Because of the numerous improvements made in medical technology these days, doctors are literally able to postpone death. People are being kept alive by machines. But a longer life does not necessarily mean that the patient is not in pain. For example, an elderly man lies helpless in a hospital bed after being diagnosed just 10 months earlier with acute emphysema. The only way he can breathe is through a respirator. This man is in immense pain and he has no hopes of getting any better. With the help of physicians, this man does not have to suffer anymore. By legalizing assisted suicide, this man can make the decision on whether to die quickly and painlessly or to live with the catastrophic pain while his life withers away slowly. Situations such as this, along with other reasons, are why physician assisted suicide should be legalized.
Several people have no idea what physician assisted suicide is. Physician assisted suicide is “the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life” (Medicinenet.com, 2003). “On October 27, 1997, Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act became law, thus legalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS)” (Altmann and Suzanne, 2007). Oregon’s law requires two doctors to consult and agree that the patient would otherwise die of natural causes within six months, agree that the patient is considered of sound mind, and agree that the patient is able to self-administer the lethal dose of medicine (Guthrie, 2006). Even with Oregon being the only state within the United States that has legalized physician assisted suicide, the overall number of terminally ill patients ending their lives only counts for one-eighth of one percent of Oregonians dying by PAS (Oregon, 1994).
Many people in America have terminal illnesses that cause them to endure extensive personal suffering. Of these terminally ill patients, several do not wish to go on living their lives. They realize that their pain will not stop and that their health is not going to improve suddenly. Therefore, they want to die quickly. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is well known for participating in several assisted suicide cases. The two methods that he used to help terminally ill patients end their lives are as follows:
The first device Kevorkian built was the “mercitron”, better known as the “suicide machine”. Three bottles, about six inches wide by 18 inches high, were attached to a metal frame. All the bottles had a syringe hooked up to them that connected to one IV line in the patients’ arm. Saline or salt water was in the first bottle. The second bottle held a solution that causes patients to fall asleep. In the third bottle, there was a lethal dose of potassium chloride. Once the potassium chloride mixture had been injected, it stops the heart immediately and serves as muscle relaxant so the dying patient does not have any muscle spasms. (Fieger, 1999)
The patient usually dies in approximately two minutes.
The second method is death by carbon monoxide. A mask is placed over the patient’s nose and mouth. The gas is then inhaled through a tube that is attached to the mask at one end and hooked to a cylinder of deadly carbon monoxide gas at the other end. This method usually takes 10 minutes or longer. (Humphry, 2002)
When physicians delay the inevitable for terminally ill patients it is not only barbarous, but also uncalled-for. Sometimes all the medical care in the world cannot ease the suffering of critically ill patients and keeping them alive against their wishes may be causing them more harm than good. Several physicians believe that participating in assisted suicide can be detrimental for their professional integrity. This is simply not true because patients want their doctors to relieve them from their constant pain and agony. Death is not cause by the withdrawal of treatment but by the underlying disease (Miller, Fins, and Snyder, 2002). Therefore, these terminally ill patients are going to die anyway, so, physicians should help the patient by assisting them in committing suicide if he or she requested it.
If assisted suicide is legalized, it would allow a patient to die with honor instead of waiting for his or her sickness to consume every part of them.
Several terminally ill patients cannot continue to care for themselves any longer. Nursing attendants must help these patients complete simple tasks such as using the bathroom and eating. Many patients who have Alzheimer’s lose their memory and begin to babble incomprehensible words and phrases. Everyone wants people to remember them for the person they were, not how he or she acted once a disease took over. For example, former president Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before he died. Reagan and his family wanted everyone to remember him as the person whom provided such strong leadership to his country, not as some rambling lunatic that could not even remember his own name. Other patients want this as well. Seriously, why not allow patients to have their self-worth intact when they die? (Messerli, 2007)
Costly medical bills can be avoided. As most of us have noticed, medical care costs have continually escalated within the last few decades.
Everyday there are people all over the country who choose to go on strike just to protest the increasing cost of health care. We are continually debating on how we can lower the cost of medications and provide health care for those who do not have insurance. Think about the enormous financial burden to keep a terminally ill patient alive. They have to pay for tests, medications, x-rays, etc. Within just a short period, their medical bills will be over hundreds of thousands of dollars. Stop and ask yourself, is this truly a good way for them to spend their hard-earned money when they want to die anyway? (Messerli, 2007)
Physicians will be able to save other lives by using the organs collected from terminally ill patients that have died.
There are long waiting lists for organs that can be used to save other patients’ lives. If physician-assisted suicide were legalized, it would allow doctors to preserve organs such as hearts, lungs, kidneys, livers, etc. Once diseases take their full course, these organs could become weak or stop functioning. This is yet another example of putting dying patients’ needs before those that are living. (Messerli, 2007)
By not legalizing assisted suicide, many terminally ill patients might commit suicide in ways that are careless, atrocious, and gruesome.
Many people believe that teenagers are the ones with the highest rates of suicide, when, in fact, elderly people are. Most elderly Americans do not have anything to look forward to except being alone and in pain. If they want to kill themselves, which way is best-being in a controlled environment where a doctor can assist them or crude ways such as taking a handful of sleeping pills, jumping off a bridge, or blowing their head off their shoulders? If you where a family member in a situation such as this, would you rather say your goodbyes to your loved one at the hospital or step into his or her house to find their brains splattered all over the wall? Nevertheless, if someone is determined to kill themselves, nothing or no one can stop them. If this is so, why not show some compassion about it. (Messerli, 2007)
There is no way to tell what tomorrow holds. Legalizing physician assisted suicide gives a terminally ill patient the right to die with dignity. No one wants to lay in bed suffering unmercifully, unable to relate to how much pain he or she is in. This subject will always be controversial, but stop and think. Who is right? The person whom wants to die with his or her dignity and honor intact or the person whom says it is wrong to end a life?
References
Altmann, T. K., & Collins, S. E. (2007). Oregon. Journal of Nursing Law. 11,
43-53. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from ProQuest database
Fieger, (1999, June 26). The Mercitron. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Fans of Fieger Web site:
http://www.fansoffieger.com/mercitron.htm
Guthrie, P. (2006). Assisted suicide debated in the United States. Canada Medical Association.
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Humphry, D. (2002). Final Exits (Third Edition): The Practicalities of Self
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Dell Publishing.
Medicinenet.com, (2003). Webster’s New World Medical Dictionary Second Edition. Canada.
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Messerli, J. (2007, March 4). Should an incurably-ill patient be able to commit physician-
assisted suicide?. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Balanced Politics Web site:
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/assisted_suicide.htm
Miller, F. G., & Fins, J. J., & Snyder, L. (2000, March 21). Assisted suicide
compared with refusal of treatment: a valid distinction? Retrieved
March 3, 2007, from Annals of Internal Medicine Web site:
www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/132/6/470.pdf
Oregon (1994). Legislative Statute (Chapter 127). Oregon: The Legislative
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