Most of the contentious issues that the health system is dealing with are euthanasia or assisted suicide.
Debating the Ethical Implications
While a psychiatrist may believe that overdosing a patient to alleviate pain and discomfort from terminal disease is appropriate, it is debatable from an ethical standpoint whether or not it can be agreed upon and performed.
The Increase in Legalization
As a result, the references annotated below provide a variety of viewpoints about whether or not they should be adopted. The authors inform the audience that there has been an increase in the legalization of Euthanasia as well as physician-assisted suicide. The noted increase is due to related attitudes and practices.
A Review of Legal Status
The article, therefore, is an imperative review of the legal status Euthanasia. Findings are that the practice is widely accepted in some countries including Colombia, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. On the other hand, some countries despite not fully legalizing euthanasia allow physician-assisted suicide as noted in five states in United States of America and Switzerland.
An International Debate
Gamondi, Claudia, et al. "Legalisation of assisted suicide: a safeguard to euthanasia?" The Lancet 384.9938 (2014): 127.
Gamondi et al. discourses the international debate regarding Euthanasia where many countries are debating the possibilities of legalizing euthanasia, assisted suicide or both.
Understanding the Practices
For proper and in-depth understand of the two practices, the authors distinctly inform the target audience that in physician-assisted suicide, the patients who suffer from terminal illnesses with the advice and help of the doctor take the ingest the lethal drugs on their own whereas for the euthanasia, the doctor obtains permission from the patient and consent from legal relatives to relieve the patient of suffering by overdosing or applying any other painless means to kill the patient.
Statistical Findings
Statistical findings establish that over 5000 patients were recorded to have died in 2012 through euthanasia and assisted suicide. Nevertheless, the author notes that since 2002, both euthanasia and assisted suicide have been used successfully in countries like Belgium and Netherlands.
A Comparative Approach
From a comparative approach, the authors note particular reasons for physician-assisted deaths being allowed in Switzerland and some states within the United States of America.
