18April Most Doctors Unsure How To Discuss End-of-Life Care,
Survey Says | Kaiser Health News
15April15 NYTimes: Canadian Prime Minister Seeks to Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has introduced legislation
to address the legal void left after Canada’s Supreme Court overturned a ban on
doctor-assisted death.
Here's the article Kait found.
These stories were very sad. I am glad that the man in the first story ended up telling his daughters so that they didn’t have to find out that their dad was dead without saying goodbye to him. Although I am against euthanasia I found this article to be very informative and interesting. I found the stories to be very touching and heartbreaking. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in their position and I hope that I am never in that situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you I am very glad that he told his daughters. I also cant imagine what it would be like to be in that position, but I know I would want the option just to have it.
DeleteI personally don't think that I could ever go through with euthanasia. I would just have a hard time leaving my family behind and those I love. I rather suffer and see them live out their lives another day.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of information packed into these articles. Both good and bad. There are a lot of factors and variables that go into determining whether or not PAS should be legalized. Personally I think that both of these article bring up a lot of pros and cons for legalizing. The NY Times article was neat because it showed how living in a state without PAS does not only involves the patient going through the illness, but how it impacts what he should do about his family and friends. If PAS was more acceptable and legal in more states than it would be easier for patients and families to go through an uneasy process. Personally I am for PAS, as long as the patient meets certain criteria.
ReplyDeleteWhat criteria allows a patient to use PAS? More specifically, what do you think is the criteria?
DeleteJake, I'm not certain your question was directed at the class in general, but I want to comment. I had not read all the requirements for PAS in states that allow it until I read the article Kait found. The author writes of the requirements for Oregon and for California, which are considered notably more thorough. I was surprised at the distinction. Personally, I support PAS, but I am not totally certain where I stand on social policy. The article also refers to the slippery slope argument, citing the very lax policy in the Netherlands as an example. Such examples are why I am uncertain about social policy. Back to California-I am surprised that any state would have lesser requirements. The most notable distinction between policies in Oregon and California is the 15 day waiting period between verbal requests. I think that 2 weeks is a reasonable amount of time to be certain that you want to commit suicide. Lots of psychological, emotional and spiritual changes tend to occur after a terminal diagnosis. The initial shock and fear often gives way to a sense of peace that is difficult for many to understand. Also, within a couple weeks, pain medicine and other implements of comfort care may get the patient to a state where they are actually comfortable and want to spend time with their family before they die. The 2 week requirement, along with sign off by 2 doctors seem to be good requirements. (Another requirement is two witnesses-I'm not sure which part of the process they are referring to witnessing.) There may be cases where the person is in extreme suffering that cannot be controlled with opiods, or their condition may decline so quickly they would not be able to take the suicide medication on their own within 2 weeks. In these cases, the two physicians should be able to issue a waver on the 15 day requirement.
DeleteI think the article was very informative and definitely opened my eyes to things I didn't know about PAS. I don't know if I could ever personally follow through with PAS, but I can understand people who do choose to go through with PAS. I think it does give people a right if they are a terminally ill patient to end their life and I think it creates a sense of peace knowing they are in control of their lives. It gives them the satisfaction to know that they can escape their suffering and pain they are feeling if they desired to. However, I also don't think I would be able to end my own life and that I would be able to follow through with PAS.I would just let death take its course and finish out my life. However, If one of my family members wished to follow through with PAS due to suffering, I would be in support of them doing it. I think PAS could potentially help patients if it was based on certain criteria, but it could also have the potential to make death seem like a job to the person dying. I liked the quote from the article: "If assisted suicide becomes commonplace, could the right to die evolve into a "duty to die"? I think people could feel very pressured when it comes to PAS, they could feel like a burden to their loved ones. I think PAS could just be used by many to get out of life- who is to say a person isn't truly suffering as much? and how much suffering dictates whether you qualify for PAS or not? There are just so many factors that determine whether PAS should be legal or not. Both articles do show many pros and cons and did make me question where I stand on the issue.
