A terminal disease means an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgement,produce death within six months. (Courtesy of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act)
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| "ready with my choice when my time comes" | ||||||||||||||
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| The debate of physician-assisted suicide has intensified throughout the past decade. According to the American Medical Association, assisted suicide is when a person takes his or her own life, but is assisted by a physician, with the intent to relieve suffering at the patient's request.However, I look physician-assisted suicide as the practice in which the physician provides a patient with a lethal dose of medication upon the patient's request, which the patient intends to use on his or her own life. I'm not referring to just any one person who is diagnosed with an infection or a disease or have respiratory problems. I'm referring to a patient with an underlying incurable disease such as cancer who has been suffering and agonizing and is in their last stage of their lives. Patients already have the right to determine what treatments are accepted or refused. Since patients are allowed to refuse life-sustaining medical interventions (such as life support), they are effectively committing suicide by refusing treatment. Terminally ill patients refer to cases in which death is expected within six months or less. A terminal disease means an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgement,produce death within six months. (Courtesy of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act) |
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| The Assisted Suicide Act | ||||||||||||||
| A True Story | ||||||||||||||
| Sad but a true story about a woman who turned into a living corpse in Syracuse, New York.. Her name was Sheila Pouliot. Since she was born, she has been mentally and physically disabled. She was cared for in her home by her parents until the age of twenty and then was placed in a developmental home. She was then sent to hosptital for gastrointestinal bleeding and pneumonia. Her family went to Court to block the hospital -a state health care institution from providing nutrition and other lifesaving medical treatment to Sheila Pouliot so that she could die with dignity. A few months later, she developed massive edema due to malnutrition and areas of her skin started to breakdown and decaying onto her bed. On the behalf of Sheila, her parents petitioned for a change in her treatment to discontinue the intravenous fluids. The University Hospital Ethnics Committee and the Medical Director of the Hospital argued that hydration in the absence of the ability to provide protein was outside the medical standard practice and was causing harm to Sheila. University Hospital said it would not oppose to discontinue the fluids. The decision to let Sheila Pouliot go has finally came through and she died with "dignity". Summary prepared by her physician | ||||||||||||||