Physician Assisted Suicide A Legal Medicine Treatment

Stacy Jean-Joseph Ms. Ewbank Honors English 07 Jan. 2014 Physician Assisted Suicide Physician assisted suicide has been discussed on various occasions. You will find a lot of controversy with this topic because it s not only a matter of what the patient wants, but a matter of what s correct among the groups. Right off the bat you see that the US, Oregon, Washington and Montana have legalized the practice of physician assisted suicide. (HRF 2014) In 2013 Vermont declared suicide with prescribed medication was a legal medical treatment. According to studies 9% of deaths in the Netherlands in 1990 were a result of physician assisted suicide. The practice is fully legal and commonly practiced. It is also legal for infants and†¦show more content†¦Oregon didn t report any during their 4 year period. It s also reported that 61% of those that received a lethal dose of painkillers didn t know they were getting them. About 27% were fully competent when receiving. November 4th, 2014 Brittany Maynard ended her life that Saturday by physician -assisted suicide (Scott 2014). She had stage four brain cancer and was told in January that she had 6 months left to live. When Brittany was told the news she moved to Oregon where the law would allow her to receive physician-assisted suicide. â€Å"My glioblastoma is going to kill me and that s out of my control. I ve discussed with many experts how I would die from it and it s a terrible, terrible way to die. So being able to choose to go with dignity is less terrifying.† (Maynard 2014) â€Å"Brittany s death was not a victory for a political cause. It was a tragedy, hastened by despair and aided by the culture of death invading our country.† (Morana 2014) A persons ethnicity and race affect their views regarding end of life care. According to research, 65% of white people say they would rather stop all medical treatment if they suffered from an incurable disease or had chronic, debilitating pain. (HRF 2014) Research shows that over 60% of blacks and 55% of Hispanic s would prefer their doctor to do everything possible to save their lives. The American Medical Association (AMA) formally rejects the validity of physician-assisted suicide. In appropriate times it