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Understanding The Details Of Physician Aided Death

By Ruthie Calderon


Most do not want to talk or think about death, even if it is their own. A controversial topic in the medical industry, around the globe, is assisted suicide. This terminology is used when referred to suicide that is done with the help of physicians. Usually they provide the necessary supplies and information knowing the intent of the patients. Another term commonly used to describe this process is physician aided death.

This type of aid may come in different forms. Sometimes it is when the doctors given counseling to patients about the dosages of drugs they know to be lethal. They might go a further step and prescribe the supply or dosage patients need. This type of assisted dying is not the same as mercy killings or euthanasia. In both those situations, physicians administer death through application of lethal drugs.

This is something that patients request and then agree to. Typically they are the ones to administer the lethal activity. A lot of people choose this option. The topic itself brings up things like law, morals, society, ethics and religion. After all, this essentially involves suicide and murder.

It might be hard for people to understand why a person might choose to die in this matter. Most people who feel this way have a life-limiting or chronic illness. They may have lost hope in living a happy life again or having control. The pain and discomfort cannot be fixed through what is offered in modern medicine. The request of aided death may be the only way a person feels that he or she has control again. They can decide on when and how they die.

This is a legal practice in certain regions, including Japan, Australia and Columbia. Most other areas have outlawed this controversial practice. People who are in pain and suffering greatly might feel as if this in the only solution they have. They might even welcome death, despite the wishes of their loved ones.

A lot of patients who are in these situations want an improved quality of life. They might feel as if they cannot achieve it. Sometimes the physical suffering is just too much. They may be frustrated knowing there are no solutions available to them, no treatments that doctors can give them to make them better. In some cases, they already have a shortened life expectancy and waiting around to die is not ideal.

Medical ethics, roles of physicians, public safety, religious ethics, slippery slope, and prejudice against the disabled are just some of the things that opponents make note of. People need to learn what they can about this through adequate research. There are plenty of sources of information on this topic. People should consider the arguments posed by proponents and opponents. Stories of people who made this decision can be informational.

Knowledge is key when it comes to forming an opinion on this. Many do not agree with this, but many do. Those who disagree may not know what it feels like to have the mental and physical struggle that people who make this decision have. They are often chronically and terminally ill, and feel hopeless. Suicide, in any form, may be difficult for people to accept.




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