Life Support

Physician-assisted Suicide

Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) refers to the procedure by which a doctor administers a fatal amount of medication to a patient who has requested it with the intention of ending their life.

PAS vs. euthanasia

PAS is not the same as euthanasia; with PAS, a doctor provides the means for death, but the patient carries it out. An example of this is a physician writing a prescription for a deadly medication which the patient ingests on their own. Ion the other hand, in an act of euthanasia, the doctor is directly responsible for the death. For instance, they may end a patient's life via lethal injection.

Ethics

Whether PAS is ethical or not remains to be seen. Those that are in favor of PAS believe that it is a logical alternative for someone who is suffering so severely from an illness that death seems welcoming. Moreover, the doctor's obligation to relieve pain and suffering may sometimes validate providing assistance with suicide. People who are supportive of PAS also believe that a competent person has the right to choose their own path in life, and if this means having a say in how it will end, then so be it.

People that think PAS is unethical have a strong conviction that it is the doctor's responsibility to protect life. They also are under the impression that if PAS was legalized, it would be abused and used for the wrong reasons. It is not too far-fetched to imagine an ailing elderly person being persuaded to pick PAS over complicated and costly treatment options (e.g., assisted living).