doctor have offering them the oppertunity to die?

Legally, your life is not yours to take, or to give to some one else to take for you. It is [i]illegal[/i] for a doctor to prescribe lethal drugs. Should it be?

What if there is no hope for the person? What if they are in horrible pain? What if they are depressed beyond recovery? It is their right to choose (incidentally, this is not true...) whether they want to live or die.

When it comes to illnesses, though I still stand by the first argument, the case is quite different. If you are dying of cancer, and the pain is un-bearable, you are lonely, senile, maybe it's slightly less wrong than a doctor offering a depressed 28-year-old a chance to end it all.
But, still: I don't feel that either is right, especially not the latter.

Depression passes, and the chance for improvement should always be held sacred, not thrown away.

Comments?[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Semjaza]

It's called euthanasia, by the way. I did a huge presentation on it several months ago, along with a report. Sadly, I don't think I have it anymore.

Morality in this situation is hard to judge. Euthanasia isn't even necessarily administered to people who can even justify needing it, as you mentioned. I know in many places where this practice is legal, if you want to do it, you can. End of story. You don't need to be dying or really even in any sort of proven and diagnosed physical or emotional pain. I think all you need is some sort of easy to obtain signature in many foreign countries.

I believe the only place it is legal in the US is Oregon. The method they use involves some sort of pills. I think most people think of euthanasia as a very short process, but in this case it can often take quite awhile to even take effect. Hours even. Some people even get sick off the pills and have all sorts of pain until it kicks in. I think many people think of this process as almost a "putting to sleep" kind of thing, like with dogs at a pound. It really isn't that humane (if you can even call planned killing/suicide humane in the first place).

I think in some instances euthanasia can be a better alternative for some people. It's really the person's choice whether he lives or dies. If someone is that miserable, I think it would be a difficult choice to make. I don't know if anyone would be better off with a family member in massive pain than just putting them out of their misery. In many cases, this is the actual wish of the patient. Yet it's hard to say since I think it's also very case by case dependant.

However, doctors are supposed to cure people. Even if there isn't a cure at the time, I think just by the oath they take euthanasia processes are pretty much not tolerated at all. I can't see it ever being widely accepted. It definitely shouldn't be, as far as I'm concerned.

[Panda]

I feel that people should have the right to decide if it is their time to go in certain instances. I am against suicide as the "easy way out", but I am for euthanasia for those who have a medical condition where it is the humane solution.

I have worked in veterinary medicine for many years and I have euthanized animals. I have seen what humane euthanasia is and understand the medical procedure. We give animals a very peaceful way to end their suffering, yet we cannot do it for ourselves. When you are in a room with an animal that is suffering so much all they can do is scream, and there are no other medical procedures that can help, euthanasia is the humane choice. Can you imagine what it would be like to be in a room with a loved one screaming in pain and not being able to do anything for them, even when they are begging you to help? Not being able to make that choice makes it much more difficult on everyone in my opinion.

This is a very difficult subject. Many people have very strong views on PAS. My opinion, which I don't expect everyone to share, is that we should have the choice to decide. Legal or illegal, people will end their own lives in whatever way they can. If it is made legal it can be done in a much more humane setting versus using a gun like my best friend's brother did. His painful medical condition could not be controlled with pain medication and he took his own life. I understand what it is like to be in constant pain and understand what his thinking was. I just wish it could have been more peaceful ending for him.

[DeathBug]

[quote name='The Hippocratic Oath (Modern Version)'] I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death and reject abortion that deliberately takes a unique human life. [/quote]

[QUOTE=Dictionary.com]oath
A solemn, formal declaration or promise to fulfill a pledge, often calling on God, a god, or a sacred object as witness. [/QUOTE]
[color=indigo][size=1][font=comic sans ms]The instant a physician advocates PAS, or agrees to take part in it, s/he violates his/her oath. This concerns me a great deal, if we have physicians who are willing to do so. If you want to edit the oath, that's another matter, but at the beginning of their career, they swore againstt his type of behavior.

