Physician-Assisted Suicides

[jones jones]

do you think that physician-assisted suicide should be a legal option for terminally ill patients?

or should physician-assisted suicide be illegal?


Jj

[RedGlitter]

I think it should be completely legal and that it's a barbaric society that would forbid it.

[ilona17]

Originally Posted by RedGlitter

I think it should be completely legal and that it's a barbaric society that would forbid it.

Yeah I personally couldn't agree more. It's a persons own choice and if they want to die with dignity then why should anyone want to forbid that.
Of course I would stress the importance of making sure this is really what the person wants, and that they were in the correct state of mind when making this decision and made it for the right reasons.

[mrsK]

Originally Posted by jones jones

do you think that physician-assisted suicide should be a legal option for terminally ill patients?

or should physician-assisted suicide be illegal?


Jj

Yes I do & I would want to make use of it as well

[Clodhopper]

On the whole I'm in favour of physician assisted suicide in cases of terminal illness involving great pain or mental distress. I think it already happens.

I can't prove it, and I'm going to keep this a bit vague in case there are legal implications, but I knew someone terminally ill with liver cancer. There came the time when the pain bit hard and the person went to bed with a huge painkiller. The local doctor came and set up a morphine drip and I am virtually certain he set it quite deliberately at a level that would kill the person involved painlessly on the night when that person would have died anyway. I am grateful to the doctor for saving the patient much unnecessary suffering.

There are serious implications for the Hippocratic Oath, however. I forget the exact wording, but don't doctors swear never to take a human life or allow a person to die from neglect? It's an absolute statement and generally I am in favour of it for that profession. Which completely contradicts what I've just said.

[Accountable]

Originally Posted by jones jones

do you think that physician-assisted suicide should be a legal option for terminally ill patients?

or should physician-assisted suicide be illegal?


Jj

It's a nice euphamism isn't it?

[Accountable]

Originally Posted by Clodhopper

There are serious implications for the Hippocratic Oath, however. I forget the exact wording, but don't doctors swear never to take a human life or allow a person to die from neglect? It's an absolute statement and generally I am in favour of it for that profession. Which completely contradicts what I've just said.

I googled it. Interesting. This is from Wiki

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepios and Hygeia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

• To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.
• I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.
• I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.
• In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.
• I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.
• Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.
• What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.
• If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

It's a good thing they're not really required to take such an oath, eh?

[Accountable]

I'm not certain if all doctors are required to take it, but wiki says this is the new oath:

The Declaration of Geneva, as currently amended, reads:
At the time of being admitted as a member of the medical profession:

• I solemnly pledge to consecrate my life to the service of humanity;
• I will give to my teachers the respect and gratitude that is their due;
• I will practise my profession with conscience and dignity;
• The health of my patient will be my first consideration;
• I will respect the secrets that are confided in me, even after the patient has died;
• I will maintain by all the means in my power, the honour and the noble traditions of the medical profession;
• My colleagues will be my sisters and brothers;
• I will not permit considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor to intervene between my duty and my patient;
• I will maintain the utmost respect for human life;
• I will not use my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat;
• I make these promises solemnly, freely and upon my honour.

I think most people today would say that the statement I bolded would include not allowing terminally ill patients to suffer needlessly.

[Clodhopper]

Thanks, Acc. I suppose it comes down to what we mean by "utmost respect for human life". To me it suggests not deliberately ending it, but I'm not entirely sure about that and I do wonder what a lawyer might make of it.

[hoppy]

Hell, why not? Physician-assisted murder, called abortion to be "politically correct", is OK at the front end of the life cycle.