That situation was a little different but not by much. In the Quinlan case, the matter was more of a legal matter as the family wanted to discontinue care but the doctors refused to do so out of concern of legal and criminal liability (Ball, 2006)
Regardless, medical professionals and personnel delving into the moral and religious decisions and feelings of patients is a very slippery slope and is something that should be avoided at all costs. This does not mean that doctors and nurses should oblige the right to die for someone that wants it but foisting religious and moral views on patients and families of the same is also less than wise (Beauchamp & Childress, 2013)
There are indeed some people who hold themselves to be moral relativists and thus will not hold anyone else's choices against them. However, suicide can and does harm the mental state and well-being of others and thus this begs the question whether suicide should be allowed even if it seems like the best or only option to reasonably choose (Behuniak, 2011; Hendry et al
Indeed, she felt the outcome was not in doubt but she wanted to control the timing of it. The Netherlands and Belgium have taken different stances in recent years but the United Kingdom has been more stubborn on the subject (Chetwynd, 2004)
These are identified as psychological distress, hopelessness, drug abuse, and relationship discord. (Kaslow et al
This paper provides a review of the literature concerning the rise of organized crime and the Russian Mafia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning these events in the conclusion. Review and Discussion The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in the introduction of numerous persona freedoms and a capitalistic economy in Russia and 14 other former Soviet states (O'Neal, 2000)
A final -- an important -- point made by Varese (2006) is that while these organized criminal groups engage in extortion, the practice is not a defining aspect of all such Russia Mafia groups. In fact, various Russian Mafia groups appear to specialize in the provision of criminal protection in ways that mirror the official protections provided by law enforcement agencies, including the following: Protection against extortion; Protection against theft and police harassment; Protection from thieves; Protection in relation to informally obtained credit and the retrieval of loans; Elimination of competitors; Intimidation of customers, workers, and trade unionists for the benefit of employers; Intimidation of lawful right-holders; and, The settlement of a variety of disputes (Varese, 2006, p
A final -- an important -- point made by Varese (2006) is that while these organized criminal groups engage in extortion, the practice is not a defining aspect of all such Russia Mafia groups. In fact, various Russian Mafia groups appear to specialize in the provision of criminal protection in ways that mirror the official protections provided by law enforcement agencies, including the following: Protection against extortion; Protection against theft and police harassment; Protection from thieves; Protection in relation to informally obtained credit and the retrieval of loans; Elimination of competitors; Intimidation of customers, workers, and trade unionists for the benefit of employers; Intimidation of lawful right-holders; and, The settlement of a variety of disputes (Varese, 2006, p
In reality, organized crime has a long history in Russia. For instance, by the fin de siecle, organized crime in Russia provided what was essentially a "crooked ladder of social mobility" that facilitated entry into the middle class for Russian Jewish immigrants (Voronin, 2000)
572). Nevertheless, as recently as 2003, Russia Mafia operators in Pennsylvania swindled investors out of as much as $150 million (Wolverton, 2012)
Once they have passed away they have no more suffering but the length of suffering that they must endure during the time between when they get sick and when they actually die is often excruciatingly painful not only for them physically and emotionally but for their families emotional well-being as well. Individuals that are permitted to pass away peacefully and in a dignified manner will be much less likely to take their own lives in any type of cruel or unpleasant way or prolong the suffering of themselves or their families beyond what is necessary to get affairs in order and say final goodbyes to everyone (Battin, 1994)
Still another argument against physician-assisted suicide is that the trust that patients and doctors have in one another would be strongly undermined (Rogatz, 2001). This is not technically accurate, however, because a fatal dose of medication is not given to the patient by the doctor (Brock, 1997)
There should be more merciful and less painful means of taking care of this type of pain and suffering for individuals that are truly not going to get any better and wish for a peaceful and dignified death. The argument could be made that people just die and there is no real difference but there is a strong difference between a good death and a bad one (Brody, 1992)
There is no concern that the doctor will be coming in to kill the patient at some appointed hour. Individuals that are dying of some kind of terminal disease sometimes take their own lives early on in the disease to spare the pain and suffering that may come for themselves and their families at a later date (Callahan, 1990)
These individuals also lose much of their dignity and many of the things that they feel made them human in the past have been lost to them. Because of this many of these individuals seek out physician-assisted suicide so that they may end their lives with at least some dignity left (Dworkin, 1993)
There are physicians in Oregon where physician-assisted suicide is legal that have helped patients in this way, and many have branded them as murderers (Rogatz, 2001). This is odd because withdrawing treatment that is life-sustaining such as removing a ventilated or feeding tube is generally accepted by most of society (Kass, 1993)
Not only do these patients that wish to partake of physician-assisted suicide have concerns about their own declining physical and mental abilities but many of them are also concerned about financial burdens that are placed on their family, losing control of what it is that they are able to do with their lives, and being alone and in pain in later years as a disease progresses (Rogatz, 2001). It has long been a cultural norm that medicine is designed to preserve life for as long as possible (Orentlicher, 1997)
Jack Kevorkian, that feel that they are capable of this type of practice in order to help the suffering of their patients. Some patients actually request this because they cannot be helped by any modern means to get better in any way and the pain that they are going through in the process of dying is simply too great for them to bear (Rogatz, 2001)
Naturally, most individuals wish to live a long and productive life but if given the choice between having 50 good years of life or 70 years of life where the last part was a struggle, many people would choose to die sooner and have a good death rather than live longer and have a painful life. It was not all that long ago that individuals were granted the right to ask that life-saving treatments be withheld (Snyder & Sulmasy, 2001)
In all of the other states these bills have been defeated (Snyder & Sulmasy, 2001). Some other countries have also legalized physician-assisted suicide (Thomasma, 1996)