The reason I am opposed to euthanasia is because of the ramifications endorsing this activity would create. What is the basis behind euthenasia? That the patient wil be in pain that can't be cured. THat's great, but who defines 'pain'? Who says whether or not a life is worth living? The hypocrite doctors? Emotionally distraught family? The person in pain?

There is a natural progression in our society for taboo activities to gain more and more acception as time goes on. Take homosexulaity, for example; in the past fifty years, it's become decidely mainstream. If we allow "mercy killings" now, how long until we're killing those with conditions like alzheimers or AIDS? How about amputees?

I am not being overly paranoid; this is the natural progression of society. Allowing PAS wil create a society I don't want to be a part of.[/color][/size][/font]

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

[QUOTE=DeathBug]There is a natural progression in our society for taboo activities to gain more and more acception as time goes on. Take homosexulaity, for example; in the past fifty years, it's become decidely mainstream. If we allow "mercy killings" now, how long until we're killing those with conditions like alzheimers or AIDS? How about amputees?

I am not being overly paranoid; this is the natural progression of society. Allowing PAS wil create a society I don't want to be a part of.[/QUOTE]

You ARE being overly paranoid (and absolutely unreasonable) in this case. You find homosexuality becoming more accepted as some malfunction of our society, and then you use that to reason that euthanasia will end up extending to conditions that are even considered by the goddamn patient to be better than death? Good luck convincing me...

Anyway, I believe it should ultimately be one's own choice to end one's life. It is perhaps too often that the person does not consider what effect suicide will have on his/her loved ones, but then again you can hardly call someone who has a medical condition so bad he/she desires to die "selfish" about such a choice.
If the Hippocratic Oath prevents a doctor from performing euthanasia, then someone else has to, because otherwise, as Panda said, the person who wants suicide can do it himself. That someone else may as well be doctors, seeing as they are the only ones who can do it safely (and I suppose legally).

[QUOTE]THat's great, but who defines 'pain'? Who says whether or not a life is worth living? The hypocrite doctors? Emotionally distraught family? The person in pain?[/QUOTE]
The doctors and the "person in pain" define pain. Who says if a life is worth living? The "person in pain." The emotionally distraught family is there for counsel and support.

On a side note, I find it funny that suicide is illegal. Let's just say that if suicide being a crime is a serious deterrent to some people, then those people are so stupid they [i]should[/i] die.

[DeathBug]

[quote name='ScirosDarkblade']You ARE being overly paranoid (and absolutely unreasonable) in this case. [/quote]

If I'm being overly-paranoid, then so are Aldous Huxley, Lois Lowry, George Orwell...buncha' losers, right?


[quote name='ScirosDarkblade']You find homosexuality becoming more accepted as some malfunction of our society, [/quote]

Hate to break you off mid-sentence, but I don't. I find it as a trend oif our society, one that applies to many other soial patterns. SExual displays, for another example; Elvis' hip swivling was once edited out of tV broadcasts, and now we're at Janet and the Super Bowl.

Whether or not this tendency is positive depends on the trend itself. Obviously, I don't find an increase in civil rights to be a bad thing, but public nudity is another issue.


[quote name='ScirosDarkblade']and then you use that to reason that euthanasia will end up extending to conditions that are even considered by the goddamn patient to be better than death? Good luck convincing me...[/quote]

I don't care about convincing you; I'm just stating my opinion.

[quote name='ScirosDarkblade']If the Hippocratic Oath prevents a doctor from performing euthanasia, then someone else has to, because otherwise, as Panda said, the person who wants suicide can do it himself. [/quote]

So, we might as well kill 'em, because they'll just kill themselves anyway?

[James]

[color=#707875]Homosexuality isn't a trend; it's just that people have become increasingly tolerant of those who are in minorities over the years. So let's be clear about that point.

In terms of euthanasia...I do think this is a very difficult issue to deal with.

It would be difficult to create an effective and legal euthanasia system, because obviously one has to ensure that a) the patient is suffering from a terminal, non-curable illness and b) that the patient is [i]suffering [/i]to the point where drugs/medication cannot help the symptoms/pain and life is nothing but physical pain and discomfort.

