Ethical Theories and Principles
There are two main perspectives of how physician-assisted suicide can be treated: it may be supported as the only means to release people from suffering. It may be opposed because no one knows how to end a person’s life in the most appropriate way (Boudreau 79). There are four theories offered by Baillie, McGeehan, Garrett, and Garrett for consideration: consequentialism, Kantian deontology, natural law, and virtue ethics (4).
Each theory is a unique collection of the ideas and suggestions of how various activities and solutions can be evaluated from an ethical point of view. Regarding physician-assisted suicide, the theory of natural law and consequentialism turns out to be the most interesting and appropriate. Consequentialism focuses on the outcomes that are brought by an action (Baillie et al. 4). For example, physician-assisted suicide can be regarded as good if the goal to release a person from suffering (Kopelman and De Ville 2; Pfister and Biller-Adorno 284).
At the same time, this kind of solution can be defined as a bad one because the physician takes someone’s life and cause much pain and frustration to this person’s relatives (even if they are aware of the outcomes). The theory of natural law is another perspective from which physician-assisted suicide can be analyzed. It deals with a rational reflection on nature, human nature in particular (Baillie 7).
On the one hand, it is wrong to end someone’s life with the help of special medical preparations because it contradicts the idea of natural law and the necessity of nature to make a final decision. On the other hand, medical treatment is also a kind of unnatural intervention; it is still supported. The theory of natural law is not univocal, as well as the theory of consequentialism. That is why the issue of physician-assisted suicide is still discussed a lot.
Conclusions
In general, the issue of physician-assisted suicide is discussed in a variety of ways in different parts of the world. Even though euthanasia is legally approved in five American states (“Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts” par.1; “State by State Guide” par. 1), not all Americans agree with this fact. Not many Europeans are ready to accept physician-assisted suicide as well. Still, there are cases when people have nothing to do or expect to accept this kind of help and overcome the sufferings and problems.
The existing laws, ethical principles, and theories are created to help people realize that physician-assisted suicide is complicated indeed. People will never have the same attitude on this issue. It is not the question of taste or personal preferences. It is just about the impossibility to realize that it is high time to say “Goodbye” to a beloved person.
To take someone’s life is the most terrible thing that is present in the world. It contradicts all natural laws and human principles. Still, sometimes, people have to make such difficult solutions not because they want to but because a person in need expects this decision to be made. That is why it does not matter if the theory of natural law, consequentialism, or virtue ethics is considered. It is more important to realize if a person is ready to accept the idea of physician-assisted suicide and understand all its positive and negative aspects that cannot be neglected. There is no end of the physician-assisted suicide debates.
People have the right to take any position regarding personal attitudes, experience, and knowledge. Physician-assisted suicide is hard to understand and accept, but it can never be neglected or forgotten because it may be the only solution is some situations.
Works Cited
Baillie, Harold, W., McGeehan, John, Garrett, Thomas, M., and Rosellen M. Garrett. Health Care Ethics. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013. Print.
Boudreau, Donald. “Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: Can You Even Imagine Teaching Medical Students how to End Their Patients’ Lives?” The Permanente Journal 15.4 (2011): 79-84.
Kopelman, Loretta, M. and Kenneth A. De Ville. “The Contemporary Debate over Physician-Assisted Suicide.” Physician-Assisted Suicide: What Are the Issues? Ed. Loretta, M. Kopelman and Kenneth A. De Ville. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2012. Print.
Pfister, Eliane and Nicola Biller-Adorno. “Physical-Assisted Suicide: Views of Swiss Health Care Professionals.” Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 7.3 (2010): 283-285.
“Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts.” CNN 2015. Web.
State-by-State Guide to Physician-Assisted Suicide 2015. Web.