Assisted Suicide

None!

In which states is Euthanasia legal?

18 years or older'

Resident of the state

Decision-making capacity

Terminal illness diagnosis, expected death within 6 months.

What are the patient eligibility requirements for assisted suicide.

Argument against from Histro

-Prohibitions against the taking of life are deeply embedded in our religious and legal codes.

-Hippocratic of non-maleficence is a 2400 year-old tradition of doctors preserving life

-Oath of Maimonides is similar, though not as ancient.

Argument against from Kantian perspective

1.) Act according to the maxim that it would become a universal law

2.) Act so that you treat others as an end, never a means to an end.

-PAS violates Both categorical imperatives

• Not generalizable

• Kant held that suicide violates the end vs. means distinction.

-However:

• Deontological approach

• Cannot handle conflicting moral duties.

The Argument from Professionalism (against)

-The fiduciary relationship of healthcare

• A “gift of trust” from society

• Relies on a covenantal duty of beneficence

-AS erodes the clinician-patient relationship and has grave potential for misuse and abuse.

-AS is the wrong fix for the inadequacies of modern healthcare.

• True suffering is rare at the end of life.

• Needed: more timely referrals for palliative care and hospice.

The slippery Slope Argument

-AS violates the intrinsic dignity of Human and Personal dignity.

-Sulmasy:

• Assisted suicide will lead to:

  • Pervasive medical killing

  • endangering of vulnerable populations

  • Disabled, elderly, minorities, and the poor.

  • Anyone whose lives are seen as a burden on society.

-Though the main rational for AS is Pain, the main actual reason was Disability.

-Hippocratic oath is old/outdated/rigid

-Appeals to Human Dignity are Unconvincing

-Intention:

• Why deny a comfortable death to those who don’t qualify for palliative care or withdrawal of futile treatment?

-Freedom and Democracy

• The right to die/decide when to die.

• Government should not impose their own values on others.

• PAS would allow terminally ill, mentally competent individuals to retain dignity and bodily integrity in the face of insurmountable pain and suffering.

-Slippery slope

• PAS does NOT undermine hospice and palliative care.

• Rates of depression lower in patients who request PAS than in other hospice patients.

What are the arguments FOR Assited suicide?

Those Who oppose AS argue…

-AS is an affront to intrinsic human dignity

-It violates long-established ethical traditions

-Prescribed suicide erodes the doctor-patient relationship

-AS is an immoral slippery slope

-The laws are dangerous to vulnerable minorities.

Those who Support AS will argue…

-We should re-think our societal view of death

-Opposing AS is arrogant, and fails to respect autonomy

-A majority of Americans support AS

-Providers can opt out, based on conscience

-There is no evidence for a slippery slope.