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Assisted Suicide
Jill Allene, RN, visited Gus, an elderly patient at a hospice clinic. The next
day Gus swallowed a lethal mixture of medications that had been prescribed by
his physician, and fell into a deep sleep. He died soon after. Because it was
his decision to take his own life, doesn’t mean that he wins the battle with
his disease, but he did win the war - a war of control. He wished simply to die
on his own terms, under circumstances he chose. Like others in Oregon who have
opted to use that state’s legalized physician-assisted suicide (PAS). It wasn’t
the unrelenting surges of pain or incapacitating waves of nausea that
encouraged Gus to call it quits; it was an unquenchable thirst for autonomy.
Pulmonary disease didn’t kill Gus – Gus killed himself. (Nursing Spectrum 6)
Assisted suicide is a very controversial issue, which always seems to be a
topic at hand. Because this topic causes quite the up-roar, there have been
very strong opinions form both for and against assisted suicide. Each side
having justified reasons of why they believe that it should or should not be
allowed. But the fact is, that some patients have respectable reasons for their
request in their passing. There are people out there have very little of their
life left to live, and like Gus would like to move along based on their own
terms.
Like Gus, a terminally ill person with a sickness, leaves them with no choice
but death. On the other hand, why not give these innocent people the right to
make the decision themselves. These terminally ill people should be able to
keep their dignity of life, and choose terms of their own and not have to live
with the ones given to them unwillingly.
On the other hand the action of assisted suicide is already occurring
especially in the United States today. It deals with basically the same thing
as assisted suicide, when a doctor consoles the patient’s family, and come to a
decision of pulling the plug. The patient cannot help but lay there,
helplessly, until total body failure. In this situation here the life of a
person is placed in the hands of the family and doctor. In both situations here
a life of a person is being place on the line. Which option sounds more just,
the option of a person’s life being taken form them based on the decision of
someone else, or the option of a terminally ill person choosing to die based on
one’s own decision.
What is assisted suicide really? In the magazine “Nursing Spectrum,” assisted
suicide is defined as being, the provision of a means to end one’s life, such
as a prescription for lethal amount of a drugs or the drug itself. It is said
that an assisted suicide occurs every day, yet Oregon is the only state where
assisted suicide has been legalized. In 1997 the Death with Dignity Act was
finalized, taking nearly three years for it to come into action. The only thing
is, is that there is a catch. Before one can qualify, first you must be a legal
resident of Oregon; must at least be 18 years of age, capable of communicating
his or her health care decisions, have less than six months to live, and must
request the assistance twice. But the requests must be separated by 15 days. So
you see here that Oregon has gone though all the detail, making exception for
only those select few who qualify.
In conclusion, assisted suicide would be a better alternative than a natural
death for that terminally ill person. It would be less painful for both the
person and their family. It has been and probably always will be a
controversial issue in our society. Maybe if you would put yourself in the
shoes of that terminally ill person, would you want this as an option?