Bioethics is continually revolutionizing in the today's world owing to the increase in the level of technology used in biology. Modern researchers are working round the clock to come up with different ways of improving the human race and making their stay worthwhile. The efforts are meant to alleviate suffering among the human beings, although they may not appear so when they are implemented in the field of research and particularly in biology. One of the products of the investigation by the renowned researchers in the world is the issue of physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Eponymous to the matters name, a physician is involved in prescribing the methods that can help an individual patient commit suicide and end their suffering and those of their close relatives and friends (CNN Library, 2017).
PAS may not be a welcome idea to all the people in the world as it raises ethical concerns such as the violation of the doctors' code of conduct which highlights on the care according to the patients and the expectations on the doctors such as the practice of beneficence. The society may also regard PAS as murder (Gamondi, Borasio, Oliver, Preston, & Payne, 2017). On the other side of the spectrum, PAS may benefit the patients and their closest family members and friends by reducing their suffering (Quill, Back, & Block, 2016). Therefore, in my point of view, PAS has more benefits than the disadvantages it causes.
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The following are the ethical principles addressing physician-assisted suicide. The first principle is justice. Conventionally, justice is the practice of impartiality and fairness when dealing with an issue or a case (Edmonds, 2010). In the case of bioethics, a field much influenced by technology and the need to take the shortest time possible for a patient to cater for the other patients as well. According to Emanuel, Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Urwin, & Cohen (2016), medical practitioners must be just in the procedures all the time as they cater or the patients. Also, justice is essential in dealing with their colleagues at the job place, and even in their dealings with the trusted relatives and family members of the patients, they are handling at a given time. It is just for a healthcare professional to help a particular patient commit suicide if the patient is willing to do so to end their suffering. The primary reason for the justice in such a scenario is that the patient has a say in what is to be done to him or her.
The second principle is beneficence. Ordinarily, beneficence is the generous act of benefiting someone else by performing kind deeds on them (Snyder Sulmasy, & Mueller, 2017). According to Hartwell & Gagan (2016), the ability of people to clear medical bills is dependent on their financial capability. Financial capability is different from one family to another. Most of the people who require PAS have had families with troubles of updating their medical bills due to their economic setbacks. The longevity of the hospital stay for the patients suggests that they will be spending more in the hospitals which leads to the accumulation of more bills. Barry (2017), in connection to Hartwell & Gagan (2016), a physician dealing with a patient who requires PAS may find it reasonable to help the patient who is ready to sacrifice their family for the welfare of his or her family. Therefore, the acts of beneficence as an ethical principle support the physicians' action of helping a patient with PAS.
The third principle is respect for autonomy. Autonomy, in convention, is the ability of someone to think about something they need to do without being influenced by the outside forces (Tucker, 2014). According to Connolly, Galvin, & Hardiman (2015), when patients request for PAS, in most cases they have pondered on it profoundly and found it to be the only option that will help them out. In such a scenario. The physicians have no otherwise than to help the patients get done with the issue of their suffering and that of their close family members and friends suffering by assisting them with the methods of committing suicide. Therefore, in observing the patients autonomy, it is right for a physician to conduct PAS on a patient who needs it (Snyder Sulmasy, & Mueller, 2017).
Somerville (2014) discredits PAS as a harmful way of helping patients recover from their suffering. The article, in what Somerville (2014) regards as a death talk, argues that physician-assisted suicide is a professionally wrong method of alleviating human suffering. Additionally, the ethics of the medical profession are against the murder of the patients. Battin, Rhodes & Silvers (2015) expands the debate by opposing Somerville (2014) in the view of PAS being a harmful way of reducing the suffering of the human beings. The article extrapolates on the reasons for the conduction of PAS by explaining that most of the patients have no access to proper care due to their poverty. That means that they have to think of ways to end their suffering such as PAS. Poverty is also associated with their despair and the urge to commit suicide.
Care (2018) represents the societal view on physician-assisted death. Most of the societies believe that the taking away of people's lives should not be done by fellow human beings. For instance, the Christian principles are against the commitment of murder, which may look like the doctor's intention when they assist a patient to commit suicide (Sharp, 2018). FRICK (2015) provides a different approach to the society's feelings about voluntary PAS. Frick (2015) stresses the fact that an act is wrong only if there are complaints about the failure to deal with the problem. Therefore, the conduction of the physician-assisted suicide is right since the physicians are driven by their feelings of beneficence to commit such acts.
Conclusively, PAS is a highly debated bioethical issue. In as much as the society viewed physician-assisted suicide as a death case and meant to harm the people involved, the process is conducted on the patients to save their agony and alleviate their suffering. Ongoing debate across the globe regarding PAS has like to some countries legalizing it while the others are refusing to authorize the action since it may raise ethical issues. All the same, it is clear that since the patients themselves request PAS, the medical professionals do not commit any rimes when they grant the former's wishes.
References
Barry, R. (2017). Breaking the thread of life: on rational suicide . Routledge.
Battin, M. P., Rhodes, R., & Silvers, A. (2015). Physician assisted suicide: expanding the
debate . Routledge.
Care, I. P. (2018). Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. Issues , 2017 .
CNN Library. (2017, June 10). Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts| CNN . Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/physician-assisted-suicide-fast-facts/index.html
Connolly, S., Galvin, M., & Hardiman, O. (2015). End-of-life management in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The Lancet Neurology , 14 (4), 435-442.
Edmonds, M. (2010, July 6). What is justice? Retrieved from https://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-justice.htm
Emanuel, E. J., Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D., Urwin, J. W., & Cohen, J. (2016). Attitudes and Practices of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the United States, Canada, and Europe. JAMA , 316 (1), 79.
Gamondi, C., Borasio, G. D., Oliver, P., Preston, N., & Payne, S. (2017). Responses to assisted suicide requests: an interview study with Swiss palliative care physicians. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care , bmjspcare-2016-001291.
Hartwell, M., & Gagan, M. (2016). Nurse prescribers and legalising assisted suicide in the UK. Nurse Prescribing , 14 (5), 248-251.
Quill, T. E., Back, A. L., & Block, S. D. (2016). Responding to Patients Requesting Physician-Assisted Death. JAMA , 315 (3), 245.
Somerville, M. (2014). Death talk: the case against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide .
McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP.
Snyder Sulmasy, L., & Mueller, P. S. (2017). Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide: An American College of Physicians Position Paper. Annals of Internal Medicine , 167 (8), 576.
Tucker, F. (2014). What is autonomy and why does it matter?| I Family . Retrieved from http://www.ifamilystudy.eu/what-is-autonomy-and-why-does-it-matter/
