Patient Take His Own Life example essay topic

297 words
Physician assisted suicide is when a doctor helps a patient take his own life. This is basically what it is, but there are different types, some are considered to be good, some are murder. No matter what type it is, this is one heated topic in some forums of discussion. Some argue we have the right to life, but not death. I will describe basically what physician assisted suicide is composed of, and the various types of assisted suicide. Two categories divide the topic of physician assisted suicide.

These categories are Active and Passive. Active requires that a premeditated step be taken in order to intentionally end a patient's life. This could be done with an administering of a lethal dose of medication, carbon monoxide or other means, by the doctor. Passive is basically letting nature take its course. This would involve removing life support, letting an opportunistic disease take over and kill the patient, or giving no treatment at all. These two categories can in turn be broken into two subcategories: voluntary and non voluntary euthanasia.

Voluntary active euthanasia requires the patients explicit consent for the doctor to aid in suicide. Nonvoluntary active euthanasia is murder. In this case the doctor would intentionally kill the patient without the patient's consent. Voluntary passive euthanasia involves the patient refusing medical treatment, life support or intravenous nutrition in order to die.

Nonvoluntary passive euthanasia is when the patient cannot make a decision to end his own life, so his family decides for him. This is only good when the patient has absolutely no chance of surviving, or, if he does survive, then he would be a total vegetable; as good as dead..