Fahmeda Akther

ENG 21003, Sec. A

Professor Sidibe

September 17, 2018

Rational Suicide

Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States. The rate of suicide is highest among middle aged adults, between the ages of 45 and 54 years old. The second highest rate is amidst the elderly, from 85 years of age and older (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention). Within the last few years, there has been ongoing debates on whether or not suicide is ever rational and if physician-assisted suicide should be legal around the world. Some believe that the right to commit suicide should be considered a basic human right. However, others believe that aiding patients to commit suicide violates the Hippocratic Oath that every physician is required to take before being licensed to practice medicine.

According to the American Medical Association, physician-assisted suicide, or PAS, is when a medical professional aids a patient to end their life, by either providing them with the necessary means or necessary information to do so. In physician-assisted suicide, doctors provide patients with the medication to end their lives. However, euthanasia is a form of PAS, which allows the doctor to take an active role in ending the patient’s life. Oregon is the first state to start the process of legalizing PAS. As reported by the Oregon Health Authority, “On October 27, 1997, Oregon enacted the Death with Dignity Act which allows terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose” (Oregon Health Authority). This act requires the Oregon Health Authority to collect information on the patients in order to create an annual report. After Oregon, six other states have passed Death with Dignity laws, including California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Vermont, Washington and Hawaii. Montano does not have a Death with Dignity statute, but it is legal for a patient to choose to end their life with a Supreme Court ruling.

The debate over physician-assisted suicide began with Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who was a medical pathologist. Beginning in 1990, he aided in ending the lives of approximately 130 terminally ill patients. As stated by Dominic Rushe, “…he operated out of a Volkswagen van to inject a lethal drug dose for people who sought his help in dying” (Rushe). Dr. Kevorkian was put on trial several times and served eight years in prison for murder. He believed that patients should have a right to decide how and when they end their lives. However, the American Medical Association viewed him as someone who “poses a great threat to the public” (Schneider). On June 3, 2011, Dr. Kevorkian died at William Beaumont Hospital, as a result of a blood clot. He wished to take advantage of the option he had offered to others, but he did not have the strength to do so while he was in the hospital.

The number of physician-assisted deaths are increasing in the states where it is legal. This is causing patients in other states to demand PAS to be legalized. On one side, advocates for physician-assisted suicide project the idea that an individual should be respectively given the right to choose how he/she wishes to die. It is based on the person’s will and how they view life. However, others believe that allowing this act permanently affects everyone in society. This controversy will only come to an end when every state completely legalizes physician-assisted suicide or decides to ban it.

 

Works Cited

 

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Suicide Statistics. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2016. afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/. Accessed 11 Sept. 2018

How to Access and Use Death with Dignity Laws. Death with Dignity.

www.deathwithdignity.org/learn/access/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2018.

Oregon Health Authority. Death with Dignity Act. Oregon Health Authority.

www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PROVIDERPARTNERRESOURCES/EVALUATIONRESEARCH/DEATHWITHDIGNITYACT/Pages/index.aspx. Accessed 15 Sept. 2018.

Physician-Assisted Suicide. American Medical Association.

https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/physician-assisted-suicide. Accessed 14 Sept. 2018.

Rushe, Dominic. “‘Dr Death’ Jack Kevorkian, advocate of assisted suicide, dies in hospital.” 3 Jun, 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/04/dr-death-jack-kevorkian-suicide. Accessed 15 Sept. 2018.

Schneider, Keith. “Dr. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor Who Helped End Lives.” 3 Jun, 2011. www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html. Accessed 15 Sept. 2018.