Why Physician Assisted Suicide should be Legalized in the United States

The Right to Physician-Assisted Suicide

Many Americans who have been fortunate enough to live physically and mentally healthy lives may struggle to understand why anyone would want to voluntarily end their life, but it is clear that certain conditions, including even non-terminal disorders, require more than just palliative care in order to perverse the dignity and autonomy of individual patient rights. At present, however, physician-assisted suicides remain illegal in the majority of the world’s 200 or so nations, but there has been a growing recognition among some countries, including the United States, that the practice is a humanitarian necessity which is long overdue in being legalized. To determine the facts, the purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the rationale that is used by both sides of this controversial issue in support of their respective positions, with the overarching goal of confirming the right to physician-assisted suicide. Finally, the paper presents a summary of the research and key findings concerning these issues in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

The debate over physician-assisted suicide has been emotionally charged and proponents and critics of physician-assisted suicide alike tend to rely on religious or moral arguments in support of their respective positions. For example, according to Keown, “Whether the criminal law should permit doctors intentionally to end the lives of patients on request is probably the most important debate in contemporary law, medicine and ethics. Unfortunately, in that debate emotion often trumps reason, generating more heat than light” (2018: 55). The contentiousness of this debate is readily understandable, though, given the severity and finality of ending someone’s life irrespective of any other factors as discussed further below.

Why physician-assisted suicide should not be legal

Critics of physician-assisted suicide maintain that existing protections for patient autonomy provide healthcare consumers with the ability to forego treatments, including medications, that may prolong their lives and laws that legalize physician-assisted suicide are not only unnecessary, they may cause some people to opt for this end-of-life solution when viable interventions are available (O’Rourke et al. 2017). In fact, O’Rourke and his associates emphasize that, “The desire for control over the timing and circumstances of death is not, however, a sufficient reason to pass legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide” (683).

Although these physicians do not specifically elaborate on what reasons are sufficient to legalize physician-assisted suicide, they also point out that there are multiple factors that may compel some people to seek end-of-life solutions due to a transient impaired state that is caused by depression, anxiety, pain or other medical issues (O’Rourke et al. 2017). Likewise, many medical authorities argue against legal physician-assisted suicide because it is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks” (Frank 2016: 36). Indeed, the research to date indicates that when patients suffering from severe medical conditions and corresponding mental health issues who actively seek physician-assisted suicide are treated for the latter conditions, they tend to withdraw their request for end-of-life interventions (O’Rourke et al.).

These outcomes underscore the finality of physician-assisted suicide and make it clear that not everyone is of a like mind when it comes to formally legalizing the practice. As O’Rourke et al. conclude, “The autonomy arguments for legalizing physician-assisted suicide fall short in part because the harms to the patient, to medical professionalism, and to the physician-patient relationship outweigh the needs of those who seek ultimate control over their time of death” (686). These powerful and persuasive arguments, however, are countered by equally compelling arguments by supporters of physician-assisted suicide as discussed below.

Why physician-assisted suicide should be legalized

At present, about 20% of the states in America have some form of legal physician-suicide available and the rest of the states are considering similar legislation for approval in the foreseeable future (States with Legal Physician-Assisted Suicide 2022). In other words, the arguments against legal physician suicide have already been considered by multiple states and found lacking due to other, more important issues that critics may overlook or minimalize. For example, according to the president of the American Medical Students Association, “Medical decisions belong to patients and their care providers and [physician-assisted suicide] falls into that category” (as cited in Frank 2016: 37).

Furthermore, those states that have already legalized physician-assisted suicide have also implemented stringent review protocols to ensure that clinically depressed or severely ill patients do not opt for end-of-life solutions without considering aggressive palliative care or medical interventions that have life-saving potential (Frank). In addition, a growing number of ethicists and theologians have recognized the ethical need to provide physician-assisted suicide as a legal right (Ebert 2018) Taken together, it is clear that even though physician-assisted suicide may be viewed negatively by some healthcare practitioners, patient autonomy and the fundamental right to control one’s own life outweigh any arguments to the contrary.