Ethical Arguments Against Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician assisted suicide is a highly controversial ethical dilemma that is receiving a lot of press in society recently. The issue is an emotional debate whether a terminally ill or disabled person has the right to end their existence with the support of their physician, which affects not just the patient, but their families and health care providers. Physician assisted suicide has legal ramifications as well. One argument in favor of Physician assisted suicide alludes to that the patient has the right to end their life with dignity. An opposing argument is if a physician participates in assisted suicide this goes against the “American Medical Association (AMA) Code of Ethics”. A physician and nurse are respected within the community to …show more content…
Virtue ethics is the person’s moral belief with any given situation. Having certain beliefs will guide that person to perform a certain act with the situation given. When a physician is giving the patient the option for assisted suicide, they are compassionate towards the amount of suffering the patient has gone through and what they will go through. They do not wish to see the patient suffer any more and are glad to help the patient end the suffering in their own terms. A physician also has courage being able to stand up against those who may be against physician-assisted suicide. Some physicians are put in prison because they were charged with murder. The physician believes they are helping that patient and stand string in their beliefs to give the patient their wish of ending their life. The physician also shows respect to the patient when they give the patient their right to determine what path they wish to take for their remainder days. A vice that can come of this practice of assisted suicide is abuse. Abuse can occur when the prognosis is spreads to those who do not have the prognosis of six months or less to live, or those who are not coherent enough to make the choice of the assisted …show more content…
He must communicate with the patient and the family the current situation, the options and the possible outcomes. Data must be presented in the situation as well. For example the family’s religious beliefs should be brought into play, financial issues, and the families moral ethics should be considered. The next thing to do is to explore the strategies. Everyone should look at this situation and know what the options are and what each outcome would be. They also need to look at why they would be considering it. For example, the patient and the family could both agree that they wish for the assisted suicide because it will end the suffering of the patient, even though the outcome would be death. The next step is to implement the strategy. With whichever choice they make, they start taking that step towards their decision. The final step is to evaluate the outcomes. The patient is no longer alive, not longer suffering; and the family may be grieving. They also know that the patient is no longer suffering and is