Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Physician Assisted Suicide Euthanasia - A Sample Case Study

Question: Discuss possible revision to the medical code of ethics. Answer: The terms physician assisted suicide and euthanasia can be used interchangeably. But according to law, they are different. Euthanasia is defined as knowingly, intentionally and directly causing the death of a person while physician assisted suicide refers to the knowingly, intentionally and directly providing a person with means and ways to a person for death and that person can use that method to end his life. In this meeting I would like to state my stance regarding the issue that is if the official stance of euthanasia should be changed. First off, I would briefly delve into the three outlooks of morality. They are: Deontology This view states that some actions are prohibited and there are no conditions attached to them (Hooker, 2012). Regarding the debate of euthanasia or PSA, this view takes the form of the doctrine of Sanctity of Life. Basic moral rights According to this theory, every person owns herself or himself. This signifies that one can do as they want to which in turn leads to the theory that there is no existence of positive rights. The absolute negative right is that we cannot be harmed but the positive right to get help when we need it the most is lacking (Ernst Heilinger, 2012). Utilitarianism According to this view an action can only be deemed wrong when we have better alternatives in hand (Mori, 2015). Considering the hedonistic view of this theory, the wellbeing of individuals should be maximized in the whole universe. I would choose utilitarianism since it along with focusing on the patient, also focuses on the implications to be caused to the people on whom the decision will be prevailed. Now the question raised by the utilitarian view is if the patients should be relieved or should we be terrorized by the thought that for saving up some money our relatives would prefer the same way for us. According to me, euthanasia should be legalized even if it has its own demerits and can be misused. Suppose, if I get diagnosed with an incurable disease and my life expectancy is just a few months, I would definitely seek the physician assistance for suicide. Death is inevitable and hence, if I am provided with a way to die painless and peacefully, I am sure to grab on the offer. Choosing the Palliative Care route means benefits for a pharmaceutical company and why should they be benefitted from a patient who is terminally ill? The suicide philosophy can be considered to be a legitimate one and a human must have the right to live and die at his or her own free will (Luper, 2009). Again some patients might believe that they are done with their life and process of death and can ask for euthanasia or PSA for other reasons other than pain. Patients who are embarrassed at the thought of living and experiencing physical as well as mental decay should be given euthanasia. Furthermore, if the conditions of a person are determined to worsen with time they should not be forced to suffer and therefore, my stance on the issue is prochoice. References Ernst, G., Heilinger, J. (2012). The philosophy of human rights. Berlin: De Gruyter. Hooker, B. (2012). Developing deontology. Malden, MA: Wiley, Blackwell. Luper, S. (2009). The philosophy of death. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Mori, O. (2015). Axiomatic theories of utilitarianism and weak utilitarianism. Economics Letters, 137, 59-61. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2015.10.019

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