(Introduction) �Samuel Linares, an infant, swallowed a small object that stuck in his windpipe, causing a loss of oxygen to the brain. He was admitted to a Chicago Hospital in a coma and placed on a respirator. Eight months later he was still comatose, still on the respirator, and the hospital was planning to move Samuel to a long-term care unit. Shortly before the move, Samuel�s parents visited him in the hospital. His mother left the room while his father produced a pistol and told the nurse to stay away. He then disconnected Samuel from the respirator, and cradled the baby in his arms until he died. When he was sure that Samuel was dead, he gave up his pistol and surrendered to the police. He was charged with murder, but the grand jury refused to issue a homicide indictment, and he subsequently received a suspended sentence on a minor charge arising from the use of the pistol.�-Peter Singer Practical Ethics (Topic revelation) My topic is that of Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia and why it should be legalized and how it should be regulated. (Main points preview) I�m first going to offer you some definitions that need to be given to understand this topic. Then I will offer you how it is used currently today and why it is needed. Lastly I will tell you some stories of people that needed this but didn�t have it.
I. (MAIN POINT I)Some Definitions and Explanations
(most of these definitions I received from Washington State Univ. Bioethics website unless otherwise stated)
A. Physician assisted suicide is not euthanasia, it refers to the physician providing the means for the death, most often with a prescription. The patient not the physician will ultimately administer the lethal medication.
B. Euthanasia generally means that the physician would act directly, for instance by giving the patient a lethal injection to end the patients life. Also called Active Euthanasia
C. Terminal Sedation refers to the practice of sedating a terminally ill competent patient to the point of unconsciousness, then allowing the patient to die of their disease, starvation, or dehydration. A form of passive euthanasia.
D. Withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatments: When a Competent person makes an informed decision about life sustaining treatment there is a general consensus in state law that this wish is to be respected. A form of passive euthanasiaE. Pain medication that may hasten death: Such as morphine given to the terminally ill may impair respiration or cause other effects to hasten death. A form of passive euthanasia.
F. Voluntary Euthanasia: euthanasia carried out at the request of the person killed. �Peter Singer Practical Ethics
G. Involuntary Euthanasia: when the person is capable of consenting to their own death, but does not do so, either because they aren�t asked, or because they choose to go on living. These cases include those in a persistent vegetative state and haven�t let their decision known to anyone. Someone that cannot regain consciousness ever again. Peter Singer Practical Ethics
H. Non-Voluntary Euthanasia: when not capable of understanding the choice between life and death it would be non-voluntary. Those unable to do this would include severely ill or disabled infants, and people who through accident, illness, etc. have permanently lost their decision making ability. Baby Samuel is an example of this.
Peter Singer Practical Ethics
II. (MAIN POINT II)Arguments for PAS and Euthanasia
A. According to an article from Washington Universities website the following are common arguments for PAS and Euthanasia
1. Respect for Autonomy: Decisions about time and circumstances death are very personal. Competent people should have the right to choose death.
2. Justice requires that we �treat like cases alike� Competent terminally ill patients are allowed to hasten death by treatment refusal. For some patients, treatment refusal will not suffice to hasten death; only option is suicide. Justice requires that we should allow assisted death for these patients.
3. Compassion: suffering means more than pain; there are other physical and psychological burdens. It is not always possible to relieve suffering. Thus PAS may be a compassionate response to unbearable suffering.
4. Individual liberty vs. state interest: Though society has strong interest in preserving life, that interest lessens when people are terminally ill and has strong desires to end their life. A complete prohibition on assisted death excessively limits personal liberty. It violates personal privacy.
5. Openness of discussion: Some would argue that assisted death already occurs, in secret. For example, morphine drips used for pain relief are a covert form of assisted death. That PAS is illegal prevents open discussion, in which patients and physicians could engage.
B. Over half the physicians surveyed in the US believe it is ethically correct in certain circumstances.
C. 1 in 5 physicians will be asked for PAS sometime in their career.
D. The public and patients of the US were found to be that the vast majority agree it should be legalized in certain cases. Most often those cases involving unrelenting suffering and pain.
E. In Peter Singers book Practical Ethics he states that we have a theory of rights and an essential feature of a right is the ability to waive that right. We have a right to privacy but if I was to waive that right anyone could look into my house without fear of prosecution. Similarly we have a right to life and as such can waive that right to continue living.
F. He also talks about how it is carried out in the Netherlands where it is legal.
1. It is carried out by a physician
2. The patient has explicitly requested euthanasia in a manner that leaves no doubt of the patients desire to die.
3. The patient�s decision is well informed, free, and durable.
4. The patient has an irreversible condition causing protracted physical or mental suffering that the patients finds unbearable.
5. There is no reasonable alternative to alleviate the patient�s suffering
6. The doctor has consulted another doctor who must agree with their judgment.