Blog 7: Physician-Assisted Suicide

I came across an article entitled “Push for ‘death with dignity’ in Massachusetts picks up steam,” and was immediately intrigued, as this has been a hot topic for a long time. The article discussed the upcoming vote on whether or not physician-assisted suicide should be legal in the state of Massachusetts.

 

There are many people who find the topic of physician-assisted suicide a very unethical situation. They believe that no one should “play God” and that every time a physician decides to partake in this act, they are behaving unethically. These people also tend to believe that they are not doing everything in their power to sustain the patient’s life when deciding to help end the patient’s suffering. The American Medical Association is vehemently against this “death with dignity bill”, quoting the Code of Medical Ethics: “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer. Instead of participating in assisted suicide, physicians must aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life … in order that these patients continue to receive emotional support, comfort care, adequate pain control, respect for patient autonomy and good communication,” (O’Reilly, 2012).

 

On the other hand, some believe that they are committing the ultimate sacrifice by helping the patient end their suffering. I tend to fall on this side of the argument; if a patient is terminally ill and is suffering all of the time, I have no problem with physician-assisted suicide. It is not something the patient can do on their own, and it is their body, and therefore their decision. From this side of the argument, one could also look at the Medical Code of Ethics, as it is more-or-less about putting the patient’s needs first. It appears that a majority of residents of Massachusetts support the “death with dignity” bill, and they are hoping to follow behind Oregon and Washington.

 

Again, I support the idea of physician-assisted suicide, in that it is the patient’s decision to make, and they cannot do it themselves. It is not fair that they have to live in agonizing pain with no control over what happens to them.

 

References:

 

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/07/16/prsc0716.htm