Physician-Assisted Suicide

Author: Austin Dickerson

Essay topic: Physician-Assisted Suicide

Physician Assisted Suicide

    “I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism,” This oath is known as the modern Hippocratic Oath written by Louis Lasagna. This oath that physicians vow by states that they have a responsibility to treat those that are sick with any and all measures possible. The question that must be asked now is, does this apply to the terminally ill? The answer is yes. It does apply to the terminally ill. The terminally ill should have a right to death similar to that of the right to life through physician assisted suicide; physician assisted suicide (PAS) should be legalized at a national level for the terminally ill that fail to have a course of treatment that are condemned to death.  

   Although this topic can be very threatening or scary to talk about it is still a fact in life: in order to have life you must also have death. In order for you to better understand this topic I’m going to give an example case. Imagine that John Smith (this is not a real person, I made it up) was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. The cancer metastasized to his liver and lymph nodes. He received chemotherapy to attempt to treat the cancer but that failed. Currently he is taking high-dose narcotics and his prognosis is grim. Now under the hippocratic oath a practitioner is required to treat with all means possible but, the patient is already condemned to a premature death do to illness. Under current state legislation the  man is required to live the rest of his life in pain with no means to an end with a medical professional. This causes failure to meet moral responsibilities for physicians and restricts freedom of will for the patient. The opponents of PAS would argue that it is immoral to end a patient's life even if they are terminally ill, but is it moral to force physicians to prolong patient suffering because they don't have a right to die?

   There is a greater need for physician assisted suicide then the five year survival rate of cancer. This can even be proven statistically. Did you know that a physician is more likely to receive a request for PAS than chemotherapy contributing to the survival rate of patients? The American Medical Association states, “In the past year, 12% of responding physicians received one or more explicit requests for physician-assisted suicide, and 4% received one or more requests for euthanasia. These physicians provided 207 case descriptions.” It is estimated that chemotherapy only contributes to 2.1% of the 5 year survival length with cancer. This shows just how relevant physician assisted suicide is in the medical field for the terminally ill. But still it remains illegal in most states in the United States, and if a physician decides to commit this act, they can lose their medical license.

    There is also the medical aspect of physician assisted suicide and the potential risks of the medications chosen for PAS. Secobarbital is the medication most commonly prescribed for physician-assisted suicide in Oregon. The lethal dose of Secobarbital is 9g. The next most common medication is Pentobarbital. The lethal dose of Pentobarbital is 10g as a liquid. These medications have an 8% complication rate which is very low considering the rates of most medications for treatment of terminal illnesses. Unfortunately, there is one case that stands out. One patient that had taken the steps for assisted suicide and failed to die, instead, he was unconscious for 65 hours. He woke up later to find that the procedure failed. Although the odds of this happening is at 2%. Showing that if this was even a possibility the risk is nearly non existent.

   Physician assisted suicide is a new issue in the medical industry that questions moral beliefs individuals have the right to life and death if the individual is terminally ill. Everyday people can impact this issue by voting on it and talking to individuals that work in the medical industry to gain support. Honestly if you feel passionate about this then speak up. That is all we can do to change anything. All change happens through speaking out. Even the United States was found on speaking out. So, let's change the medical industry. Because this is one of the most humane ways to help individuals during end of life care is to give them the option of physician assisted suicide.

   This shows how we can achieve individual rights and autonomy when it comes to end of life options. In the end I'd rather John Smith have the option to end his life if he wants to. Physicians should have the right to give him the means to the end. Even if this means giving him the lethal medication. Because the patients first responsibility is to end suffering not prolong suffering.

Back, Anthony, Jeffrey Wallace, Helene Starks, and Robert Pearlman. "Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Washington State." JAMA Network. Journal of Amarican Medicine Asociation, 27 Mar. 1996. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.

O'neill, Joseph, Brittany Maynard, Desmond Tutu, and Margaret Somerville. "Euthanasia - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. ProCon.org, 6 Oct. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

Somerville, Margaret, and Nikola Biller-Andorno. "Physician-Assisted Suicide." New England Journal of Medicine. New England Journal of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.