The right to die: legalizing physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients

Right to Die

Why Patients Should Be Able to Control When and How They Die

Patients should be able to control when and how they die

It is immoral to force a person to endure unremitting, unbearable, or prolonged pain

End of life conditions rob people of their dignity and will to live (Bernstein, 1997)

Elderly patients endure unnecessary pain before they die (Foley, 1995 and Isaacs and Knickman, 1997).

The medical community can adequately address pain management.

There are some patients that whose pain cannot be managed (the medical management of pain).

Various other factors such as inability to afford the medications, lack of physician skill, and the side effects of medications prevent pain treatment (the medical management of pain).

Personal and Religious Beliefs of a Few Should Not Impede an Individual's Right to Decide How They Die

1.Non-Christains and others who are not religious overwhelmingly support assisted suicide, but Evangelical Christians oppose it by a 2-1 margin (Langer, 2003).

2. Federal and state courts have repeatedly found that the right to decide about medical treatment is protected under the constitution (Coleman and Miller).

Abstract

Older Americans with chronic illness are increasingly demanding the right to control what happens to them during their last few months of life, but they have no right to do so because the practice of euthanasia is illegal in this country. As a result, they are robbed of their dignity during their final days as unspeakable pain renders them helpless. The medical community, for a variety, cannot adequately manage their pain. In most circumstances, the courts protect the patient's right to decide about medical treatment, but they draw the line with euthanasia. Unfortunately, there is a religious monitory that wields great political pressure at the expense of the critically ill. This is a situation that needs to change.

1.0 Introduction

Do you believe you should have the way to control the way you die when you are at the end of your life or should others make this decision for you? This is a question subject to great debate. According to the American Psychological Association, "End of life is defined as that time period when health care providers would not be surprised if death occurred within about 6 months." (End of life issues and care) Older Americans with chronic illness are increasingly demanding the right to control what happens to them during this time with many wanting euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, as an option. Data from the American Psychological Associate verify the tremendous pain endured by the terminally ill while the National Institutes of Health acknowledge that this pain is often impossible to manage (the medical management of pain and Fact sheet on end-of-life care). Even so, most Americans do not have the ability to determine their own destiny; they have to endure needless pain and suffering because of the influence of the personal and religious beliefs of others that it is somehow more humane to let people suffer than it is to end their pain and suffering.

2.0 Why Patients Should Be Able to Control When and How They Die

People should be able to control when and how they die for three major reasons: a) it is immoral to subject dying people to unnecessary pain and suffering; b) the medical community cannot adequately address pain under all circumstances; and c) personal and religious beliefs of a few should not impede an individual's rights.

2.1 it is Immoral to Subject Dying Patients to Unnecessary Pain and Suffering

It is immoral to force a person to endure unremitting, unbearable, or prolonged pain. Unfortunately, there are times when the burdens of life outweigh the benefits because of uncontrollable pain (End of life issues and care). Nothing turned the spotlight on the issue of euthanasia more than Dr. Jack Kevorkian. In 1997, he assisted in the suicide of a Colorado multiple sclerosis (MS) patient whose body was later discovered in a motel room. According to a letter left by the patient, Kari Miller, "The pain I was forced to live with and what the MS had done to me became intolerable. "MS "had robbed me of all my dignity and my zest for life." (cited in Bernstein, 1997) Unfortunately, Miller's experience is not an isolated one as indicated by statistics compiled by many researchers

Caregivers reported that a third of 1227 elderly individuals were in unnecessary pain during the 24 hours before their death. Studies show that two thirds of elderly patients have pain in the last month of life." (Foley, 1995) "Although palliative/comfort care could relieve most of this pain and suffering, patients typically spend 8 days in ICU (an intensive careunit) comatose or on a ventilator and 30% of patients spend at least 10 days in ICU before they die." (Isaacs and Knickman (1997).

3.0 Conclusion

The rights of the chronically ill to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering in their last few months of life through euthanasia should be protected, but it's not. Instead, the chronically ill are forced to endure unspeakable pain. Either they cannot afford the medications that might help them or their doctors lack the technology and medications that to control their pain. Even so, their individual rights are overshadowed by political pressures from religious groups and the failure to correctly apply constitutional rights to physician-assisted suicide as yet another individual decision to determine medical treatment. This is a situation that ought to change.

In closing, Albert Schweitzer, a noted physician, humanitarian, theologian and composer said, "We all must die. But if I can save someone from days of torture, that is what I feel is my great and ever new privilege. Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself." (the medical management of pain)