Ethics: Doctor-Assisted Suicide

[Delta4Embassy]

Thing on CNN's 'crawl' a few days ago mentioned Belgium considering making it legal for children with terminal illnesses to request euthanasia. oogling around for more information, The Netherlands already allows children as young as 12 to request suicide (with their parents' consent.)

Is this ethical? I would say it isn't. I conceed though often times our objections to suicide are more for our own comfort than the patient's, but giving this option to people just feels wrong.

 

[Noomi]

As long as they are of sound mind and able to make such a decision, I have no issue with it. Why shouldn't the terminally ill or permanently disabled have the right to choose when and how they die?

 

[Vox]

Thing on CNN's 'crawl' a few days ago mentioned Belgium considering making it legal for children with terminal illnesses to request euthanasia. oogling around for more information, The Netherlands already allows children as young as 12 to request suicide (with their parents' consent.)

Is this ethical? I would say it isn't. I conceed though often times our objections to suicide are more for our own comfort than the patient's, but giving this option to people just feels wrong.

No, it is not.

It is not ethical to demand someone else to kill you.

you want to commit suicide - that is your choice.

don't demand anybody else to do it for you.

 

[Katzndogz]

It is n"t ethical and violates the doctor's oath to do no harm.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Thing on CNN's 'crawl' a few days ago mentioned Belgium considering making it legal for children with terminal illnesses to request euthanasia. oogling around for more information, The Netherlands already allows children as young as 12 to request suicide (with their parents' consent.)

Is this ethical? I would say it isn't. I conceed though often times our objections to suicide are more for our own comfort than the patient's, but giving this option to people just feels wrong.

No, it is not.

It is not ethical to demand someone else to kill you.

you want to commit suicide - that is your choice.

don't demand anybody else to do it for you.

Interesting point. Hadn't considered it like that. You're right.

 

[Jackson]

Actually, killing is wrong whether it is if yourself or others. However, prolonging your life artificially with treatment is not necessary. If you find you have cancer, and wish to die, deny treatment and just take the medication to ease the pain. That is a natural death.

 

[Chuckt]

As long as they are of sound mind and able to make such a decision, I have no issue with it. Why shouldn't the terminally ill or permanently disabled have the right to choose when and how they die?

What if they have children and a responsibility?

My stepsister didn't want the full chemotherapy treatment and the doctor predicted the cancer would come back in ten years and the cancer came back with a vengeance and killed her.

What about Steve Jobs and people like him? He took the naturalistic way to fight cancer and it killed him.

Is the decision then rational?

 

[Delta4Embassy]

It is n"t ethical and violates the doctor's oath to do no harm.

Surprisingly, though pop culture states otherwise, the Hippocratic Oath doesn't include the line "do no harm..." Reading about this curiousity it's because surgery for example involves doing harm to effect a cure as with cutting open the patient. The oath has changed too over the millenia reflecting changes in ethics and technology.

Hippocratic Oath: Modern Version

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

—Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.

 

[Ringel05]

Actually, killing is wrong whether it is if yourself or others. However, prolonging your life artificially with treatment is not necessary. If you find you have cancer, and wish to die, deny treatment and just take the medication to ease the pain. That is a natural death.

While I am conflicted over this question some cancers develop to a point where even the strongest pain medications no longer have any affect and the pain becomes unbearable. There's also the issue of insurance, most will not pay out if the death is considered a suicide.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

"The worst pain is still better than the best being dead." Me.

 

[rdean]

Republicans don't care if someone dies. They just want it to be painful and happen after birth.

 

[Ringel05]

Republicans don't care if someone dies. They just want it to be painful and happen after birth.

How insipidly predictable.

 

[R.D.]

Thing on CNN's 'crawl' a few days ago mentioned Belgium considering making it legal for children with terminal illnesses to request euthanasia. oogling around for more information, The Netherlands already allows children as young as 12 to request suicide (with their parents' consent.)

Is this ethical? I would say it isn't. I conceed though often times our objections to suicide are more for our own comfort than the patient's, but giving this option to people just feels wrong.

No, it is not.

It is not ethical to demand someone else to kill you.

you want to commit suicide - that is your choice.

don't demand anybody else to do it for you.

Thís!

Plus it's an oxymoron.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

We should all care when ever anyone dies, even our enemies. But hastening that moment when its' arrival is assured is folly. Instead of making death easier, how about making pain easier to alleviate, or better still, diseases less life-threatening. I worry about how things like doctor-assisted suicide effects medicine as a whole. If we make it socially acceptable to die and help others suffering to die aren't we in the process making death more acceptable than life? I wouldn't oppose those suffering from opting for suicide at home, aided by their families, but medicine is about curing and healing, not killing. Putting doctors in this position is very worrisome.

