Physician Assisted Suicide

Dalana Govan
Argument Project Final Draft

You may be against physician assisted suicide now, but what about
when your mother is diagnosed with terminal breast cancer or your
grandfather is diagnosed with Parkinsons with uncontrolled tremors that
prevent him from doing his own personal cares, and every movement caused
unbearable pain? What if you were in a horrific car accident that changed
your life, the way you live, your ability to care for yourself, having to rely on
family, friends, unknown caregivers coming and going and always changing?
Watching someone you love with a terminal illness suffer unnecessarily is a
life changing experience. I watched my grandmother slowly succumb to
congestive heart failure, and lung cancer. Unfortunately, the last year of my
grandmothers life was full of doctor appointments, needless tests that did
nothing but cause more problems than good, and handfuls of medications
that only prolonged her suffering. A few years later I became a full-time
caregiver to my own father that was dying with terminal stomach cancer.
Over a six-month period, I watched the cancer rapidly spread throughout his
body. He went from working full time driving a dump truck to having to rely
on me and my mom for everything in a matter of a month after his diagnosis.
If I was told that I only had a year to live, but during that year I would be in
horrific, uncontrolled pain and I would have to rely on someone for every
need, twenty-four hours seven days a week; I would want the option to
choose to end not only my suffering but my families as well.
Physician Assisted suicide is where a doctor prescribes a lethal dose of
medication that the patient can pick up at a pharmacy and take at a time of

their choosing. Currently physician assisted suicide can only be practiced in

six states Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act in 1994, Washington
passed their act in 2008, Montana 2009, Vermont 2013, California 2015 and
most recently Colorado 2016 (ProCon.org, 2015). All though its not so cut
and dry, there are many stipulations that patients need to meet before they
can be prescribed the medication to end their life. As the law is written as of
2014, for a patient to qualify for physician assisted suicide they must have a
diagnosis from two physicians stating the patient will parish within six
months. The patients must also make three requests to their physician, two
oral and one written. The last step is the attending physician must offer to
stop the process, which the patient must refuse. Surprisingly a mental health
professional only becomes involved when the attending doctor believes the
patient is suffering from depression causing impaired judgement (Johnson,
Cramer, Conroy, & Gardner, 2014). Of course, there is going to be some
depression with the terminally ill. But there comes a time when continued
attempts to cure are neither compassionate or medically sound for the
patient.
Out of all the applications for physician assisted suicide, quality of life
and loss of dependence is marked one hundred percent of the time.
Reasons for Seeking Physician Assisted Suicide shows that an estimated
forty to seventy percent of patients die in pain, another fifty to sixty percent
die feeling short of breath and sadly ninety percent end up in nursing homes
(Morrow, 2016). But, how do the family members fill about a loved one

choosing to end their life? Many patients and families find comfort knowing
that it will be them that choose how their life will end. Ganzini, (2008) states
that the family members of patients who do request assisted suicide support
the choice (Ganzini, 2008) . Death is never easy, its an absolute ending, but
in the end, it still should be the patients right to choose to end their life with
dignity. Physician assisted suicide would not only benefit the patients that
choose to end their life, it would also provide reassurance to millions of
Americans who could choose to spare their family the burden of endless care
taking. Angela Morrow, RN (2016) points out we have made great strides in
improving end of life care through palliative care and hospice programs, but
sometimes its just not enough (Morrow, 2016). Providing dying patients
with compassionate care and dignity is hard work. It frequently requires
monitoring and adjusting pain medication, having to clean people who can
no longer control their bladders or bowels, feeding and dressing people when
their every movement is painful and difficult.
All though critics of physician assisted suicide fear that people would
be pressured into killing themselves because they or their loved ones could
not afford end of life care. A new study done by the University of
Pennsylvania shows that only a few have selected to use physician assisted
suicide. Surprisingly patients dont choose assisted suicide because of pain,
they choose it because they want the same control over their deaths that
they had over their lives, people want a dignified death (Burling, 2016).
Diane Meier who is a professor of geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine

states, the right to die movement has gained momentum, people who are
sixty-five and older are the fastest growing population in the United States,
Canada, and much of Europe the movement to legalize assisted suicide is
driven by the worried well; people who are terrified of the unknown and
want to take back control (Aviv, 2015). Working in the home health field I
often hear from my own clients that they fill like a burden on their families
and just want theirs and their families suffering to end.
Dr. Richard Wesley has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This incurable
disease destroys the muscles and leaves the mind intact. He lives with the
knowledge that an untimely death is chasing him down but takes comfort in
knowing that he can decide exactly when, where and how he will die. Dr.
Wesley states, I dont know if Ill use the medication to end my life. But I do
know that it is my life, it is my death and it should be my choice (Wesley,
2012). Ultimately it is the patients right to choose how they will die. If a
patient is of sound mind and they fully understand what choices are
available. Who are we, as a society to tell the dying they do not have the
right to make their own choice that they should just deal with it? Most often
than not, when someone hears the word suicide the response is thats
selfish, or thats the easy way out. I believe physician assisted suicide
should be legalized everywhere, unless you have been through the exact
same thing, you dont know what that patient is going through or what they
have experienced. As humans, we have a voice, we know right from wrong.

We all should have a choice to die with dignity just as we have a choose how
to live.

Refrences

Aviv, R. (2015, June 22). The Death Treatment.

Burling, S. (2016). Few Seek Help in Dying, Study Finds. Philadelphia Inquirer, p A.2.
Ganzini, L. G. (2008). Why Oregon Patient Request assisted death: family members
view. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 154-157.
Johnson, S., Cramer, R., Conroy, M. A., & Gardner, B. (2014). The Role of and
Challenges for Psychologists in Physician Assisted Suicide. Death Studies, 7.

Morrow, A. R. (2016, August 10). Reasons for Seeking Physician Assisted Suicide.
Pavalt, E. (2006). Pulling the Plug. Crisis Magazine, 12-18.
ProCon.org. (2015). State by State Guide to Physician Assisted Suicide. Retrieved
from ProCon.org.
Wesley, D. R. (2012, Aug 11). In Ill Doctor, a Surprise Reflection of Who Picks
Assisted Suicide. (K. Hafner, Interviewer)

Reflection:

My first goal was finding a topic to do the project on. I wanted to pick
something that I fill passionate about, something I have some experience
with and something that would be interesting. All though death and suicide
are not interesting subjects, its something that everyone eventually must
deal with. I choose physician assisted suicide because of my life experiences
and because of my career choice. Many people have never heard of
physician assisted suicide so I want to explain what It is and where it is legal.
My focus is the effect on patients that are forced to suffer. I also want to
focus on the families, friends and caregivers that have the thankless job of
providing great care to the patients. I wanted to include how doctors felt
about physician assisted suicide, but could not find adequate research. Over
all I enjoyed doing this project, I found a lot of useful information. Before I
started this project, I was on the fence about assisted suicide. After doing my
research and reading the personal stories of patients I am totally for
physician assisted suicide if the patients meet the criteria. I believe it should
be legal everywhere.