PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE SHOULD NOT BE LEGALISED

Every individual desires to live a longer life and finally have a decent painless death. Despite this desire, people suffer from terminal diseases that expose them to exhilarating pain in their bodies that; they opt for physician-assisted suicide to reduce suffering and reduce medical burdens subjected to their family member and caregivers. Physician-assisted suicide is the process whereby a medical practitioner provides prescription, information, and guidance to patients who intends to terminate their life.[1]  Physician-assisted suicide continues to elicit numerous debates, with some individuals advocating for it, while others argue that it should remain illegal. This paper argues that physician-assisted suicide is wrong and should not be legalized. Assisted suicide should not be legalized because it limits the use of palliative care. It also creates room for the killing of disabled persons and those suffering from terminal illnesses. Additionally, it violates doctor’s professional ethics, which obliges them to do good. Finally, it violates human dignity.

Argument and Explanation

Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) should be barred because it limits palliative care use to the patient. Palliative care is the provision of extensive care to reduce suffering to patients with terminal illnesses.[2] When patients with terminal diseases are provided with palliative care, they will feel loved by their caregivers and wish to live longer lives. Additionally, palliative care will enable doctors to adopt advanced treatments and scrupulous care methods, which may increase the patient’s survival.[3] With extensive care, patients will not choose assisted suicide. Therefore euthanasia should not be legalized to encourage increased use of palliative care.

Additionally, assisted suicide should not be legalized because it creates room for the killing of disabled persons. Assisted suicide encourages devaluation and killing of disabled persons. Disabled persons deserve to live a longer life, but sometimes physician-assisted suicide may discontinue their lives. Most times, disabled persons require regular and extra care and assistance from their caregivers, and they may feel like they are burdening them. Therefore, they may opt for assisted suicide to reduce the burden of care. Legalizing assisted suicide will encourage the killing of disabled persons even when they could wish to live longer.

Furthermore, PAS should remain illegal since it is against the Hippocratic Oath of doctors. According to this, Oath medical practitioners are obliged to do good. Also, doctors should treat and take care of their patients to the best of their ability providing medical alternatives that will increase patient’s survival.[4] When doctors agree to terminate their patients’ lives, they break the Hippocratic Oath that stresses that they should always preserve life. PAS, therefore, undermines the professional ethics of a physician whose noble role is to service their patients who are sick, vulnerable, and afraid of death.[5] Thus, assisted suicide should be barred as it violates a physician’s personal and professional ethics and leaves them in a state of moral confusion as they deviate from doing good.

Physician-assisted suicide should not be legalized since it devalues human dignity. Human beings possess an intrinsic value of humanity that enables them to be compassionate, respect life, and avoid practices that may diminish it[6]. Doctors who help patients terminate their lives violate their intrinsic values, indicating that they do not value human life. When patients request assisted suicide, physicians should discourage them and provide them with palliative care, saving their lives. Therefore, assisted suicide should be avoided to prevent violation of human dignity

 Objections and Replies

Objection I

Physician-assisted suicide should not be legalized; however, it may be necessary for some instances. Firstly, offering palliative care is expensive. The process of providing palliative is costly since it requires the hiring of a palliative team of clinicians, therapists, and psychologists posing an additional cost to the hospital or caregivers.[7] Additionally,  patients are required to pay for extra care consultation. This makes the process to be expensive to render in most hospitals with little disbursements. Therefore, patients and their caregivers may opt for assisted suicide to reduce these costs.

Reply 1

Assisted suicide cannot be substituted with expenses incurred in the provision of palliative care. Avoiding palliative care due to extra costs illustrates greediness of money over saving a life. Additionally, hospitals receive disbursements to cater for palliative care  services; the services are available; thus, people should opt for PAS due to fear of extra costs

Objection 2

Assisted suicide should be legalized because it relieves people living with disabilities and terminal illnesses off from pain. PAS accords disabled persons with a dignified death, stopping present and future pain.[8] It is therefore morally permissible for a physician to hasten death to a patient experiencing extreme pains. Assisted suicide will save people suffering from terminal illnesses from present and future pain.

Reply 2

There are other options to reduce pain rather than assisted suicide. A patient suffering from thrilling pains due to terminal illnesses can be offered palliative care and still survive longer.[9] Opting for assisted suicide terminates the life of a person who would have lived longer if palliative care was delivered. Therefore, assisted suicide should not be adopted as an option to reduce pain.

Objection 3

Assisting patients to have a dignified death signifies that doctors care about patient’s suffering. Caring for patients is a form of good service. Doctor’s professional ethics require them to do good by offering services that will relieve patients from their pains.[10] Doctors should provide necessary prescriptions to their patients meant to relieve them from their distress. Assisted suicide will allow patients suffering from terminal illnesses to evade extreme pains.

