Physician Assisted Suicide Case Study

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Thesis: Physician assisted suicide should be a fundamental right under the New Mexico Constitution for competent adults who are terminally ill and in the final stages of their illness to end the suffering and die with dignity. Morris v. Brandenburg, is a New Mexico case that focuses on physician assisted suicide. The plaintiffs are Dr. Katherine Morris, Dr. Aroop Mangalik, and uterine cancer patient, Aja Riggs. The plaintiffs argue in favor of physician assisted suicide saying the New Mexico statue is very broad and does not apply specifically to physician assisted suicide. The plaintiff’s also contend we have a fundamental right to die under the New Mexico Constitution. In January of 2014, Judge Nan Nash, a Bernalillo County District Court Judge, held physician-assisted suicide is a fundamental liberty interest. The Plaintiffs won their case and New Mexico was going to be added to the list of states that allow assisted suicide. Unfortunately, the case was appealed and the New Mexico Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision in August of 2015, and the New Mexico …show more content…
Paradox of choice and the illusion of autonomy: The construction of ethical subjects in right-to-die activism, discusses how we think we have the right to make our own medical decision but do we really? This article discusses the few options patients have when doctors determine nothing else can be done medically, and the torture that patients go through waiting to die. When no treatment can decrease the size of the tumor or no medication can stop the seizures the only option is to wait and die. The reality is it is not a peaceful death and even if they are allowed to go home the suffering continues. The family is forced to watch their family members suffer in constant pain over a number of days until they finally pass. The mental toll that it takes on the family should be considered as