Transcript Physician-Assisted Suicide

Physician-Assisted Suicide
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Nicole Hancock
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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
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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
STATISTICS
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Oregon- 1997
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Washington-2008
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Montana-2009
WHERE IS IT LEGAL IN
THE U.S. ?
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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
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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
SCOURCES
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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
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Ensure that the patient is making an informed decision
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Request that the patient demonstrate residency
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List the feasible alternatives, including, but not limited to, comfort care, hospice
care and pain control;
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Determine whether a patient has a terminal disease, is capable, and has made the
request voluntarily
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Refer the patient to a consulting physician for medical confirmation of the
diagnosis, and to ensure that the patient is making a voluntary decision
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Refer the patient for counseling if appropriate
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Counsel the patient about the importance of having another person present when
the patient takes the medication prescribed;
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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
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Fulfill the medical record documentation requirements
Dispense medications directly
PHYSICIAN REQUIREMENTS