Under those circumstances, I would support euthanasia if the patient wanted it.

I say that because I imagine how I'd feel if I were in that situation. I imagine how I'd feel if I were suffering with an incurable disease, where my every waking moment was full of unbearable physical pain. In that situation, I would probably see euthanasia as quite a legitimate option. So I would not rule it out.

However, it's not really something you can put in the hands of doctors. It has to be the patient's decision.

In cases where the patient cannot decide...I don't know. I assume that you would simply be cautious and avoid administering euthanasia because there's no complete confirmation; you can't be [i]sure [/i]that this is what the patient wants.

So it's definitely a difficult issue. I don't think that euthanasia is necessarily something that one can rule out entirely -- that [i]would [/i]be inhumane, especially for those who are in very extreme circumstances. But by the same token, I think it would probably be irresponsible to just open the gates and let it become legal without very stringent guidelines.[/color]

[Inari]

I would just like to say that anytime a person is forced to consider ending their own life due to the pains of an illness, or even the pains of life, I pity them. I believe that life is so precious that there are very few circumstances that would justify ending your own life or ending another's life who cannot end it themselves. I understand that under dire circumstances euthanasia seems like the humane thing to do, but don't believe that doctors ever have the authority to end another humans life. Doctors are there to help people recover, and ease the suffering of those who are in pain. Mercy killing may seem like the only way to help those who are dying, but I still could never support them.

Two years ago my father died from complications with the chronic disease Multiple Sclerosis. MS is an autoimmune disease in which a victim?s immune system attacks it's own body (mainly the myelin sheath protecting nerves). The disease is a slow process of recovery and remission. He suffered from this disease all of my life. First he lost his sight, then his ability to walk, and finally he was stuck lying in a bed all day long.

All throughout their lives my mother and father agreed that when his time came they would not allow any emergency recessitation or artificially assisted life. Even with this in mind, on the night my father died she begged the EMTs to perform emergency recessitation and save his life. I will never forget that night and how I pleaded, "Come on daddy, breath!" It's easy for all of you to say that euthanasia is humane, but until you are in the room watching someone die, you can't fully understand the repercussions of death.

I may have just been a selfish girl who still wants more time to spend with my father, but I know that I could never sit back and watch a loved one die. Life is so precious, and we should appreciate every minute we have, because once it is gone we can never get it back.

I love you dad.

[Oceanborn]

[QUOTE]I feel that people should have the right to decide if it is their time to go in certain instances. I am against suicide as the "easy way out", but I am for euthanasia for those who have a medical condition where it is the humane solution.[/QUOTE]
Yepp. Sure! See, when it comes to euthanasia, whether you're in condition to think it over or nor, it's still [I]your[/I] decision and [i]you[/i] suffering. As long as you feel [i]that[/i] bad, you should have the right to say ''stop, that's 'nuff''. As long as I remember, euth is also OK in Sweden.

[AzureWolf]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Reading the previous replies, it seems to me that many people think a painful life is worse than death, a conclusion drawn from only temporarily experiencing the former. Take a page from your own life: when you were in the most pain you could remember, did you want to die? Now that you are alive and past that point, are you glad you didn't croak?[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]When a person is anything but normal, his choices and decisions are not his. That's the origin of "temporary insanity" and other concepts (such as a cop forcing you to break the law so he can catch you in the act) that put the subject's condition and environment into consideration. So, following the same idea, when someone wants to end their life because they don't want to suffer anymore, that might not be their true/ultimate wish.[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]This point is the reason why AIDS patients are so rigorously kept alive, even though the consequences could be very devastating. I personally disagree with that idea, but the point is that doctors are not "afterlife" specialists, and there is no normal person who is either. So, a fair judgement cannot be made. One thing can be said, though: when things get out of hand for a person, they tend not to be him/herself.[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][i]Bottomline: NO to physician-assisted suicide.[/i][/color][/font]