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There should be a choice for anyone want to do what ever to their body
As long as no other being is hurt in the process. That includes unborn children, and that includes the idea that anyone in the future might be forced to do this - because the way things are going, it would not surprise me in the least if some were, indeed, forced to do it, despite their beliefs, religious or otherwise.
If the doc is willing to do it, it's not my place to tell someone that they can't. I would prefer that they didn't kill themselves - I am not a proponent of suicide, assisted or otherwise...I just don't think it's right - but it's not my position to judge them.
And I do understand the argument that we do it for our pets - to end their suffering. I've had to do that to some of my pets - one of them being my best friend in the world - and I agonized over that very thought before I made the appointment. "We do this to pets, but we don't to it to humans. Why is it okay for me to do this to my pet right now?"
Considering that I like animals more than people - I totally understand that argument.
I will stick with this: I do not like to see my pets suffer. If there is no solution, then I end their agony.
With humans - I can only say that even though I don't think it's right, I'm not the one who decides these things. If it were someone I knew, I would be researching for anything and everything for them to try, first.
This is very moral dilemma for me, I'm not going to pretend it isn't.
And would that be any different ethically than the abuse of passing patients around to different doctors as if they're an ATM and they still get no solutions to their problems?
No that's abuse too, but it is a separate matter and not either or. But if you give medical providers the right to kill, then that's just asking for gross abuse.
In concept it seems fine, but patients will be pressured into it and into signing weaselly worded forms, giving providers immunity, and killed involuntarily is what I believe is prone to happen with it. Providers have too much immunity and unaccountability and cause too much damage as it is.
A woman by the name of Britain found out that she had terminal brain cancer. She made a decision to move to Portland Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. I total disagree a Doctor's hippocratic oath is to do no harm. BTW.. Do you know who invented the whole concept of physician assisted suicide the Nazis. Why because for the NAZIS those who were disabled or burden were dispensable. By legalizing physician suicide we're entering a slippery slope.
I fully support it, and not just for terminal patients - for anyone that wants to check out. You can be in utter mental anguish and be perfectly healthy, physically.
As a nurse my fear is that eventually doctors and nurses will be forced to carry this out even if they have personal objections to doing so.
Wha do you mean by 'carry it out'?
AFAIK, every single state law that is allowing physician-assisted suicide
1) requires that the person requesting the prescription be physically able to take the meds on their own
2) does not require that a doc provide such a prescription to anyone who asks.
And I see no push anywhere to require medical staff to do what you are fearing. he fact is that there are plenty of docs and medical staff who support these laws. I know, because I'm one of them (ex ICU nurse). Patients have options.
If someone is going to die a horribly painful and humiliating death with 100% certainty, why would you want him or her to suffer if he or she chose not to suffer? Doesn't make sense. In fact, why would you force anyone who doesn't want to live to live?
But to answer the question, why is a doctor necessary? There are plenty of easy do-it-yourself plans.
Because DIY doesn't always work well. A person can wind up living but even worse off than they were before. I well remember the 20-yo patient I once took care of who tried to commit suicide with a gun. He failed. And turned himself into a quadriplegic with cognitive brain damage. I don't know for certain what happened to him after he was released from the hospital. But I do know for certain that being institutionalized for the rest of his life had never been on his radar, and I'm pretty certain it wouldn't be on most people's radar when attempting suicide. An outcome like that can happen with medication as well as firearms.
But the real reason for these laws is protection from criminal liability.
Physician assisted suicide has been going on for a LONG time. It's no secret how to OD on any number of legal meds. But there are prosecutors who have gone after prescribing physicians. Physician assisted suicide means that if a doctor and patient have gone through the hoops, that the physician cannot be successfully prosecuted for the patient's death. And conversely - a physician who does NOt go through the hoops can be prosecuted for manslaughter or murder, even in a state that allows physician assisted suicide.
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