Physician Assisted Suicide Who Should Decide If A...

Grace Lukash 5/25/16 Gemini Government Siembor Who should decide if a terminally ill person has the right to commit physician-assisted suicide? Introduction Physician Assisted Suicide has been a very controversial topic in the recent years. P.A.S can also be known as physician assisted death or euthanasia. Many states wonder wither this practice is morally right or wrong. Physician Assisted Suicide is when a doctor administers patient lethal drugs, upon the request of the patient, with the end result being death. A popular question that surfaces when this topic is brought up is: Who should decide if a terminally ill patient had the right to commit physician assisted suicide? In support of the previous statements, this†¦show more content†¦The Netherlands and Switzerland have decriminalized the practice of assisted suicide. This was an important step because then many people traveled to these countries to commit this act. Craig Ewert, a British citizen is an example of one of these people. He traveled to Zurich in 2008 to commit suicide (Pickert,2009). Physician assisted suicide is also legal in five states: California, Oregon , Vermont, Washington, and Montana. Timeline of Events In October 27 1997, Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act was made into a law (CNN, 2016). November 4, 2008, Washington’s initiative, the Death with Dignity Act passed with 57.91% of favored votes (CNN, 2016). In the March of 2009, The Washington Death with Dignity Act started to go in effect (CNN, 2016). Montana asserts the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act which protects physicians who prescribe the patient lethal pills from being liable in December 31, 2009 (CNN, 2016). Vermont joins the other states the legalized P.A.S in May 20, 2013 by signing Patient Choice and Control at End of Life act into a law (CNN, 2016). October 5, 2015 Jerry Brown Signs the End of Life Option Act as a law, which would legalize physician-assisted suicide (CNN, 2016). States that support P.A.S Requirements and Restrictions Out of all 50 states, only five have made physicians assisted suicide legal. These starts are California, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, and Montana. Each of these states