 

[Vox]

We should all care when ever anyone dies, even our enemies. But hastening that moment when its' arrival is assured is folly. Instead of making death easier, how about making pain easier to alleviate, or better still, diseases less life-threatening. I worry about how things like doctor-assisted suicide effects medicine as a whole. If we make it socially acceptable to die and help others suffering to die aren't we in the process making death more acceptable than life? I wouldn't oppose those suffering from opting for suicide at home, aided by their families, but medicine is about curing and healing, not killing. Putting doctors in this position is very worrisome.

I do not think there will be many willing.

and we already have hospice which is if run appropriately IS alleviating the pain and making the inevitable dignified and with lesser strain.

to some degree hospice is already assisted suicide( with obvious stretch)

 

[Vox]

It is n"t ethical and violates the doctor's oath to do no harm.

Surprisingly, though pop culture states otherwise, the Hippocratic Oath doesn't include the line "do no harm..." Reading about this curiousity it's because surgery for example involves doing harm to effect a cure as with cutting open the patient. The oath has changed too over the millenia reflecting changes in ethics and technology.

Hippocratic Oath: Modern Version

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

—Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.

Primum non nocere is a principle described by Hippocrates but not in the Oath but in his Epidemics, Bk. I, Sect. XI. One translation reads: "Declare the past, diagnose the present, foretell the future; practice these acts. As to diseases, make a habit of two things — to help, or at least to do no harm." The Greek "First, do no harm" becomes "Primum non nocere" in Latin. A translation of the original perhaps, but some sources attribute "Primum non nocere" to the Roman physician, Galen.

 

[waltky]

DEATH WITH DIGNITY...

Canadian Supreme Court greenlights assisted suicide
Sun, Jan 17, 2016 - DEATH WITH DIGNITY: The ruling allows doctor-assisted suicide to begin under certain conditions and gives the government four months to make a law

The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday ruled to allow doctor-assisted suicide across the country under certain circumstances, while giving the government more time to pass a law governing the practice. The decision came as officials confirmed that a patient had already been helped to die in the French-speaking province of Quebec. The court had overturned a ban on assisted suicide in February last year, putting Canada in the company of a handful of Western countries to make it legal. However, it had said the decision would not take effect for a year, giving the government time to produce legislation.

The work got off schedule because of the October election and the defeat of the Conservative government by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. The newly elected justice minister had asked for the decision to be suspended for an extra six months. Instead, the court gave the go-ahead for assisted suicide to begin now under certain conditions and granted the federal government four more months to come up with a national law. The Canadian government said it respected the judgement and the additional time would help it develop an approach “that protects the most vulnerable among us, while respecting the inherent dignity of all Canadians.”

Polls show physician-assisted suicide has broad support, but the issue has divided politicians in the Canadian Parliament as they grapple with how to protect vulnerable Canadians while respecting their rights and choices at the end of life. The court ruled doctors would be allowed to facilitate the death of patients in Quebec, which had already put its own law into effect in December. Since the change in provincial law on Dec. 10, one person carried out an assisted suicide in Quebec City, a spokeswoman for the health and social services center for the Quebec City region said in an e-mail.

There is no way to say whether this was the first assisted-suicide under the new laws as Quebec does not currently keep such statistics, said Joanne Beauvais, a spokeswoman for Quebec Minister of Health Gaetan Barrette. The Supreme Court ruling said people outside Quebec can apply to their provincial superior court for judicial authorization “to those who wish to exercise their rights” to doctor-assisted death. Friday’s decision was split 5-4, with Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and three others disagreeing with giving an exemption to Quebec and to other individuals.

Canadian Supreme Court greenlights assisted suicide - Taipei Times

 

[Jackson]

Republicans don't care if someone dies. They just want it to be painful and happen after birth.

You never fail to surprise me with your filth.

 

[amrchaos]

I don't understand the op here...

I always though a person can choose to kill him/herself because their life belongs to them and only them.

Requesting Euthanasia is a demand for aid to kill oneself? How did we get here? If I requested to die and need assistance, only those willing to aid me will come, not someone being forced by the courts.

A question of ethics? That depend on YOUR ethics. I think there is question of ethics in forcing someone to stay alive when they wish to die. Also, there is the case of Honor suicides in which one person decides to take his life after ruining their reputation. I really wish more politicians would practice this.

I guess the idea that life is a gift is part of the reasoning. But is it really a gift if that life is filled with soul-rendering events and deep dark depression? Or could it become a curse in which never existing is preferrable.

Each life is different.

 

[Mudda]

People who are against Doctor-Assisted Suicide shouldn't get a doctor to help them.
Doctors who are against Doctor-Assisted Suicide shouldn't help others end their lives. And nobody is going to force anyone to do it against their will.
People who are against Doctor-Assisted Suicide on religious principal and don't want anyone to do it are self-righteous morons who should mind their own business.