Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide has been a controversial topic since its inception. It is also referred to as
Euthanasia and is defined as hastening the death of a patient to reduce pain and suffering. There
exist two forms of assisted suicide including active and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia
happens when the physician deliberately ends the life of a terminally ill patient by administering
lethal drugs. On the other hand, passive euthanasia occurs when the physician withdraws
treatment or conditions necessary to sustain life leading to the death of the patient. There are
three forms of active Euthanasia including voluntary Euthanasia that is done upon the patient’s
request, non-voluntary which is without the patient’s consent, and involuntary where the patient
is not in a position to give consent based on various medical conditions. This task seeks to
examine the statement that the inherent risk is that society’s faith in doctors as healers would
become subverted if doctors participate in physician-assisted suicide.
Physician-assisted suicide takes the form of voluntary euthanasia. The physician directly
or indirectly terminates the patient’s life through the administration of a lethal substance. The
practice involves providing the patient with a prescription for medication that can be used to end
their life with the primary intention of permanent elimination of suffering (Yu & Meng, 2020).
The statement about corrupting society’s faith in doctors if they participate in physician-assisted
suicide can be true. Following the arguments of assisted suicide opponents, the practice violates
the fundamental principle of medicine. According to the tenet of medicine, physicians should not
assist in ending the lives of the patients, especially because doing so does not align with their
role of healing (Annadurai & Mani, 2018). Besides, assisted suicide is not in line with some of
the religious practices where the society believes that the only person with the right of taking a

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life is its creator. Practicing physician-assisted suicide would therefore ruin the societal trust in
doctors who are supposed to heal and restore the healing status of individuals.
Nevertheless, contemporary society has undergone rapid evolution that has impacted
individuals’ believes, attitudes and perceptions. People can now appreciate the practice of
assisted suicide based on the various advantages it has on both the patient and the community.
Physician-assisted suicide helps in alleviating pain and suffering while it reduces the cost of care
and maintaining the patient. Physician-assisted suicide is only eligible for the patient who meets
the given criteria. For instance, they must have a terminal illness that has no active treatment
such as cancer. Besides, the physicians must assess the factors responsible for the decision and
classify them into psychological and physical factors (Jordan, 2017). Due to the societal
evolution, most people are seeking assisted suicide services in countries where the practice is
legalized. Therefore, the practice may not have a significant impact on society’s faith as it would
have in the previous decades.
From the discussion, the first part of the statement, that society perceives doctors as
saviors and that the idea of accepting the idea of physician-assisted suicide will tarnish their
image is true. On the other hand, some patients view doctors as the only people who can help
with assisted suicide. When the patient is in pain, they will seek service from the physicians to
help end their lives which is the only solution to alleviating their pain. Some cannot meet the
costly palliative care therefore assisted suicide becomes the only option. If the physician agrees
to offer the service, the patient and family will consider them as the savior because they have
helped in eradicating the pain. Therefore, the validity of this statement depends on the
perspective of an individual when examining the situation.

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Reference

Annadurai, K., Danasekaran, R., & Mani, G. (2018). ‘Euthanasia: Right to die with dignity.
Journal of family medicine and primary care, 3(4), 477.
Jordan, M. (2017). The Ethical Considerations of Physician-assisted Suicide. Dialogue & Nexus,
4(1), 12.
Yu, C. E., Wen, J., & Meng, F. (2020). Defining physician-assisted suicide tourism and travel.
Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 44(4), 694-703.