Sue Rodriguez had ALS, a progressive degeneration of the motor neurons of the central nervous system, leading to wasting of the muscles and paralysis. Rodriguez knew that she would “soon lose the ability to swallow, speak, walk, and move about with assistance (and then later), lose the capacity to breathe on her own without the help of a respirator” (Thomas et al., 214) previously deciding that she would not like to continue her life if she was not enjoying life in the capacity she wanted to, she petitioned the courts to allow he to obtain physician-assisted suicide. They denied her plead and she ended up taking her own life later on. A second case arose from Gloria Taylor with the same disease as Rodriguez who also wanted to petition the courts to allow physician-assisted suicide. Although Taylor further in court than Rodriguez did, there were still many opposing arguments. The important question of this case is: Should the courts should allow physician-assisted suicide and at what cost.
Arguments Against Legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide:
One of the main concerns of legalizing physician-assisted suicide is that there are going to be increased cases of involuntary acts of this type of suicide. Pressure from different kinds of sources will play a role in making this a problem. Family who is not able to fully financially support the patient or feel as if they are doing everything just to watch the patient die, may have more reason to pressure him/her to hasten their death. Physicians who feel as if the patient is very likely to die and is using up many resources to keep him/her alive in the meantime could also feel inclined to pressure the patient to make that decision sooner than wanted. This is comparable to Case 5.1 with the decision to treat Baby Q who had a small chance to live and if she did live there was a large chance of severe mental disabilities. The Resident of the hospital argued to not do the treatment and let Baby Q die as she claimed, “We are always being told how expensive this unit is, and look at how much it will cost if this baby is kept alive and requires long-term institutional care!” (Thomas et. al., 187). A further pressure would be the actual patient due to the fear that they are a burden on their family and friends and that it would be easier for the family if they ended their life. In this sense, legalization can become dangerous if handled incorrectly.
Arguments for Legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide:
Although there is room for misconduct in legalizing medical suicide, the arguments for the legalization outweighs the arguments against. In Rodriguez’s case, and in many other related cases, the quality of life that she had envisioned for herself had been taken away by the detriments of her illness. Rodriguez saw no value in continuing a life that is inevitably going to become harder and is going to cause her to suffer longer due to the degeneration effects of ALS. Not legalizing physician-assisted suicide goes against the autonomy of the patient by denying “individuals the right to control areas of their lives fundamental to their dignity” (Thomas et.al., 216). Furthermore, it is said that, “to impose unwanted treatment on a competent patient is to commit a battery against him, which would be condemned in both law and morals” (Thomas et.al., 219). People against physician-assisted suicide argue that there are other ways to commit suicide including “refusing to eat or drink,” which would cause even more pain and suffering. And also the problem is not that there are other ways to commit suicide, the problem is that patients who are dying do not have the capacity to commit suicide on their own. That is why there is a need for this legalization.
In my opinion, the government should legalize physician-assisted suicide because if not, it goes against a person’s autonomy. People have the right to refuse medical treatment and it is wrong for the government to make them endure a longer period of suffering against the patient’s wishes. Also, if the patient is competent, they should be able to make that decision and have it respected without major backlash.
Works Cited:
Thomas, John E, et al. “Case 6.2: Sue Rodriguez: ‘Please Help Me to Die.’” Well and Good: A Case Study Approach to Health Care. 4th ed. Canada: Broadview, 2014. 214-22. Print.
Thomas, John E, et al. “Case 5.1: Should Treatment Be Withheld from Patients with Severe Cognitive Disabilities?” Well and Good: A Case Study Approach to Health Care. 4th ed. Canada: Broadview, 2014. 186-92. Print.
I agree with many points in this post. I think that assisted suicide should be legalized but there should be many implications of it to make sure that it is not just a casual occurrence. Assisted suicide is something that should be heavily evaluated if being considered. Patient evaluations should be put into place to make sure that the patient is fully competent and aware of the consequences of assisted suicide. Also, I believe that it should only be used in situations where the patient’s quality of life would be severely diminished by the course of a disease, not simply because someone wants to die. In this case study, it is clear that the patient’s quality of life would decrease as time went on and there is no cure for her disease. In an article I read, it makes a point that there are people in hospitals who are suffering from terrible diseases and have grim outcomes as a result. Some of these people would rather die in a more dignified way and I believe that they should have a right to do so (“Assisted Suicide: A Right or a Wrong?”). Again, I do not believe that assisted suicide should be a casual matter, but it should be an option for those in situations like in this case study.
