FREE ESSAY ON PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE

PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE

Kirk Mueller
Mr. Maclay
20th Century History
15 February 2001
Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide: Public Opinions 
Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (PAS) have been more widely accepted in the
last decade of the 1900's then any prior. In the United States, polls of citizens and
medical professionals have shown an increase in support of PAS and euthanasia. Physician
assisted suicide and euthanasia have been addressed by courts and state legislation. Even
though most religious groups still condemn this choice, the right to die has gained
support throughout the 1990's.
The American Medical Association's definition of Euthanasia is the administration of a
lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient's
intolerable pain and incurable suffering.# Euthanasia is a Greek word that means good
death. This word was diminished in Nazi Germany. In 1939 the Nazi's were some of the
first people to practice euthanasia. The Nazi's would put the mentally retarded,
physically challenged and citizens that they thought were suffering, to death. They used
euthanasia in their concentration camps and because of all of the mass murdering the
United States opinion polls went down.# 
There are two types of Euthanasia, passive and active. Active euthanasia is considered by
most people to be the doctor administering the drug. For instance doctors could prescribe
a medication for the patient that would act like a depressant and slow the 
heart beat down. They could also have a lethal injection that the patient would inject
into himself or herself. Passive euthanasia is thought of as withholding or with drawing
treatment by request of a patient. For instance when a respirator is withdrawn by
request, that is considered by most citizens to be passive euthanasia.#
More then half of the requests for physician assisted suicide come from the family
members.# During the latter part of the 20th century medical technology advanced in ways
that allowed doctors to prolong the lives of people who in earlier times would have died.
An example of the modern technology is Artificial Respirators and feeding tubes.
Artificial respirators help people breath that wouldn't normally and feeding tubes give
people who are unable to eat or swallow food and water.# 
The only state in the United States to legalize euthanasia and physician assisted suicide
was Oregon. Oregon was able to pass The Death with Dignity Act. This act, which was
passed in October of 1997, allowed terminally ill Oregon residents to receive a
prescription from their physicians to self administer lethal medications.# These lethal
medications would kill the person eventually and stop their suffering. Some of the
doctors feel that by prescribing these drugs that they could be accused of murder.# The
Oregon Health Division (OHD) observes the Death with Dignity Act annually. After the OHD
takes down the stats of how many people who died and how many people were prescribed
lethal drugs they make a public report. The OHD's first report stated that 23 people
received lethal drugs and 15 of those patients took the drug and successfully died. The
other eight didn't take the pill and of them six died from their illness and two were
still living as of January 1, 1999. Of the 15 suicides there were no problems.# 
The only problem found with the Death with Dignity Act was that there was no penalty for
the doctor not reporting a prescription of a lethal drug. If just one doctor didn't
report a prescription it would throw off the OHD's annual report.# Some citizens feel
that another problem is that the physicians are only allowed to prescribe oral drugs and
not lethal injections. Others feel that this is a good section of the Death with Dignity
Act but some have problems that no physician is forced into assisting in suicide. Doctors
can make the decision if they want to assist or not.# 
Washington and California tried to follow Oregon's example of the Death with Dignity Act
but the only thing that stopped the act from passing was the majority vote by the
citizens. California tried to pass the act for two years and after the first year the
percent of the supporters went up by 5% but just not enough to pass the act. Washington's
percent of supporters only went up 3%. Each state is home to Death with Dignity Education
centers.# 
The Supreme Court left the states to decide if Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia
were going to be legal or not. The only state to act on the freedom has been Oregon.#
Thirty-Five of the Fifty States have statutes criminalizing assisted suicide. Of them are
Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Nine states criminalize through common law. Some
of them are Maryland, Massachusetts and Nevada. North Carolina, Utah and Wyoming
abolished common laws against assisted suicide. In Ohio the state's Supreme Court stated
in 1996 that assisted suicide is not a crime and in Virginia there is no clear law
against assisted suicide.# 
The opponents of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have very good 
reasons for disliking euthanasia. Some critics are very concerned that if euthanasia is
legalized people could be prematurely put into suicide since diagnosis is sometimes
wrong. Critics also feel that if either one is legalized there would be pressure from
family members to euthanize the person so the hospital bill doesn't increase.# A third
reason the opponents dislike these potential laws is because they believe people will ask
to die for the wrong reasons.# One of the most popular groups that despise euthanasia is
the AMA. Two of there reasons for euthanasia not being legalized is that euthanasia is
against the medical profession. They say that it's against helping people get better. The
AMA also says that things can be done to ease the suffering of people and that euthanasia
is just one of the easy ways out.# 
The supporters of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide often have experienced a form
of protracted death. These supporters are made up of physicians, lawyers, ethicists and
ordinary citizens.# Supporters believe that it isn't possible to relieve all suffering so
that is why physician assisted suicide and euthanasia is necessary. Other times the
person's is in such a vegetative state that it is not worth living any longer.# Polls
show that the support of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have gone up from 60%
in1996 to 70% in 1998 and in the year 2000 it was at 80%.# Supporters are trying to get
the Supreme Court to legalize euthanasia but the Supreme Court has already made the
decision to leave that up to the states.
