Assisted Suicide
In recent years, debate has intensified in the U.S. over the question of whether terminally ill people should have the legal right to obtain a doctor's help in ending their lives. The campaign to legalize assisted suicide, also called the right-to-die movement, has been under way since the 1970s but has gained steam in the 1990s. Proponents believe that mentally competent terminally ill people should be able to seek and receive a doctor's help to die. (Mental competence is a legal term that means that a person is of sound mind -- lucid and not suffering from any mental impairment or disturbance.) Assisted suicide is either barred by law or has been prohibited by court rulings in almost every state. Attempts to legalize assisted suicide through voter initiative were defeated in Washington State in 1991 and in California in 1992. More than 20 state legislatures have considered and defeated similar laws. Much like the controversy over abortion, the debate over assisted suicide is an emotionally charged one in which morality, medical ethics, and religion all play a part. Respected medical professionals and ethicists occupy positions on each side of the debate over assisted suicide. Both opponents and proponents of
"Attitudes and Desires Related to Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide Among Terminally Ill Patients and The second type of economic objection to physician-assisted suicide focuses on the role of the patient's family. Families, it is feared, may pressure patients to choose assisted suicide to avoid spending money that the patient otherwise could leave to the family. Or, family members may exert pressure because they are spending too much of their own money. Their Caregivers." Ezekiel J. Emanuel et al. JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association. November The issue of self-control is the crux of such notions as "the right to die", and "the right to die with dignity", which assume that suffering persons have the absolute right to choose whether to live or to die, that the moral agent is the suffering person. If and when a sufferer decides that life should end, legal euthanasia would provide the means for ending it, safely, without placing another person or group of persons in legal jeopardy. Some have argued, that once traditional prohibitions and taboos are broken, society may be drawn down an unanticipated path towards acceptance of practices which, at the time of the initial breach, would be considered unacceptable. Once a legal precedent has been established, social endorsement of euthanasia might place undue pressure on patients to class themselves as a burden to others, and to submit to it rather than defend their individual interests. he physician's economic incentives equivalent to those of a premium-financed plan). Confronted with these financial pressures, physicians may turn to assisted suicide as a means of reducing the costs of caring for enrollees. Physicians also may feel that they must represent the interests of society in encouraging patients to choose less costly alternatives. Physicians may see themselves as instruments of "bedside" health care rationing. They may favor assisted suicide, particularly for older pati
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Approximate Word count = 1332
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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