Physician-assisted suicide. What I Feel About PAS. Psychology Essay

PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE
Name:
Institution:
Date:
Introduction
There have been a never-ending debate on the legal, ethical and moral implications of PAS. The opposers and proponents of the legalization of the practice have strong arguments for their standpoints though some states in the US such as Oregon and other countries around the world such as the Netherlands have legalized the practice. CITATION Bou14 \l 1033 (Boudreau & Somerville, 2014) define PAS as the practice where ‘a physician, at the request of a competent patient, prescribes a lethal quantity of medication, intending that the patient will use the chemicals to commit suicide.’ PAS is often confused with euthanasia. They differ fundamentally from the person who ultimately administers the lethal injection. In the case of PAS, the person takes the death-inducing product hence self-willed and self-inflicted, and the person has the decision-making capacity to do it; in euthanasia, another individual administers it and thus self-willed and other-inflicted.
What I Feel About PAS
In my opinion, PAS should be permitted and legalized. It is framed in the principle of good death that allows an individual to avoid leading a poor-quality life. If an adult of sound mind clearly and consciously expresses his/her intention to die within legal provisions and with the help of an accredited physician, such a person should be allowed to hire a physician to help him/her administer a lethal quantity of medication to allow him/her to die in the most comfortable way. A mentally stable and sound minded individual has the right to determine his/her destiny than anyone else can prevent it. Thus, if any society, group of people or an individual denies the patient the right to lessen their pain at their request is a violation of the provisions and principles of autonomy of the patient as outlined in the healthcare practice procedures. If a person can be allowed and even assisted to continue on life-sustaining treatment, then he/she can and should be allowed to choose PAS. In both cases, the patient is seeking to shorten his/her time of suffering by choosing death over a bleak and potentially poor quality of life. Additionally, it can be interpreted as harm if the physicians are not helping the patient lessen the pain of the patient by helping them die sooner.
The media has been highlighting the plight of some patients and their families when battling some mental conditions which are incurable and greatly affect the quality of the individual’s life. For example, Adam Maier-Clayton was diagnosed with somatic symptom disorder. According to CITATION Stu17 \l 1033 (Hughes, 2017), Adam Maier-Clayton described...