When Doctors Help a Patient Die

This articles talks about laws allowing doctors to end the life of a suffering patient.  Providing drugs for an immediate death of a patient seems contrary to the purpose of medicine.  One of five states has legalized this. A bio-ethicist stated that he found that for doctors, having the opportunity to help a patient die may resolve certain ethical issues but raises many others. Legally, the act of aiding or abetting the death of another has been considered a felony. Ethically, physician assistance in the death of a patient has been contrary to the precepts of bioethics. It is stated that in earlier times physicians took an oath that they would not provide any deadly substance to patients.

In Washington State, two doctors must verify that the patient is competent, suffering from a terminal illness and that death is expected within six months. The request must be made and confirmed by a second request after a 15-day waiting period. The process requires a doctor who is willing to write the prescription and a pharmacist who is willing to fill it. The patient must have the capacity to take the prescription independently; that is, it must not be administered by another party. Then the patient will decide when to take the medication.

This brings about many ethical issues. We put our animals down when they are suffering, why can’t we do it to ourselves? The ethical issues I see is that how do you determine if that person is in the right state of mind. I think that Washington States process for the procedure is very good. Death must be expected in six months and they patient decides when to take it. I believe that this will be considered more over the years and serious process procedures must be set in place before it is legalize in more places.

References:

McCormick, T. (2015, May 13). When Doctors Help a Patient Die. Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/the-ethics-for-doctors-in-helping-a-patient-die/