Physician Assisted SuicideJames Bowen, Liz Coffey, Arthur Jones, Lynese Sarazen, Andre Taylor

November 17, 2014PHL/458

Dr. Sonya Walker

Introduction

Assisted Suicide

What Is It?

How Is It Different Than Euthanasia?

Where Is It Legal?

Who’s Life Is It Anywhere?Is It Your Life

Once You Are Born Do You Belong To Society

Property of Government

Religion

Issue

Do You Have The Right To Request Assistance In Taking Your Life?

Should Nevada Follow Vermont, Oregon, Montana and Washington and Become The Next State To Legalize Assisted Suicide?

Would This Lead To Euthanasia?

Is This a Moral Issue or Big Business Issue

A Story About Matthew Donnelly

Critical Examination Of Resolution

The New Jersey courts rulings (Karen Ann Quinlan)

The right to choose life or death

The real cost of sustaining life

Initial Resolution

The patient should all ways have right to choose.

The right to end self suffering.

The right to help those who are suffering. (physician)

Initial Resolution

According to the website Death with Dignity (2014) advocates say “The greatest human freedom is to live & die according to one’s desires & beliefs”.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian was a advocate who had spurred national debate regarding ethics of euthanasia and hospice care.

The legal system should allow the patient the decision to end life not have the court system to make the determination for them.

Visionary or Villain?

Possible Solutions

Allow patients to petition for PAS

Dr.’s prescribe “lethal doses” of medicine

Family members petition panel for PAS

Patient / family has control of the illness resolution

No Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) allowed

Patients suffer from painful terminal illness

High medical bills

Patient commits suicide without PAS

Pros & ConsPros

The right to die should be a

fundamental freedom of each

person

Patients can die with their

dignity intact instead of their

illness reducing them to a shell

of a person

Health care costs can be

reduced

Tremendous pain and suffering

of patients will be addressed

Pain and suffering of patient’s

family & friends can be

lessened and they can say

their final goodbyes

Cons

A request for assisted suicide is typically a cry for help

Suicidal intent is typically transient

Terminally ill pt who desire death are depressed and depression is treatable in those with terminal illness

Pain is controllable

Legalizing for those with terminal illness has spread to non voluntary euthanasia

Physician-Assisted Suicide Statistics

In the U.S.

Between 1994 and 2006, there were 75 legislative bills to legalize PAS in 21 states and all of them failed.

Currently, PAS is legal in three states: Oregon, Washington, and Montana.

The reasons patients gave when requesting PAS in Oregon:

86% reported a decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable

100% reported loss of autonomy, and

86% reported loss of dignity

Of those patients in Oregon that request PAS, roughly 62% of them actually complete it.

90% of those patients died at home.

88% of them were on hospice.

Implementation Plan

Review Current State Laws

Address Coercion Issue

3rd Party Witness

Video for Evidence

Petition for PAS

Present Petition for Ballot

Present Updated Bill for Review

Allowing PAS for Terminally Ill Patients

Human Right

End the Suffering

Return Control to the Patient

Financial Cost

Emotional Cost

Questions?

ReferencesCompassion and Choices. (2014). Legal aid in dying. Retrieved from

https://www.compassionandchoices.org/news/legal-aid-in-dying/

Death with Dignity. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.deathwithdignity.org/resources

Jack Kevorkian. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved fromhttp://www.biography.com/people/jack-kevorkian-9364141

Karen Ann Quinlan. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.karenannquinlanhospice.org/history/

Patients Rights Council. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/

PEW Research Center. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/

Pozzuolo, JD, J. (September 2005). Should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal. Retrieved from http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000126

Webb, M.D., R. J. (2010, May 12). What is the difference between Patient assisted suicide and Euthanasia? Retrieved from http://comfortcarechoices.com