Reply 3

Physicians should not assist patients in terminating their lives. Assisted suicide violates the Hippocratic Oath that binds all medical practitioners in their line of duty. According to this Oath, doctors should not help patients terminate their lives; instead, they should protect them from harm.[11] Therefore, euthanasia should be banned as it infringes the Hippocratic Oath.

Objection 4

Assisted suicide should be legalized because it alleviates pain, thus preserving human dignity. When physicians help patients terminate their lives by offering necessary prescriptions, they care about humanity.[12] They reduce patients’ suffering and relieve their caregivers from the burden of taking care of them. This act portrays an aspect of compassion since patients are accorded a dignified death, and the family is saved from medical burdens.

Reply 4

Assisted suicide should not be legalized. This is because doctors who help patients to terminate their lives may live with guilt and blames.  This affects their intrinsic value of humanity since they feel they could have provided the patient with palliative care alternatives instead of assisting patients to commit assisted suicide.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, physician-assisted suicide the process where medical practitioners assist patients in terminating their lives. Some people support assisted suicide, while others are against it. One of the reasons against assisted suicide is that it limits the use of palliative care. Palliative care involves providing extensive care to patients to increase their chances of survival and relieve them from their pain. Also, it should not be legalized as it encourages the killing of disabled persons to avoid extreme pain. However,  it should be legalized in some instances to relieve patients living with terminal illnesses from pain. No one should terminate the life of a person in pain; instead, necessary care should be provided

Bibliography

Gebauer, Sarah L., and Nicole G. Weiskopf. “Feasibility And Limitations Of Quality Measurement Of Hospital-Based Palliative Care”. Journal Of Palliative Medicine 20, no. 12 (2017): 1307-1308. doi:10.1089/jpm.2017.0131.

Goligher, Ewan C., E. Wesley Ely, Daniel P. Sulmasy, Jan Bakker, John Raphael, Angelo E. Volandes, and Bhavesh M. Patel et al. “Physician-Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia In The ICU”. Critical Care Medicine 45, no. 2 (2017): 149-155. doi:10.1097/ccm.0000000000001818.

O’Rourke, Mark A., M. Colleen O’Rourke, and Matthew F. Hudson. “Reasons To Reject Physician Assisted Suicide/Physician Aid In Dying”. Journal Of Oncology Practice 13, no. 10 (2017): 683-686. doi:10.1200/jop.2017.021840.

Sulmasy, Daniel P., John M. Travaline, Louise A. Mitchell, and E. Wesley Ely. “Non-Faith-Based Arguments Against Physician-Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia”. The Linacre Quarterly 83, no. 3 (2016): 246-257. doi:10.1080/00243639.2016.1201375.

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[1] Ewan C. Goligher et al., “Physician-Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia In The ICU”, Critical Care Medicine 45, no. 2 (2017): 149-155, doi:10.1097/ccm.0000000000001818.

[2] Mark A. O’Rourke, M. Colleen O’Rourke and Matthew F. Hudson, “Reasons To Reject Physician Assisted Suicide/Physician Aid In Dying”, Journal Of Oncology Practice 13, no. 10 (2017): 683-686, doi:10.1200/jop.2017.021840.

[3] Ibid

[4] Daniel P. Sulmasy et al., “Non-Faith-Based Arguments Against Physician-Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia”, The Linacre Quarterly 83, no. 3 (2016): 246-257, doi:10.1080/00243639.2016.1201375.

[5] Ibid

[6] ibid

[7] Sarah L. Gebauer and Nicole G. Weiskopf, “Feasibility And Limitations Of Quality Measurement Of Hospital-Based Palliative Care”, Journal Of Palliative Medicine 20, no. 12 (2017): 1307-1308, doi:10.1089/jpm.2017.0131.

[8] Daniel P. Sulmasy et al., “Non-Faith-Based Arguments Against Physician-Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia”, The Linacre Quarterly 83, no. 3 (2016): 246-257, doi:10.1080/00243639.2016.1201375.

[9] Mark A. O’Rourke, M. Colleen O’Rourke and Matthew F. Hudson, “Reasons To Reject Physician Assisted Suicide/Physician Aid In Dying”, Journal Of Oncology Practice 13, no. 10 (2017): 683-686, doi:10.1200/jop.2017.021840.

[10] Daniel P. Sulmasy et al., “Non-Faith-Based Arguments Against Physician-Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia”, The Linacre Quarterly 83, no. 3 (2016): 246-257, doi:10.1080/00243639.2016.1201375.

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid