Physician Assisted Suicide: Legal, Ethical, and Medical Perspectives

This essay delves into the legal and ethical complexities of physician-assisted suicide, examining the key differences between physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. It explores the legal issues, such as the right to die with dignity, malpractice concerns, and the role of government and healthcare providers in protecting patient rights. The essay also addresses the ethical dimensions, including the moral duties of medical professionals, patient autonomy, and the potential for conflicts between patient requests and medical ethics. References to key academic sources are provided, offering a comprehensive overview of the debates and perspectives surrounding physician-assisted suicide and its increasing prevalence in medical practices.

Physician Assisted Suicide
Legal and Ethical Issues
12/15/2019

Legal and Ethical issues in Physician Assisted suicide
Assisted suicide or physician-assisted suicide is popularly known as mercy death in the
world, this term became popular in 1992, when proposed legislation to allow assisted suicide
as legal right got failed in several countries but it become legally accepted in 1997 and after
that many cases are reported where people are using this legal right for an end in their life to
get rid of some unbearable pain or issues in their body. Physician-assisted suicide is different
from the euthanasia, these two have very much differences in their practice and process, some
legal and ethical issues are supposed to be presented in the medical area, these are affecting
overall practice and utilization of assisted suicide practices (Emanuel, Onwuteaka-Philipsen,
Urwin, & Cohen, 2016). This paper will discuss legal and ethical issues affecting assisted
suicide;
Legal issues of assisted suicide
Terminally ill patient, face very critical and severe pain, this situation sometimes cause
psychological thinking in one’s mind to assume committing suicide is better than living in the
pain. Assisted suicide is a point of serious discussion because death is a very bad phase
ending the life of a person, and people normally wish to live a long and healthy life (Upshur,
2016). Hence taking a decision to end life and allowing one to end life is a big point for
serious concern. Legal issues in assisted suicide are related to the malpractice and ignorant
behavior in the health care services, right to live with dignity is assumed as the legal rights
and society also assume that protection of this right is legal duty of the government and
health care service providers but in case of any severe pain and incurable diseases right to die
with dignity is also a legal right and government is same responsible to protect the interest of
its citizen but it should be only allowed after full medical investigation and clear acceptance

of family member and person who is in the stage of critical situation where one feel assisted
suicide is better option for him (Bernat & McQuillen, 2017).

Ethical issues of assisted suicide
medical and health care sector is a field based on the foundation of ethics and trust-building
actions performed by the professionals because their main aim is to save one's life at any cost
and to provide a patient healthy living by curing their ill-health issues, assisted suicide is a
dark corner where doctors and nurses feel helpless to save their patient and they agree to
allow end of life as better option for him (Quill, Back, & Block, 2016). Nursing and medical
have moral and ethical duties towards their profession sometimes patients facing challenges
become restless and impatient for their doctors treatment and demand assisted suicide,
doctors understand the seriousness of one's illness and they better knew the situation where
the decision needed to be taken for the welfare of patients but patient and their member
sometimes see this as the step of doctors to save their dignity and goodwill, hence patient
blame his doctors for violating their legal rights.
Conclusion
Physician-assisted suicide is defiantly a challenging step for doctors and they assume it their
failure but legal rights and patients force on them make situations more critical in spite of
these all doctors’ tries to save and maintain one's life in healthy living. Many factors affect
the practice of assisted suicide and this concept in the present time becoming very popular in
the advocacy area of medical practices.

References
Bernat, J. L., & McQuillen, M. P. (2017). Physician-assisted death in chronic neurologic diseases.
1488-1489.
Emanuel, E. J., Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D., Urwin, J. W., & Cohen, J. (2016). Attitudes and practices
of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Jama,
79-90.
Quill, T. E., Back, A. L., & Block, S. D. (2016). Responding to patients requesting physician-assisted
death: physician involvement at the very end of life. Jama, 245-246.
Upshur, R. (2016). Unresolved issues in Canada's law on physician-assisted dying. The Lancet, 545-
547.