Veterinarians fundamentally use the euthanasia drug to render pets unconscious by shutting down heart and brain functions. The drug is also used to help relieve patients from intolerable and incurable medical conditions. The use of euthanasia by physicians is illegal in most countries and can lead to jail sentences; however, the use of the drug varies across various states in the United States (Emanuel et al., 2016). Euthanasia assisted suicide can be in the form of assisted suicide whereby a physician to a patient by request, or when the law permits a physician to end life as long as the family and patient agree. The right to die is a concept that was introduced to the public and court cases that involve stopping ventilators or feeding tubes (Legoute, 2016). This concept supports the patient’s rights to bodily integrity, their determination to end their lives according to their values, and being free from invasion of medication, which can end up being futile in helping with their conditions. According to the law, this right allows patients to refuse or withdraw any medical interventions they choose not to partake.
The issue of involving physicians to take part in the act of euthanasia causes more harm than good. Physicians have the ethical responsibility to ensure patient safety and their role as a healer. There is also the question of whether ending a patient’s life in severe pain from a terminal illness and severe pain is suitable and differentiating between killing a person and letting them die. There are also issues concerning the circumstances of offering justifiable euthanasia. The religious aspect of the issue also states that God gives life, and ending it is up to Him (Campbell, 2021). All aspects of this concept will continue o arise whenever the issue of patient euthanasia is in context.
References
Campbell, C. S. (2021). Mormonism, medicine, and bioethics. Oxford University Press, USA.
Emanuel, E. J., Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D., Urwin, J. W., & Cohen, J. (2016). Attitudes and practices of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the United States, Canada, and Europe. JAMA, 316(1), 79. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.8499
Legoute, S. (2016). Euthanasia and the Right to Die. FAU Undergraduate Law Journal, 91-91.
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