As medical technology has developed over time, sometimes it can be a controversial topic for us how we all humans are supposed to live our own lives. Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) is an agreement that allows the patient not to struggle against their disease anymore; unlike the majority of states, Oregon has made this practice legal, establishing it in October, 1997. Additionally, the vote was close. (51% to 49%) (Enouen) As we might think, it was a dilemma whether it’s okay that doctors help their patients die.
Although the opponents disagree, PAS has 3 main benefits to a terminally ill patients; relief of suffering, lightened of medical expenses, and control our own destinies. The opponents basically bring up three reasons why they disagree with PAS. First of all, they insist the definition of how doctors are supposed to be. According to the dictionary, it describes as “someone who is trained to treat people who are ill. ” (qtd. In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) They are in the position which helps patients.
They need to keep trying to cure their patients, and it is a supposedly impermissible thing that they admit the requests which their patients want to give up their treatments and end their lives. Therefore, PAS is unacceptable for all of us. Second of all, they state that the pressure which affects patients. As the term that they are hospitalized is getting longer, some of them start worrying about others such as their partners or families. Other than that, they might feel isolation from the social. We can’t tell that they really want to end their life, for they may just concern about those things.
Consequently, it’s not always reliability when they want PAS. Third of all, they assert that many physicians can’t deal with this kind of requests very well. In fact, there are several problems of the lethal medicines. According to the survey, some physicians have experienced that kind of issues. For instance, although they gave the patients a lethal medicine, they threw up after taking it or didn’t pass out. Moreover, the term that the medicine actually works is uncertain; some of them didn’t fall into a coma even though it had been for a long time since they take them.
(Johanna et al. ) As a result, we shouldn’t allow PAS. However, what if the end of life is the best solution that we really want? There are several reasons that we need PAS as well. To begin with, of course, patients who have the terminally ill have unbelievable pains with their bodies. Is it the ideal things that live our lives putting up with those pains in the hospital? Hence, we don’t need to fight against with them although we know that it’ll be never cured. We need something that we can escape from those pains which is continuously and incurable.
Keeping enduring our diseases until we die is not what we want to do when we end our lives. We should let it be up to patients, and doctors should allow what they hope. Next, the amount of the medical expenses can be a big burden of the patients. Those costs are surprisingly expensive. Some patients get debts to pay their terminally ill. According to a survey of the price of medical treatment for a patient who has a breast cancer, the surgery costs approximately $55,000 although she can’t live more than a month. (Meyer) Obviously, the price is not cheap; so, PAS may be helpful for us. In addition, we should have the right that controls our own lives.
We are allowed freedom which we can choose what we want to do in our lives. Even if it is such an important decision of alive or dead, our destinies should be controlled by ourselves; the decision-making authority should be on our hands. As long as we want PAS and decide to stop having treated anymore, no one should be able to stop us. Hence, we should accept PAS. To sum up, PAS is the commitment that doctors help patients to pass away using specific lethal medicines or equipments.
In this point of view, indeed, it’s different from enthusing. (“Assisted suicide”) It has a lot of opinions of both agree and disagree all over the world. The opponents state that it goes against the definition of “doctor”, the decision of patients may be unreliable, and an effect of the medicines is unclear so that many physicians hesitate to provide them. On the other hand, the supports insist that we should be able to escape from unbelievable pains, some patients can’t manage their medical bills, and we have the right to choose our futures. Finally, I, personally, agree with PAS.
These days, the medical technics are growing rapidly day by day, so many opportunities that we face a lot of exceptions which we have never considered before are coming up. Therefore, we need to accept those changings, but it doesn’t mean that we always should agree with all of new things. To coexist with those high advanced treatments, we should ponder what our truly happiness are, and then, we must think about carefully whether those technologies can fit our lives or not.
In my opinion, the definition of dictionary can be changed together with the changing the view that is for coexist with those high technics, so I think providing treatment is the only thing that doctors have to do. Otherwise, although the speed of the developing technics can’t stop, can we really use the definition which made while those things hadn’t existed yet? Also, the effect of patients’ pressure can be solved in many ways. For example, they might get treated by a psychiatrist. In addition, examining what kind of characteristics the patient has can be helpful for physician.
They may need opportunities to report what kind of patients they had experienced. Those opinions can affect at the development of the medicines. I don’t think it’s what we are supposed to do that enduring a lot of intolerable pains which is not necessary to live forever and feeling ourselves being a burden of our family until the end of the life. It’s much better if we can make our lives meaningful and enjoyable at least a little bit even if we know that we can’t live so long. In terms of that, I think PAS is a good idea for us because it sets us free from a stereotype thinking that killing people is always not allowed.
I believe that occasionally, there must be some situations that we have to admit it. As long as there is a fact that some patients who have ill which will be never cured, and they want to end their lives, we need to respect them and accept that decisions. Therefore, we need PAS. Works Cited Enouen, Susan W. “OREGON’S ENTHHANASIA LAW” LIFE ISSUES INSTITUTE 2013 31 May. 2013 http://www. lifeissues. org/euthanasia/oregons_law. htm Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English LONGMAN 2003 31 May. 2013 Johanna H.
Groenewoud, Agnes van der Heide, Bregje D. Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Dick L. Willems, Paul J.van der Maas, and Gerrit van der Wal. “Clinical Problems with the Performance of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the Netherlands” The NEW ENGLAND JORNAL of MEDICINE Feb. 24. 2000 31 May. 2013 http://www. nejm. org/doi/full/10. 1056/NEJM200002243420805#t=articleBackground +and+Methods Meyer, Richard “The cost of keeping the terminally ill alive” medpagetoday Dec. 16, 2010 4 June. 2013 The cost of keeping the terminally ill alive “Assisted suicide” WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia 4 June. 2013 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Assisted_suicide#Organizations_in_support_of_assisted_ suicide.