Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

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Introduction

Who truly has ownership of your body? In most arguments, the answer is simple and clear; the body is owned by the mind and soul that dwells within it. In the case of Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS), the answer can be drastically different. PAS is an extremely emotional and controversial topic, raising multitudes of ethical and legal concerns. Should terminally ill (a life expectancy of six months or less) individuals have the right to choose when and how to end their own lives? In my opinion, the answer seems an unequivocal "yes."

Ethical issue-the benefits to physician- assisted suicide

In 1998, Oregon became the first U.S state to pass the Death with Dignity Act; allowing (PAS). This act permits a competent adult with a confirmed prognosis of six months or less to live, to request a lethal dose of medication to voluntarily end their own lives. Since the Death with Dignity Act passed in Oregon in 1998, it is now legal in five other states: Washington, Vermont, Colorado, California, Montana, and Washington DC. The tremendous advances in health care over the past five decades have benefited society in numerous ways. One of the most significant is the ability to …show more content…
The act of dying is very personal; some are willing to suffer with grace until the end, while others would prefer to circumvent their suffering and make this choice for themselves. The oath physicians take is to “Do No Harm,” but in the cases of the terminally ill, what constitutes “harm” can be painfully subjective. Another human being authorized to sentence you to grimly endure the physical, psychological and emotional tragedy that is a certain (and often painful) death, strikes me as infinitely more harmful than allowing these individuals to choose the time, place and way to end their own

Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

be themselves anymore. This is when physician assisted suicide comes into play. Physician assisted suicide is when a terminally ill patient has the right to decide when they want to die. If a patient chooses this path, their doctor will give them a drug that will take their life painlessly and stop their suffering. With most of these laws the patients has to be under certain conditions and have an allotted amount of time left to live. Physician Assisted Suicide is highly debated and legal in few places…

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Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

illnesses and injuries. Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) lessens the amount of pain that terminally-ill patients feel and speeds the process of dying. Physician Assisted Suicide is only legal in six states, however it should undeniably legal in every state because doctors are allowing their patients to “go out” on their own terms. These terminally-ill patients can choose their last meal, who they want to be with and what environment they want to pass away in. Physician Assisted Suicide is a necessary evil…

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Argumentative Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) , a very debatable topic. Terminally ill patients, who may have depression, have the option to decide their fate. A very concerning fact. PAS gives doctors too much power and weakens patients voices. It can corrupt medical treatment as the world knows it. On the other hand, PAS could end the suffering of many patients close to death. It will also let them die with dignity. PAS has become a better alternative to some other methods people have had to use such as voluntary…

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Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

was legal for physician assisted suicide (Maynard, 2014). Getting a better understanding of what physician assisted suicide is about, could make people realize that it is not always as bad as they think. Many people do not know what physician assisted suicide is or how it works. Physician assisted suicide is defined as “voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician” (Physicain-assisted suicide, 2015). The process…

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Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

Not only does PAS affect the patients and families, but it can also affect the physicians and other patients in numerous ways. Doctors interested in studying more about a deadly sickness can study from the patients that decide to choose a physician-assisted death. A terminal patient’s body that already chose an assisted death “provides scientists with the opportunity to benefit from the dying process” (Winslade and Markides 17). These bodies provide scientists and doctors with the ability to discover…

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Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

your eyes but also in the eyes of your beloved ones; as the pain is seeking through every nerve in your body, you attempt to look for a way to halt the misery. Physician assisted suicides appear to be the ideal solution; however, the government does not happen to agree as they have rejected the notion completely. Physician assisted suicide is the act or practice of painlessly putting to mortality a person’s misery from painful and hopeless diseases in addition to devastating physical disorders by…

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Ethical Arguments Against Euthanasia

Q) For this paper, you are to choose one of the ethical problems included in chapter 13, “Applied Ethics: A Sampler” (a chapter in your textbook that we are otherwise not covering in class). Then, having chosen one of the ethical problems discussed, write your paper (1) identifying and clarifying that problem, (2) identifying the most common ethical solutions which have been offered for that problem, and (3) defending the solution that you think is best. This is the outline I expect you to follow…

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