Many physicians feel that if euthanasia was legalized they would have trouble letting the
patients go. It would be troublesome because everyday they face death and their jobs are
to prolong life not cut it short.# In April of 1998 the New England Journal 
Of Medicine held a study, which found that a quarter of the doctors that were polled
would chose to be a part of euthanasia. These doctors felt that if a patient were to come
to them for a good reason they would be willing to prescribe him or her a lethal drug.#
Most physicians think that they should be the only ones who can prescribe these lethal
drugs.#
When ever a debate about euthanasia is brought up one of the main things that are
discussed is religion. Many Christens dislike suicide of any kind. Their two main
arguments are that life is a gift from god and god should be the only one to take it
away. Their second argument is if god supports people in suffering and to seek a person's
death would show a lack of trust in god. The Islamic religion believes that physician
assisted suicide and/or euthanasia is an inappropriate act and is very sac religious.#
Jehovah's Witnesses also believe that any type of suicide is sac religious.# Orthodox
Jews and Christians were seen in November of 1997, where they appeared in the Supreme
Court to support law's trying to ban euthanasia. One group that is very against
euthanasia is the Salvation Army. They believe that people do not have the right to
choose if they want to die. They're quoted by saying, Only God is [in control] over our
life and death...the grace of god con sustain through any ordeal or adversity.#
Humanists, non-Christians, and liberal Christians all support euthanasia. There two major
points for supporting euthanasia are a persons life is their own and they should have the
right to decide if they want to end it by committing suicide or seeking any sort of help.
There second reason for believing in euthanasia is any terminal illness can become
painful, so death can be a relief for the suffering. The Unitarian Universalist's 
(UU), a liberal religious group, support PAS and euthanasia only if they're guidelines.
Mennonites don't really take a pro or con side on the issue of euthanasia; they feel that
the decision is up to the state.# 
Opinion polls in the United States have found that a majority of Americans approve the
actions of Dr. Kevorkian.# CNN and USA Today took opinion polls in 1997, which found that
57% of the people were in favor of euthanasia and 35% were against it. Certain polls were
given in the West Coast to Washington, California and Oregon. In Washington the support
was at 46% in 1991 and rose. In California the percentage of support was at 46% in 1992
and that rose. In Oregon the percentage rose from 51% in 1994 to 60% in 1997. Polls were
also given in Canada, Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands. These polls which were
taken in 1995 showed an increase in Canada from 45% to 76%. In Britain and Australia the
percentage in favor of euthanasia was around 80. The Netherlands, which made euthanasia
legal, percentage was all the way up to 92%. #
Many US citizens feel that physician Assisted suicide and euthanasia are appropriate and
justified. Over the past few years in the 1990's support has gone up a great deal and
will most likely continue to rise over the years. Some physicians even feel that in some
cases it is necessary to pull the plug. Certain cases have been addressed in front of the
Supreme Court and many other court systems but never has the US been able to find
complete support in issues regarding euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Instead
of creating a law that will ban or keep it the Supreme Court has left it up to the
states. Maybe one day the citizens of the US will have the right to decide when the end 
of there life will come.
Bibliography
# Euthanasia, (Online) Available http://www.law.about.com/newsissues/
law/msub26.htm. 10 Dec. 2000.
# Charles Mckhann, A Time to Die (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) 54.
# Mckhann 100-101.
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# Analysis: Oregon's First Year Under the Death with Dignity Act, (Online)
Available http://www.iaetf.org/orrpt1.htm. 19 Dec. 2000.
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# Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, (Online) Available http://www.ohd.
hr.state.or.us/chs/pas/pas.htm. 2 Dec. 2000.
# Sue Woodman, Last Right: The Struggle over the Right to Die (New York: 
Plenum Trade, 1998) 146-47.
# Clarence Braddock, Physician-Assisted Suicide, (Online) Available http://
www.eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/biothics/topics/pan.htm. 3 Dec. 2000.
# Assisted Suicide Laws State by State, (Online) Available http://www.
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