Death With Dignity Act

When I was twelve years old, my grandfather passed away after a long, excruciating struggle with lung cancer. He endured months of insufferable agony, which continued until the mercy that came with his dying breath. Looking back on this experience, I am firm in my belief that nobody should have to endure the suffering that my grandfather did. This however, is just one instance in which physician-assisted suicide would have proven beneficial. According to the New York Times, Jerry Brown, who recently signed California’s own assisted suicide law said that if he were ill, it “would be a comfort to consider the options afforded by this bill” (Boffey 1). The intent of this bill is to allow terminally ill patients to make decisions about their own health care, and to further increase the personal liberties of

Financially, there are implications but they are not towards the organization. Many patients cite many different reasons for choosing to follow through with the Death with Dignity process, one of the reasons being the financial implications of receiving treatment that has no hope of working, only prolonging the suffering. Death with dignity has the ability to alleviate some financial burden from health agents as they are not continuing expensive care and resources on patients who no longer wish to receive them. The resources can be used on someone who may truly benefit. Also, political implications are a factor as well. Because there is not current legislation in Pennsylvania at the moment, it is forming a political platform for politicians to take hold of. As previously stated, state representative Mark Rozzi, is currently taking hold of this platform, and suggested a bill to the House of Representatives for death with dignity laws in Pennsylvania. Because politician’s reach is so large, society members are calling upon them to be a voice for change. There are also many stakeholders that would be affected by Death with Dignity legislation, making the policies potential impact very large. The first being the

Public opinion polls showed increased support for physician assisted suicide. This was due in part to technological advances in medicine as well as a greater recognition of patient’s rights.” Twenty-nine-year-old Brittany Maynard, utilized Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, took her own life in November 2014 following a diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. “A Pew poll conducted after Ms. Maynard’s death, revealed that people viewed this as a heroic act. Also, revealed, the majority of Americans, most likely including physicians, now favor legalizing physician-assisted suicide for painful and incurable conditions: 68 percent in favor, 28 percent opposed. This poll also found that 56 percent of Americans believe that physician assisted suicide is a morally acceptable act regardless of its legality, and only 37 percent believe it is morally wrong. Additionally, 62 percent of adults agree that a person has a moral right to suicide” (Ralph A Capone). Other states including Oregon, that have passed death-with-dignity laws include Vermont, California, Colorado and Washington. There is a death with dignity bill that is slated to go before the Maine Legislature in support of physician assisted suicide. There is a lot of optimism surrounding this bill, as there’s been two years of experience from Oregon and Vermont, (the latest

The Death with Dignity National Center says that, “By adding a voluntary option to the continuum of end-of-life care, these laws give patients dignity, control, and peace of mind during their final days with family and loved ones.”

The Death with Dignity Act, also known as the Right-to-Die Bill, allows terminally-ill adults grant their wishes to hasten their death in some states where it is legalized. These patients that are mentally capable of making their own decisions have the right to voluntarily request and receive a prescription medication to end their suffering sooner. Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and California are the only states that practice the Death with Dignity Act. Oregon voters approved Death with Dignity Act in 1994 and went into effect in 1997. Washington implemented the same act in 2008 followed by Vermont in 2013 which is the first state to pass through legislative process. In order for patients to use prescriptions from their physicians for self administration of lethal medications, patients must meet multiple requirements. Death with Dignity National Center requires patients to be an adult who are eighteen years of age or older, a resident of one of the three legalized states, capable to make and communicate health care decisions, and patients must be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will soon lead to death within six months (Death with Dignity National Center). After all these requirements have been met, patients will be eligible to request lethal prescriptions from a licensed physician. To receive a prescription, the prescribing physician and a consulting physician must agree to another multiple set of conditions. Both physicians must agree with each other to an appropriate diagnosis, determine whether patients are capable of health decisions, patients must also produce a written request to both physicians, patients must pass all psychological examination, prescribing physician must inform patients other alternatives, and last, but not least, patients’ next-of-kin could be notified about the prescription request. These protocols are to be met to provide patient comfort and avoid disaster. The Death

iii) Euthanasia contains a much smaller chance for mistakes and may be necessary in cases where a patient is too sick for self-administration.

