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
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
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