| 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?
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