Should the patients have then right to die via doctor assisted suicide?

“Futility. The term frightens both doctors and patients. It’s often easier to continue to
provide more treatment, even when zero hope remains.” (Klitzman, 2018). If that’s right,
should the patients have the right to die to end their agony? Many people are suffering from
terminal diseases like cancer and they see no point of living anymore. This is when physician
aid-in-dying, or PAD comes into play. I believe that it’s respectful for patients to be able to
decide for themselves whether they want to continue living or not.

PAD is a very controversial topic among experts. When a patient is suffering from a
terminal disease, they might face a wide array of incurable painful physical and mental
symptoms. The term “futility” might be used when any more treatment is futile and there’s
no more hope of curing the patient. According to the medical ethics, which is the common
guidelines for all physicians to follow, physicians have to remedy their patients in a way
that’s the most beneficial for them. Conversely, it also supports the right of the patient to
refuse any treatments including, life-sustaining treatment. This results in some seeing PAD as
an act of care and respect for the patients and their decisions. They also don’t want the patient
to live in an agony until the end of their lives. Opposing this idea, many still think PAD is
against the human’s rights since the physician will have to help their patient to die or commit
a suicide and against medical ethics that physicians should focus on healing the patients
rather than intentionally helping them to die. (Sulmasy & Mueller, 2017) These contradicting
ideas are the origin of all the controversies.

In my perspective, PAD should be globally legalized and considered ethical. This is

because it’s completely different from euthanasia, which is a method decided by the
physician to end the patient’s life, which is considered a murder and clearly illegal. In
contrary, PAD is completely up to the patient’s decision. It can also be referred to as “death
with dignity” because when the patient is terminally ill, they might not want others to see
them in such bad state, so they request the physician to end their lives with dignity. For
example, someone with a third stage cancer might ask a doctor for a PAD if they can’t endure
the pain, or keep up with the medical expenditure any further. I also feel that letting others
suffer until the very end of their lives is more inhumane than assisting them to commit a
suicide to end their long-tormented anguish instantly.

Physician aid-in-dying or PAD is a subject that’s highly debated among experts. The
contradiction of medical ethics, human’s rights and perspectives of many stirred up the
controversy, whether it’s ethical or not. In the end, it’s just the matter of the patients’
decisions and the agreements between them and their doctors.

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