Physician Assisted Suicide

"Physician assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one's own life by the administration of lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician, (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=32841)." A doctor in the state of Michigan had the most publicized case of physician assisted suicide that I could remember. He was called Dr. Death, but not for his assistance in physician assisted suicide but for his early studies photographing dying patients back in 1956. He was also one of the first to suggest euthanasia for death row inmates in 1958. Euthanasia is the practice of ending a person's life in order to relieve pain or suffering, which can be either voluntary or involuntary. In 1989 Dr. Kevorkian was asked by a quadriplegic to help him end his life. At this time Dr. Kevorkian began working on suicide machine. The machine was first tested by an Alzhiemer's patient named Jane Adkins. The machine worked and Dr. Kevorkian went on to assist at least 45 other ill patients die, (http://www.nndb.com/people/272/000023203). In 1997 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a patient who was ill and wanted to kill themselves but could not do it on their own was unconstitutional and Dr. Kevorkian was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison.

It is not as easy as black and white when dealing with moral issues and the law. On the moral side you have the church that has been the most vocal in the fight against physician assisted suicide. The church has continued to argue that it is against God's law to commit suicide and definitely for someone to aid another in doing so. Are we in the place of "playing with God," when we try to make these type of decisions? Are we committing some unforgivable sin if we condone it ourselves? The other side is the law. By not legalizing physician assisted suicide is the government violating a person's human

Physician Assisted Suicide, P. 3

rights and by doing so cause pain and anguish themselves? There are those "conspiracy theorist who would argue that the government has a hidden agenda by not wanting to legalize physician assisted suicide. Why, there are millions that is being spent for medical treatment that nine times out of ten only delays the inevitable. Below is an excerpt from an unknown source which speaks to this point.

" If a person discovered that they had a disease with only a low percentage of being cured, that may leave them feeling helpless and insecure. Of course, the doctor could continue treatments and operations (appeals to authority), but after a while, enough is enough. As the hospital bills begin rising and the operations are no longer helping, the patient begins wondering if there's a light at the end of the tunnel or if they are going to be left alone in the dark (metaphor). With physician-assisted suicide, medical costs/hospital bills would be severely reduced which could help the economy in the future, and the patient's family as well. Doctor and writer Wesley J. Smith suggests, "A poison that killed one patient cost $40. It could cost the Health Maintenance Organization $40,000 to care for them properly until natural death comes," The medication would not be offered to any random person, only those with terminal illnesses and no desire to carry on. Death assistance should only be available towards those whom nothing else is going to save them (Connors). People with depression should not have the same privileges as the terminally ill patients; only due to the fact that must depression can be cured eventually.

Along with all the money going towards operations, comes the stress and suffering of the patient. Life for a patient is like a novel, it has a beginning, a rising

Physician Assisted Suicide, P. 4

action, a climax, a falling action and the end. If pain gets in the way and lengthens the amount of time before the end, then the novel may not be worth finishing, or in other words, life should not continue on longer than it has to. Everyone wants a peaceful, non-dramatic death; it's a commonly shared idea (hyperbole). "Even where there is much suffering, dying people can find moments of meaning and connection," says Doctor Timothy E. Quill. When people get caught between the choice of life or death, they find a different kind of mindset. Their priorities for themselves are more accurate, and they suddenly know what the best decision is for themselves. It's obvious that patients who are suffering cannot ignore the fact that the pain will go away. The longer they choose to stay alive, the more it will affect them and possibly lead them to an unhealthy mindset. Quill also adds, "When we can help people achieve a peaceful, calm death, the kind of death we would all like to have, we are doing a wonderful task". When it comes down to it, these terminal patients have been down a rough path and deserve nothing more than a peaceful, pain-free death.

As previously stated, all patients have the right to refuse any medical treatment that they do not wish to have. A recent poll found that only 61% of people were aware of this law, and unfortunately 10% believed that the law demands a patient to accept any treatment the doctor wishes to provide (Torr). All terminal patients should have the general idea of their future, and perhaps knowing this outcome will help them decide what to do. If they notice that their future consists of a lot of risky surgeries, they may not wish to proceed. Unfortunately, things are not that easy in the medical world. When it comes to surgery, not one person will have the same outcome of another. The surgery

Physician Assisted Suicide, P. 5

may help some people; it could also make their status worse, or possibly will have no effect on the body. It's just a risk that doctor have to take when they perform surgery, not knowing how the body will react. Sometimes these risks frighten the patient, and make them lean more towards death. Without assisted suicide, the 'natural' death of some patients may not come for months or even years. So then they'd have to deal with an endless period of suffering, which seems too inhumane for American freedoms.

I must admit that when all of the talk about physician assisted suicide was at it's highest I was a member of the Apostolic church and did not consider any reasoning for physician assisted suicide. Everything in the Apostolic church was clear cut, there was never a "happy medium". In their eyes something is either right or wrong and no consideration is given to extenuating circumstances. Having been heavily indoctrinated I proclaimed the same beliefs, although inside I wrestled with what a person could be going through and

...