The Drunk Girl
Aug 9th 2010, 11:17 AM
Physician-assisted suicide (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=24418): The voluntary (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=18376) termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4137) substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide is the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11896) for medication (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=21177) for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life.
In the US, only the State of Oregon permits physician-assisted suicide.
The Oregon Death with Dignity Act allows terminally ill state residents to receive prescriptions for self-administered lethal medications from their physicians. It does not permit euthanasia (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7365), in which a physician or other person directly administers a medication to a patient in order to end his or her life. The Oregon law allows adults with terminal diseases who are likely to die within 6 months to obtain lethal doses of drugs from their doctors. A relatively very small number of people sought lethal drugs under the law and even fewer people who actually used them. Many patients have said that what they want most is a choice about how their lives will end, "a finger on the remote control, as it were."
Physician-assisted suicide has its proponents and its opponents. Among the opponents are some physicians who believe it violates the fundamental tenet of medicine and believe that doctors should not assist in suicides because to do so is incompatible with the doctor's role as a healer. Physician-assisted suicide is often abbreviated PAS. It is called doctor-assisted suicide in the UK.
Source (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=32841)
At the assisted living facility I currently work at, one of the residents has Lou Gehrig's Disease or ALS (https://health.google.com/health/ref/Amyotrophic+lateral+sclerosis). The staff has to help her with range of motion 2-3 times a day, to help "prevent" any stiffening of her joints and muscles. She has a contraption screwed to the table that helps her to feed herself. The resident places her arm in the device and with what muscle control she has left, is able to move her arm and hand close enough to her mouth so she is able to eat.
The woman is a former LPN and although I wouldn't think she would want to go the route of a physician assisted suicide, she has made it clear that she doesn't want to suffer and be on life support, once her body reaches that stage of the disease. In her words, "what kind of life is that just laying there?"
Mainly, I am just interested in seeing what other people's thoughts are on this topic. Personally, I would hate to see anyone put in a position like this, but that isn't reality. Really shitty things tend to happen in life.
Legal status of assisted suicide in the US (http://www.nightingalealliance.org/pdf/state_grid.pdf)
Assisted suicide laws around the world (http://www.assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html)
In the US, only the State of Oregon permits physician-assisted suicide.
The Oregon Death with Dignity Act allows terminally ill state residents to receive prescriptions for self-administered lethal medications from their physicians. It does not permit euthanasia (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7365), in which a physician or other person directly administers a medication to a patient in order to end his or her life. The Oregon law allows adults with terminal diseases who are likely to die within 6 months to obtain lethal doses of drugs from their doctors. A relatively very small number of people sought lethal drugs under the law and even fewer people who actually used them. Many patients have said that what they want most is a choice about how their lives will end, "a finger on the remote control, as it were."
Physician-assisted suicide has its proponents and its opponents. Among the opponents are some physicians who believe it violates the fundamental tenet of medicine and believe that doctors should not assist in suicides because to do so is incompatible with the doctor's role as a healer. Physician-assisted suicide is often abbreviated PAS. It is called doctor-assisted suicide in the UK.
Source (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=32841)
At the assisted living facility I currently work at, one of the residents has Lou Gehrig's Disease or ALS (https://health.google.com/health/ref/Amyotrophic+lateral+sclerosis). The staff has to help her with range of motion 2-3 times a day, to help "prevent" any stiffening of her joints and muscles. She has a contraption screwed to the table that helps her to feed herself. The resident places her arm in the device and with what muscle control she has left, is able to move her arm and hand close enough to her mouth so she is able to eat.
The woman is a former LPN and although I wouldn't think she would want to go the route of a physician assisted suicide, she has made it clear that she doesn't want to suffer and be on life support, once her body reaches that stage of the disease. In her words, "what kind of life is that just laying there?"
Mainly, I am just interested in seeing what other people's thoughts are on this topic. Personally, I would hate to see anyone put in a position like this, but that isn't reality. Really shitty things tend to happen in life.
Legal status of assisted suicide in the US (http://www.nightingalealliance.org/pdf/state_grid.pdf)
Assisted suicide laws around the world (http://www.assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html)