Sources:
“Assisted Suicide: A Right or a Wrong?” – Resources – Bioethics – Focus Areas – Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.” Santa Clara University, http://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/bioethics/resources/assisted-suicide-a-right-or-a-wrong/.
Hi Kianna,
I completely agree that assisted suicide should not be casual and therefore not be granted to just anyone that wants it. It should be a well thought out matter as it is an end to a person’s life. The case explanation talks about how a person should be considered for physician assisted suicide with “strict conditions that refer to the terminal condition of patients, their unendurable suffering, their competence, their sustained desire to end their life, and oversight of more than one physician” (Thomas et. al., 217). I agree with the explanation that it should basically be hard for someone to get physician assisted suicide. It is a big deal and I feel as if to grant assisted suicide to someone on a whim without going through proper, thorough steps in essentially validating killing that person, is wrong.
Works Cited
Thomas, John E, et al. “Case 6.2: Sue Rodriguez: ‘Please Help Me to Die.’” Well and Good: A Case Study Approach to Health Care. 4th ed. Canada: Broadview, 2014. 214-22. Print.
Hello Morgan! I really appreciated your post because you highlighted the arguments for and against assisted suicide. Physician assisted suicide is a form of voluntary euthanasia in which the doctor does not actively end the life of the patient. Instead, the patient must be able to end their own life after receiving the medication provided by the healthcare professional. The issue of assisted suicide is incredibly difficult to scrutinize because there are intense arguments on either side, as you emphasized in your post. When questioned about the specifics of the topic, Dr. Guy Micco, the clinical director of the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, stated: “The basic question is one of autonomy. It’s my life. I should have the right to take my life when that seems like the proper and best thing to do. Suicide isn’t illegal. Doctors control the means—drugs that end life painlessly. Why should they be able to withhold them from me?” (Jaret) Taking his argument into account, I must agree with the regard for autonomy in the matter. It is true that assisted suicide could prove to be dangerous. However, there are legal ways to ensure that patients are not taken advantage of. I believe it is more important to secure the autonomy of terminally ill patients by ensuring they have a say in how they die.
References
“Assisted Dying, Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia.” Euthanasia-Free NZ: Care without Assisted Dying. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.
Jaret, Peter. “Physician-Assisted Suicide: Is It Ethical?” @berkeleywellness. UC – Berkeley, 26 Apr. 2016. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.
Hi Morgan! I really like the way you set up your post by discussing the arguments for and against legalizing physician assisted suicide. Before this class, physician assisted suicide was an issue I had not given a lot of thought to, but after reading several articles, found that in Oregon, where physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill has been legal since 1997, “more than 700 people have taken their lives with prescribed medication”. I am unsure whether to be surprised by this number or not. Honestly, I am a little unsettled with the idea of physician assisted suicide, but still see why others are in support of the idea. I was curious to know how doctor’s felt about physician assisted suicide and found an article from a doctor’s perspective that said, “It will make us less able, as a society, to offer hope that suffering has dignity and can be made more bearable”. While some doctors work incredibly hard to do everything they can for their patient, in the end, doctors do not get to make the decisions. Physicians do their best to provide and care for their patients and minimize their suffering as much as possible, but at the end of the day, the doctor must respect the patient’s autonomy, if in fact, their pain or life becomes unbearable. I still think that physician assisted suicide is a slippery slope and specific conditions or rules must be set up if in fact it is legalized, but right now all I can think about is if I was Sue Rodriguez, what would I do?
Works Cited:
Staff, NPR. “Debate: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?” NPR. NPR, 20 Nov. 2014. Web.
John R. Peteet. “A Doctor’s View On Assisted Suicide.” New Boston Post. N.p., n.d. 11 Nov. 2015. Web.
Hi Morgan,
I enjoyed reading your post.
Physician-assisted is a serious topic because it bring ups many ethical concerns.
I agree with Kianna on the issue of casual occurrences. It is important that we specify cases were PAS is okay to do and cases where it may not be the best thing to allow. In my opinion, I think that patients who are incompetent are cases where PAS should not be allowed because they aren’t mentally capable to make that decision. To an extent, they may not be fully aware of what is it they are asking for. Further evaluations should be done on those patients and other options should be presented.
Hi Morgan,
Great post! A lot of the comments here are saying that there should be an identification of some sort for whether or not assisted suicide should be permitted. I have a hard time with that because from the examples presented in class, it’s evident that the cases are like case by case, so what should the screening process look like and what would be considered an approved assisted suicide vs a non-approved asssisted suicide?
Hi Ifechi!
Great question! I just posted a response to Kianna that should explain my view on who should be approved and who should not. Hope it helps.