Physician-Assisted Suicide, And Active Euthanasia
In Favor of the Moral Permissibility of Active Physician-Assisted Suicide
According to Mappes and DeGrazia, Brock's support for voluntary active euthanasia is largely based on two ethical values that he regards fundamental (402). The values in this case include the well-being of an individual and individual autonomy or self-determination. Self-determination according to Brock has got to do with letting individuals chart their own destiny, that is, allowing individuals to make decisions for themselves (Mappes and DeGrazia 402). In Brock's opinion, the relevance of self-determination cannot be overstated. Self-determination allows an individual to become the author of his or her own destiny. However, for a person to be able to make sound decisions for himself, such an individual must possess either the competence or the capacity to make the decision in question. Thus in the opinion of Brock, euthanasia and its very scope could be limited in those instances where individuals lack either the competence or capacity to make sound decisions (Mappes and DeGrazia 402). When it comes to decisions at the time of death, Brock points out that while some are able to cope with disabilities and the impairments such disabilities bring along i.e. loss of dignity, others view any sort of adjustment as a burden. For those in the latter...
(Foley, 54; Braddock and Tonnelli). This again, is an argument based more on conjecture rather than solid evidence. While it is true that depression may accompany many serious and terminal diseases and there are anecdotes about patients who changed their minds about suicide after treatment; no credible studies are available about how often it happens or even if antidepressant treatment would make patients requesting death, change their minds. (Angell,
In an article in the British journal Lancet, the doctor stated that he liked Helen right off the bat, and then issued this statement: The thought of Helen dying so soon was almost too much to bear… on the other hand, I found even worse the thought of disappointing this family. If I backed out, they'd feel about me the way they had about their previous doctor, that I had
Introduction Euthanasia, and all its variations including physician-assisted suicide, terminal sedation, and involuntary euthanasia, are among the most challenging issues in bioethics. The Hippocratic Oath, the classic ethical doctrine that guides medical practice, denounces euthanasia. However, the Hippocratic Oath is an anachronistic document that serves more sentimental and symbolic functions than pragmatic, ethical, or legal ones. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are both defined as the “deliberate action taken with the intention
Introduction Meaning Physician assisted suicide is a kind of euthanasia where the physicians provide the deeply suffering patients with the lethal drug dose to end their life on their will, where the patient is the one who administers the drug within himself and no the physician (Brock). The physician is thus an assistant in their ordeal of committing suicide due to excessive pain of terminal illness or the fear of future painful
E. The exceptions made for impairment and age would open a Pandora's Box of legal precedence. The Death with Dignity Act and any other forthcoming active euthanasia laws will likely continue to follow the same line of reasoning, i.e. that it is the unimpaired individual who must shoulder the full responsibility of the decisions he or she is making regarding the end of his or her life. That is in
Assisted Suicide When we think of assisted suicide, most of us immediately think of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist who was sentenced to two terms of imprisonment in 1999 for helping a man suffering from a terminal disease to die (Humphrey 2002). Assisted suicide is a very passionate issue of debate in this country. There are numerous ethical and moral considerations aside from the legal aspects of the practice. The
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