End-of-life decisions can be a very difficult topic or issue to deal with for anyone. I have had to see people very close to me suffer from terminal illnesses, that if I may be so honest have literally prayed “God make it stop”. In that prayer of make it stop, I can tell you that my heart was not necessarily asking God to remove the illness but more so to give my loved one peace in whatever manner you see fit. In my faith that may seem as though I lost faith but to me, it’s truly not allowing my selfishness to override the torture I was witnessing. With that being said and being a person that stands strong in her faith I can write this paper with an unbiased opinion on the topic.
When a person chooses to end their life due to a terminal illness and wants assistance from a physician this is known as physician-assisted suicide or PAS. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in five states: Oregon, Montana, California, Washington, and Vermont; Montana allows PAS with a court ruling. In each state in order to qualify for physician-assisted suicide a human needs to be a resident of the state, at least 18 years of age, you have to have been given six months or less to live, and must speak two requests 15 days apart to a physician plus one written (qualifications from ProCon.org).
There is one controversial case that stuck out to me, it is the case of a 29-year-old woman who suffered from brain cancer. This case made national headlines when she and her family decided that assisted suicide was the way she wanted to go. Brittany Maynard, a California native, uprooted her life once she understood that she was dying and any treatment to delay the inevitable would diminish her way of living; Maynard traveled north and made Portland, Oregon her final home. A massive tumor resided in Maynard’s brain forcing doctors to recommend full brain radiation. Side effects of such an intrusive measure according to Maynard were, “the hair on my scalp would have been singed off. My scalp would be left covered with first-degree burns. My quality of life, as I knew it, would be gone” (Maynard, 14). The decision to die from PAS didn’t come lightly for Maynard and her family, in fact, Maynard considered passing away in hospice but even with palliative medication Maynard, “could develop potentially morphine-resistant pain and suffer personality changes and verbal, cognitive and motor loss of virtually any kind. Because the rest of my body is young and healthy, I am likely to physically hang on for a long time even though cancer is eating my mind” (Maynard 14). The worse scenario for Maynard was for her family to witness her inevitably slip away over time, she didn’t want the people she loved most to live through that nightmare. Once Maynard relocated to Oregon, became a resident, and met all the qualifications for PAS she had in hand the prescription to end her life on her own terms. November 1, 2014, Brittany Maynard swallowed her prescription and died peacefully in her bedroom in a small yellow house surrounded by her loved ones.
Every human is going to die which most of the time is out of our control and we don’t complain about that; it’s just a fact, we live and we die. But if one day, like Maynard, we learn that our body is fighting a losing battle, that we have a matter of months to live and in those months we will experience pain with medication or not wouldn’t a person like to take control over when and where they will die, and as compassionate humans shouldn’t we leave that choice in the hands of the human dying? Maynard was able to live the rest of her days scratching off bucket list entries, enjoying life outside of a hospice room and she knew with each passing day that if she was tired of fighting, tired of prolonging the inevitable she had control of when she could close her eyes for the last time. That sense of security made her decision to die from physician-assisted suicide comforting, she protected her family from the torture of watching her parish slowly and she protected herself from slowly losing her way of life.
Brittany Maynard’s devastating story made national headlines acquiring millions of viewers and launching a nationwide conversation about physician-assisted suicide. Activists use stories such as Maynard’s to push legislation through that has otherwise been vetoed by the people. Setting empathy for Maynard aside, the fact is, legalizing physician-assisted suicide would be detrimental. For starters physicians, once they graduate medical school, take the Hippocratic Oath which states, “I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it nor will I make a suggestion to this effect” (Hopkins 16). As clarified in a new Heritage Foundation report, legalizing PAS would: “endanger the weak and vulnerable, corrupt the practice of medicine and the doctor-patient relationship, compromise the family and the relationship between family generations and betray human dignity and equality before the law” (Anderson 15). Viewing the heart-wrenching video testimonies from Brittany Maynard a person may lean towards advocating for PAS. Physician-assisted suicide is allowed in the Netherlands and evidence that has been gathered over 30 years suggests that safeguards to guarantee effective control have proved inadequate. “In the Netherlands, several officials, government-sponsored surveys have disclosed both that in thousands of cases, doctors have intentionally administered lethal injections to patients without a request and that in thousands of cases, they have failed to report cases to the authorities. People who deserve society’s assistance are instead offered accelerated death” (Anderson 15). If PAS becomes legal nationwide this opens the door for opportunist physicians to place matters into their own hands, if they think a patient is better off dead there’s no human who can legally stop them if cases are failed to be reported.
In 2013 a New England Journal of Medicine questioned its readers about a hypothetical near-death case to which more than 2,000 readers responded (Reinberg 13). Readers from the United States made up 67 percent of the replies who were not in favor of PAS. Reasons varied from violation of the Hippocratic Oath and the fine line between PAS and euthanasia—intentional killing to relieve suffering and pain.? It’s morally acceptable to prescribe a medication that can end a human’s life but it’s absolutely against all ethical practices to have a physician inject a substance to stop a human from living. PAS does raise numerous questions about ethics it also brings focus to the effects it has on our entire culture. This epidemic may bring temptation to view elderly or disabled family members as burdens.
On the other end of the argument another 29-year-old woman, Stephanie Packer says physician-assisted suicide will never be an option for her. “Wanting the pain to stop, wanting the humiliating side effects to go away -- that's absolutely natural,' Packer says. 'I absolutely have been there, and I still get there some days. But I don't get to that point of wanting to end it all, because I have been given the tools to understand that today is a horrible day, but tomorrow doesn't have to be” (O’Neill 15). Packer was diagnosed with scleroderma—a long-term autoimmune disease that results in hardening of the skin; may also affect internal organs—the doctor informed Packer it had settled in her lungs. She was given three years to live. Packer and her family are devout Catholics and they believe along with their church that doctors should never rush death. Packer stated, “God put us here on earth and only God can take us away. And he has a master plan for us, and if suffering is part of that plan, which it seems to be, then so be it.” Ultimately Packer’s decision to let her disease take its intended course has given her three years to be with her children, husband, family, and her community.
As I stated in my introduction I truly understand both sides, those in favor of PAS and those against it. I would have to say in my opinion let the person choose. I believe humans who are unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with death should have the opportunity to prolong or shorten their time on Earth. I stand behind Brittany Maynard and I believe she was a beautiful and strong soul who took the course life she wanted, surrounded by loved ones and in a place of comfort. Stephanie Packer is equally as strong living with daily pain and holding true to her faith is indeed commendable.
References
Maynard, B. (2014). My right to death with dignity at 29. Retrieved from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/opinion/maynard-assisted-suicide-cancer-dignity/
Hopkins, J. (2016, December 14). Bioethics. Retrieved from Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries & University Museums: http://guides.library.jhu.edu/c.php?g=202502&p=1335752
Anderson, R. T. (2015, March 26). Physician-Assisted Suicide is Always Wrong. Retrieved from Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/physician-assisted-suicide-always-wrong-317042
Reinberg, S. (2013, September 11). Most Doctors Oppose Physician-Assisted Suicide, Poll Finds. Retrieved from U.S. News: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/09/11/most-doctors-oppose-physician-assisted-suicide-poll
O'Neill, S. (2015, May 26). When You Have the Right to Die But Don't Want to. Retrieved from CNN Health: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/26/health/terminal-patients-against-assisted-suicide/