The Right to Die
Number of pages:
8
ABSTRACT:
This is an 8 page paper discussing the medical and legal issues involved with a patient’s “right to die”. The “right to die” for a patient has long been considered an ethical issue and was not considered feasible until modern medicine and laws allowed for the possibility of patients to consider physician assisted suicide. Supporters of physician assisted suicide believe that patients have the right to make their own informed decisions about their medical treatment which may include physician assisted suicide if they are suffering and have a terminal illness. Opponents believe that to legally allow for physician assisted suicide begins the path down a slippery slope and in cases where comatose patients are considered does not protect the most vulnerable members of society when family members and physicians decide their fate where other factors not for the sake of the patient, such as financial concerns, are weighed against what is considered an acceptable level of life. Physician assisted suicide does exist however and in all cases, several issues must be addressed to respect the patient’s medical options, informed decision making, psychological well being, and in some cases the right to chose death over circumstance which should not be denied by the courts.
Bibliography lists 10 sources.
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File: D0_TJright1.rtf
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