Physician Assisted Suicide Should or Should Not Be

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorUniversity, Bachelor's February 2008

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Euthanasia generally refers to hastening death for a merciful motive or a "good death". Passive euthanasia includes forgoing life support or extraordinary treatments. Active euthanasia, also called mercy killing, involves direct interventions to hasten death. The highly controversial forms active euthanasia is physician assisted suicide (PAS). Physician assisted suicide occurs when the means is provided for a patient to bring on death by someone else taking action at the request of the patient who wants to die from an incurable disease. Helping someone to take his/her life has raised many questions and concerns of these procedures. One question is being asked, should physician assisted suicide be legalize? I believe that physician assisted suicide should not be legal. It raises too much moral and ethical concern in the society. Many believe that it is immoral, unethical, and just downright wrong and a disaster waiting to happen.

Legalized physician assisted suicide would be treacherous because there would be no way to protect patients from themselves.

Individual who suffer from clinical depression may request physician-assisted suicide. These individual are not of sound mind and are not thinking rationally. The Christian Medical Association argues that, ?proponents maintain that only rational patients will be allowed to exercise this right. Is there such a thing as a rational suicidal patient? According to the American Psychiatric Diagnostic Manual, someone who is suicidal has impaired cognition and distorted judgment. The definition of rational is evidence of clear and sensible thinking and judgment. The term rational suicide is such an oxymoron? (Christian Medical Association 2005).

Physician assisted suicide dishonors professional integrity because historical ethical tradition of medicine opposes the taking of life. Dr. Robert Walker states in his article, ?The Hippocratic Oath, to which American medicine has traditionally turned for its moral bearings, expressly prohibits PAS and euthanasia.? He...