Essay Against Physician Assisted Suicide

Words: 753
Pages: 4

I am against physician assisted suicide because of the physician role in medicine, the patient right to choose, humane practice, and medical ethics show that this is not an appropriate practice. I think that practicing physician assisted suicide (PAS) should be extinguished before the practice begins to spread. Viewpoints on this topic are polarized, it can be easy to see why. Nobody wants to suffer in death, and people believe that PAS would be an appropriate method to eliminate it, when in fact, there are much more appropriate methods to utilize without this drastic measure. Physicians are taught to heal and do no harm, this is the key to avoiding PAS. Before anyone who finishes medical school begins to practice medicine they take …show more content…
In countries such as Finland, there are doctors who specialize in palliative care. This is a practice that is underused in the United States. The goal of palliative care is to make the patient as comfortable as possible for end of life care. The palliative care plan is often started at the beginning of a patient's terminal illness. This allows the patient to have time to make decisions regarding advanced directives and things such as whether or not they wish to have a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ (DNR) put in place. It also informs the patient of different methods that can be used to make the end of life as pleasant as possible. This can range from traditional pain medications to things such as music or art therapy. There are many different things used to ease a patient's pain. Service animals can be used in some cases. These therapies also help to treat anxiety and depression, two key factors in patients who may want to end their life. If depression and anxiety rates are reduced, this may very well decrease the desire for PAS. Palliative care also ensures that a patient controls as many choices as possible. With all the therapies we have to control pain, PAS is really unnecessary if we utilize them