Oregon narrowly passed their bill in 1994, but it took three years of legal maneuvers for it to actually take effect, and they are still the only state in the nation to allow "death with dignity" in certain situations. The Oregon law only allows physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients (Gorsuch 599)
The patient was a helplessly immobile woman of middle age, her entire body jaundiced to an intense yellow-brown, skin stretched paper-thin over a fluid-filled abdomen swollen to four or five times normal size. The rest of her was an emaciated skeleton: sagging, discolored skin covered her bones like a cheap, wrinkled frock' (Palmer 62)
However, a rational patient who understands their treatment, their options, and the terminal aspects of their case should be allowed to make their own informed decisions about physician-assisted suicide. While the question was addressed by the Supreme Court in 1997 (Rollin viii), it seems that it will continue to be an important issue in American until it is legalized once and for all
One writer on physician-assisted suicide notes, "Over the centuries, these judgments have shifted along with the ethical values of the age. No kind of death has elicited such dramatically changing convictions as death by suicide and assisted suicide" (Woodman 25)
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)
The goal of society, science, and most explicitly of medicine is to sustain and protect life, not to end it. Any civilized society that allows death as an option is making an ethical error; medical ethics have been against suicide in all forms, especially when aided by a physician, for millennia (Braddock & Tonelli, 1998)
Mental health is often in issue with chronic diseases and end-of-life care, and determining when people are capable of making the choice of assisted-suicide is an impossible task -- some would even argue that the request itself is evidence of mental unhealthy, and should be interpreted as a request for better care (APA, 2001; True Compassion, 2009). John Stuart Mill, who wrote directly and explicitly in opposition to Kant with his Utilitarian ethics, believed that it was only the effects of an action that determined its morality: "the influence of actions on happiness is a most material and even predominant consideration in many of the details of morals" (Mill, 1871)
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, 52) Kathleen Foley, in her article "Competent Care for the Dying Instead of Physician-Assisted Suicide" observes that advances in modern medicine have made it possible to alleviate almost all kinds of pain and even when it is not possible to eliminate pain entirely; lessening it to a manageable level is almost always possible
On the other hand, withdrawing life-sustaining medication or turning off life-prolonging equipment with the consent of a patient or his/her proxy, usually called "passive euthanasia," is considered to be acceptable in most countries. (Braddock
People who oppose physician-assisted suicide also opine that depression, often accompanying chronic and terminal diseases, is a major cause of requests for assisted suicide, and most people, after being treated for depression would withdraw their request. (Foley, 54; Braddock and Tonnelli)
S. State where physician-assisted suicide is allowed, no such feared "victimization" of the poor and the uninsured has taken place; nor has there been a precipitous rush by Oregonians to embrace assisted suicide, which seems to suggest that the "slippery slope" apprehension is largely unfounded (Rogatz, 32)
The example of Hitler's Germany is irrelevant because what the Nazis practiced was eugenics, which is quite different from PAS or euthanasia. Evidence from the Netherlands (where PAS and euthanasia are legal) is more relevant and serious studies on the subject reveal that there has been no slide on the "slippery slope" there (Young)
, 1992). When cancer patients do try to commit suicide or actually commit the act, they have some major psychiatric disorders, particularly depression (Breitbart, 1990) study of 100 men with AIDS, the "interest" in physician-assisted suicide was predicted by high levels of psychological distress and the experience of terminal illness of a friend or relative, as well as a perception of lower levels of social support
For example, Oregon states that, in order to participate, a patient must be: 1) 18 years of age or older, 2) a resident of Oregon 3) capable of making and communicating health care decisions for him/herself, and 4) diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months. It is up to the attending physician to determine whether these criteria have been met (Moskowitz, 2003, p
" It is normally thought that patients who have been diagnosed with severe illnesses such as cancer will consider suicide. However, research shows that even though suicide risk may be increased in cancer patients, it only accounts for only a small minority of deaths (Storm et
For stoics, suicide was a preferred and rational act and there was nothing immoral in suicide instead it was a best option (Long 1986, 206). On the other hand, In Christianity suicide is considered as an immoral act which defies God's will by being socially harmful and opposing the laws of nature (Edwards 2000)
Perhaps it is witnessed that in countries where PAS is not legal and is considered as a crime people head abroad to do so. For example Reginald Crew who was breathing his last because of motor neuron disease went to Switzerland for AS, died in January 2002 (English et al
On the other hand, In Christianity suicide is considered as an immoral act which defies God's will by being socially harmful and opposing the laws of nature (Edwards 2000). This outlook, to consider Hume' approach, disregards the fact that indenting suicide as an act that is possible, it is in no way countering God's will or nature (Hume 1986)
These two scenarios include the following conditions: • If the patient is facing the agony of physical suffering • Or if the patient is suffering from the psychological pains and disorders (Stanford, 2013). Hume believed in a thought that suicide is a guilt and allegation free act (Hume 1986, 20) and certainly suicide doesn't come in the category of crime in UK since 1961 (Martin 1997, 451)
Though only few of such prosecutions are brought. Lately PAS's issue has been highlighted and it has been debated on the conditions under which individuals should decide their death timings and manners, and whether they shall be enable to enlist the aid of physicians (Steinbock 2005, 235)