Health Ethics: The Role of Physicians in Assisted Dying - Course Name

This essay delves into the ethical considerations surrounding physician-assisted dying, particularly for terminally ill patients. It argues for the role of physicians in assisting patients in end-of-life care when they are suffering and have no hope of recovery. The essay highlights the importance of this issue within healthcare, referencing the distress and burden that end-of-life care can place on patients and their families. It discusses the legal aspects, including the recent legalization of physician-assisted death in Canada, and addresses ethical dilemmas such as ensuring the right to palliative care. The essay uses several references to support its arguments and provides a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Running head: HEALTH ETHICS
HEALTH ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Thesis statement: Terminally ill patients should be assisted and allowed by the physician to die
with dignity and integrity.
Position statement: In this paper I will argue for the role of Physicians in assisted dying
for the terminally ill-patients.
Importance of this issue in health care sector
This topic is of immense importance in health care sector due to the fact that many
individuals are worried about the end of life care as inappropriate treatment and disease burden
can be physically and emotionally harmful and draining for the patients and families (Landry,
Foreman & Kekewich, 2015). Hence, in certain cases, medical aid in dying can be considered to
be justifiable.
Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia are often some terms that popular media use for
describing the practicing of using medical aid in dying. These terms can be misleading and can
often be factually incorrect (Downar et al.,2014). Physician assisted death can be referred to a
practice, where a physician intentionally provides lethal medication to a terminally ill patient.
This is mainly done as per the request of the patient itself in case the pain is intolerable or there
is no chance left for improvement. Physician assisted death is only the last resort, when all the
treatment has failed. Physician assisted dying has been made legal in Canada in June 2016, after
a new legislation has been passed in the parliament. The unanimous judgment of the Supreme
Court of Canada reversed the legal prohibition on doctor assisted suicide (De Lima et al., 2016).
This position statement can be confronted with some ethical dilemma like what conditions can
make an individual, entitled for a doctor aided dying or to what extent should a distress be
considered as tolerable or how can one ensure that doctor aided death is for all the patients (De

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Lima et al., 2016). It is necessary to ensure that authorization of doctor assisted death does not
compromise the palliative care services provided to a terminally ill individual.

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References
De Lima, L., Woodruff, R., Pettus, K., Downing, J., Buitrago, R., Munyoro, E., ... & Radbruch,
L. (2017). International association for hospice and Palliative Care position statement:
Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide. Journal of palliative medicine, 20(1), 8-14.
Downar, J., Bailey, T. M., Kagan, J., & Librach, S. L. (2014). Physician-assisted death: time to
move beyond Yes or No. CMAJ, 186(8), 567-568.
Landry, J. T., Foreman, T., & Kekewich, M. (2015). Ethical considerations in the regulation of
euthanasia and physician-assisted death in Canada. Health policy, 119(11), 1490-1498.