The dying patient no longer has quality of life, they have lost their independence, are lonely, are forced to endure inevitable pain, are publicly humiliated, are suffering immensely, and are forced to watch their loved ones grieve because of them. It is an innate Constitutional Right to choose how to die, since we all will die. There comes a point when the poking and prodding becomes too much, when the patient wants to just die in silence in the loving arms of their

Physician-assisted death is the practice in which a physician provides a mentally competent patient with the means to take his/her own life, usually in the form of prescribing death-dealing medications. It first became legal in the United States in Oregon in 1998. It is now legal in four other states: Washington, California, Montana, and Vermont. In order for one to exercise their right to die this way, the law states that the patient must be at least 18 years old, be mentally competent, be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months, and must wait at least fifteen days before filling the death-dealing prescriptions. This controversial practice has raised the question of whether or not it is ethical for a physician

In the defense of Physician Assisted Suicide, a wide publicly talked about topic, it should be a choice every terminally ill patient receives. Physician Assisted suicide is when a patient is terminally ill and has no chances of recovering. The patient themselves can make the decision, with the help from their physician, to get lethally injected and end their life reducing and ending the pain. In America each state has a little over 3,000 patients that are terminally ill contact an advocacy group known as the Compassion and Choices to try to reduce end-of- life suffering and perhaps hasten their death. Physician Assisted Suicide shouldn’t be looked at as suicide, but as ending the pain and suffering from an individual whose life is going to be taken away anyway. In the United States there are six states that have their own modifications on allowing Physician Assisted Suicide. Oregon became the first state to legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill, mentally competent adults in 1994, followed by Washington and Vermont. California was then the fifth state to sign the “Right to Die” bill legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide. Many

The Death with Dignity Act has two arguments: those who believe we have the right to choose how and when we die, and those who believe we do not possess that right; that we should not interfere with the natural order of life. Every year, people across America are diagnosed with a terminal illness. For some people there is time: time to hope for a cure, time to fight the disease, time to pray for a miracle. For others however, there is very little or no time. For these patients, their death is rapidly approaching and for the vast majority of them, it will be a slow and agonizing experience. However, there is hope of a peaceful death for these patients that exists in a controversial law being considered by many states throughout the country. It is known as the Death with Dignity Act. This law gives terminally ill patients the option of ending their own life in a painless manner at a time and place of their choosing by

Worldwide, suicide is the top leading cause of death; starvation is the most common form of the so called ‘natural death.’ Death with Dignity is an organization whose mission is to “promote Death with Dignity laws based on the model Oregon Death with Dignity Act, both to provide an option for dying individuals and

I strongly agree with Aras look on the autonomy argument and that individuals should be able to determine the level of suffering for which they can endure and when the point comes to end ones life. Suffering is a complex thing that cannot be measured or determined by anyone but the individual himself or herself. Therefor I do not think that anyone is in a place to say that an individual should prolong their suffering when in the case of terminally ill patients will ultimately end in death. In terms of the utilitarian argument I agree that one needs to maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness, but find issues with it similar to Rachels that will be discussed later. Where I disagree with Aras is in his analysis of the slippery slope argument and potential for abuse. I feel with the necessary safe guards put into place the slippery slope argument and abuse will be negligible. I do not agree that the arguments made for physician-assisted suicide can be made in any other case but terminally ill patients. For terminally ill patients the end result is going to be death whether it is in a few days, weeks, or months. With other illnesses, while life may be depreciated, death is not looming in the near future. The unnecessary suffering caused to terminally ill patients, isn’t going to go

Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act came into play in 1994. The act was passed not only to give terminally ill patients the right to die how they choose, but it also protected the physicians from being prosecuted in their assisted death. Critics of the law came to fear that they would see a large flock of people move to Oregon, hoping to be covered by the law. In order to be covered by the Death With Dignity Act, you had to fall under certain criteria. The first criteria is that the patient must be older than 18 years of age, which is considered to be a legal adult. The next criteria is that you have to be a resident of the state that has that act under. There are several ways to establish your residency in that state, as determining residency does not request for a person to live so many years in the state to become one. When providing proof of residency, you proofs “can include a state issued ID such as a driver's license, documents showing the patient rents or owns property in the state, state voter registration, or a recent state tax return” (Death With Dignity). The third criteria that must be met is that you must be fully competent and be able to make decisions on their own. Most of the patients who request to die are speaking out of pain or depression. These people might just need a different medication or someone to help them cope through their illnes. If a physician would

The pros to having the right to die law are that patients are able to end their suffering and pain. Some patients have illnesses that are so painful that the only way to get rid of the pain is to end their own life. The patient is able to die in dignity because they don’t have to worry about losing their mental and physical capacities. The patient can arrange to say goodbye to their love ones and their financial burden is reduced. Patients are able to donate their organs to other patients if they were planned ahead of time. This is a painless way for patients to die and this could be the ultimate way for patients to find

The Right to Die has been taking effect in many states and is rapidly spreading around the world. Patients who have life threatening conditions usually choose to die quickly with the help of their physicians. Many people question this right because of its inhumane authority. Euthanasia or assisted suicide are done by physicians to end the lives of their patients only in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, New Mexico and soon California that have the Right to Die so that patients don’t have to live with depression, cancer and immobility would rather die quick in peace.