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Physician-Assisted Suicide

THE RIGHT TO DIE?. Physician-Assisted Suicide. Nicole Hancock. Tremendous pain and suffering of patients can be saved. The right to die should be a fundamental freedom of each person. Patients can die with dignity rather than have the illness reduce them to a shell of their former selves.

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Physician-Assisted Suicide

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  1. THE RIGHT TO DIE? Physician-Assisted Suicide Nicole Hancock

  2. Tremendous pain and suffering of patients can be saved. • The right to die should be a fundamental freedom of each person. • Patients can die with dignity rather than have the illness reduce them to a shell of their former selves. • Health care costs can be reduced, which would save estates and lower insurance premiums. • Nurse and doctor time can be freed up to work on savable patients. • Prevention of suicide is a violation of religious freedom. • Pain and anguish of the patient's family and friends can be lessened, and they can say their final goodbyes. • Reasonable laws can be constructed which prevent abuse and still protect the value of human life. • Vital organs can be saved, allowing doctors to save the lives of others. • Without physician assistance, people may commit suicide in a messy, horrifying, and traumatic way. THE SUNNY SIDE

  3. It would violate doctors' Hippocratic oath. • It demeans the value of human life. • It could open the floodgates to non-critical patient suicides and other abuses. • Many religions prohibit suicide and the intentional killing of others. • Doctors and families may be prompted to give up on recovery much too early. • Insurance companies may put undue pressure on doctors to avoid heroic measures or recommend the assisted-suicide procedure. • Miracle cures or recoveries can occur. • Doctors are given too much power, and can be wrong or unethical THE NEGATIVE SIDE

  4. STATISTICS

  5. Oregon- 1997 • Washington-2008 • Montana-2009 WHERE IS IT LEGAL IN THE U.S. ?

  6. Terminally ill with a life expectancy less than 6 years • Over the age of 18 • Current resident • Diagnosed by a Physician • Diagnosed by a Second Physician • Oral and Written Request • A Witness not related to the patient • Informed of other possibilities • Refered to counseling • 15 day waiting period to rescind request REQUIREMENTS

  7. Euthanasia: This involves causing the death of a person through a direct action, in response to a request from that person • Passive Euthanasia: Hastening the death of a person by altering some form of support and letting nature take its course • Physician Assisted Suicide: A physician supplies information and/or the means of committing suicide (e.g. a prescription for lethal dose of sleeping pills, or instructions on how to commit suicide with helium or carbon monoxide gas) to a person, so that they can easily terminate their own life. EUTHANASIA, ASSISTED SUICIDE,PASSIVE EUTHANASIA: THE DIFFERENCE

  8. SCOURCES

  9. A lethal dose of medicine prescribed by doctor to be taken orally • Among 15 case patients who died after ingesting the prescribed lethal medication, the median time from ingestion to unconsciousness (available for 11 patients) was 5 minutes (range, 3 to 20 minutes), and the median time from ingestion to death (available for 14 patients) was 26 minutes (range, 15 minutes to 11.5 hours). • No complications, such as vomiting or seizures, were reported. THE MEDICATION

  10. Ensure that the patient is making an informed decision • Request that the patient demonstrate residency • List the feasible alternatives, including, but not limited to, comfort care, hospice care and pain control; • Determine whether a patient has a terminal disease, is capable, and has made the request voluntarily • Refer the patient to a consulting physician for medical confirmation of the diagnosis, and to ensure that the patient is making a voluntary decision • Refer the patient for counseling if appropriate • Counsel the patient about the importance of having another person present when the patient takes the medication prescribed; • Inform the patient that he or she has an opportunity to rescind the request at any time and in any manner, and offer the patient an opportunity to rescind at the end of the 15th day • Fulfill the medical record documentation requirements • Dispense medications directly PHYSICIAN REQUIREMENTS

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