ReplyDeleteBoth the article's were helpful to give specific examples of how and why someone would choose PAS. I think that PAS is helpful to those who might be suffering and want to control how they die. If I were in this situation I would not choose to die this this way but knowing that I had this as an option would give me a piece of mind. Unfortunately most states do not allow PAS so the option unless you move to a state that promotes PAS this is not an option. I also think that people would feel more pressure to use PAS to lessen the burden on their family, by removing the trouble of doctors visits, and care of being sick, and the cost of care it might take to keep the patient alive. However in contrast having PAS as an option is one way to eliminate suffering for patients who are tired of waiting for death.
ReplyDeleteI read the NY Times article about the Canadian Prime Minister wanting to legalize PAS. Regardless of what your opinion is on the legalization of PAS, I thought it was fortunate and important that Canada set the same criteria (as we have in the few American states) for the patient's requesting PAS, which includes the bill would allow consenting adults “capable of making decisions”. A physician must decide that “natural death has become reasonably foreseeable, taking into account all of their medical circumstances”. What is different from the PAS legalization in American states, like Oregon, is that a Canadian patient does not have a terminal condition, but they could have an immune system deficiency. One downfall to the bill, to PAS supporters, is that it does not allow for people in the early stages of illnesses, like dementia, to request an assisted death while they are still competent. If they are still competent, shouldn't they still have the opportunity to request PAS? I feel like people with dementia would be ones that would want to choose PAS because they would want to avoid having the drastic decline in their health.
ReplyDeleteThese articles were very interesting and gave a lot of information and insight regarding PAS. I personally agree with PAS and think that is should be an option for patients in terminal situations or who have been suffering for a long time with no chance of recovery. I understand both sides of PAS- for those that agree with it, it is a way of ending suffering and respecting the person’s wishes, but for those that oppose it, voluntarily ending someone’s life is a hard thing to wrap your mind around. Even if some doctors refuse to do PAS, I feel like it should still be an option available for patients and doctors that would be willing. I liked the line in the article that says “If assisted suicide becomes commonplace, could the right to die evolve into a ‘duty to die’?” Both articles had a lot of good information both supporting and not supporting the idea of PAS. I especially liked how the NY Times one gave not only the patient’s point of view on PAS, but also how it incorporated and affected those around him. While they did make me think about the topic some, I think my position on the topic has not changed, but I do have a better understanding of the opposing view.
ReplyDeleteI feel these articles were very informative and made me think about PAS more hearing it from other people experiences. I do still believe in PAS. I know that if I was in that situation I would want the option on the table.
ReplyDeleteThese articles were very informative about PAS. They allowed me to see the difference that education makes on end of life decisions. Personally, I don't think that I would be able to go through (or help someone else go through) PAS, but I do believe that it should be an option that is available for those who would like to use it. I found it shocking that physicians hadn't received any information on how to bring up or discuss end of life decisions with patients and how many had not talked about it with their patients.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of information in these articles about PAS. I found it extremely shocking that Medicare offers reimbursement to doctors who have these end of life discussions, I honestly don't agree with that at all. I believe that it is the doctors responsibility as most of the doctors in the survey did agree with and I don't think they should get paid for it. I am happy to see that only 14 percent said they actually billed Medicare for those end of life visits, I just don't think that they deserve to get paid for having those conversations. I found Harry's story very sad, and just reinforces my opinion that I think PAS should be legalized and an option in that situation. I really have not changed my position this semester about my opinion of thinking it should be legalized I have just found more information like these articles that backs up my position.
ReplyDeleteBriana,
DeleteI'm surprised by your reaction -- if doctors don't have a way to bill, how can they justify the time they spend on EOL discussion? Such conversations shouldn't be 10 minutes -- during a regular exam, right? They need special attention and enough time to have a real conversation. Why shouldn't doctors get paid for those discussions?