Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician Assisted Suicide
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Introduction
Recently, there have been contentious deliberations on the contraband allegations on whether patients have the right to die. Physician-assisted suicide has been an issue that has existed for quite a period now, with this practice giving the doctor that right to give a patient a damaging dose of substance upon the request of the patient with the aim of terminating his/her life (Levy, Azar, Huberfeld, Siegel, & Strous, 2013). Some schools of thought have held that a terminally ill patient has the right to control how they die. However, physicians and health practitioners have debated on the essence of having a right in aiding a patient in terminating their life.
It is essential to note than many families spend and exhaust all their finances taking care of their loved ones in a hospital. In an instance where the doctors feel the patient may never make it again, such a family may choose to go the assisted suicide way rather than face bankruptcy (Levy, et.al). In as much as these factors may be justified, it is important to consider the fact that critically ill patients have the right to die in not only a human way but in a dignified manner as well. In essence, there is dignity in dying, and the terminally ill patient has the right to die humanely and in a dignified manner. It is against this foundation that this paper seeks to determine the issue of physician-assisted suicide.
Physician-Assisted Suicide
On matters legalizing a physician-assisted suicide, it would be essential to consider some factors before arriving at this conclusion. Many states today view the physician-assisted suicide as an illegal act and consider this as suicide. In the USA, the state of Oregon remains the only state that has legalized this practice (Hendin, & Foley, 2008). With this, it is imperative to point that the controversies that stand out on this subject is on whether to legalize or not this method in the context of ethicality. In as much as these remains a debate, there are schools of thought that argue that physician-assisted suicide should entirely be based on the notion of a patient’s autonomy since they are given the obligation to consider the right to choose the course of their lives through competent medical practitioners. Patients in accordance with this view have the right to govern their individual lives and also determine how this will end.
The challenges posed by this view is in the fact that many people are worried that if this practice is legalized, then this act would be abused either by patients, their family members who may be challenged to raise medica...