Healthcare news and wellness tips from Advantedge Education, Inc.

Is the United States Ready for Doctor-Assisted Dying?

Do medical ethics support doctor-assisted dying?

Breaking the Hippocratic Oath, first do no harm, for many physicians would be impossible, but let’s take a closer look at this issue and begin a dialogue. Consider the individuals who would benefit from the assistance of their doctor, the trusted individual who has intimate knowledge of their personal suffering.

Picture of elderly man with lung cancer
© Katarzyna Bialasiewicz | Dreamstime.com

It is these doctors, the oncologist working with the cancer patient who is struggling after a third recurrence, or the neurologist dealing with a patient who has intractable nerve pain, who truly understand the complexity of human suffering. According to a recent article in The Economist, concerns about the controversial practice may be misplaced.

“Liberty and autonomy are sources of human dignity, too,” the authors explain, “and evidence from places that have allowed assisted dying suggests that there is no slippery slope towards widespread euthanasia.” For medical providers then, concerns that assisted dying could become “a cheap alternative to palliative care” are unfounded, as the examples of Belgium and Holland suggest.

If doctor-assisted dying is moral, and if more U.S. states and Western countries make it legal, how can medical providers make assisted dying practical? The Economist cites Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, which allows doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to patients with less than six months to live. The patient must ask for the drugs, a second doctor must agree with the decision, and then there’s a 15-day waiting or “cooling off” period.

What do you think?

As a medical provider, would you be willing to administer or provide a lethal drug to a terminally ill patient who is seeking relief from pain and suffering? Are there other situations that you feel would qualify for assisted dying? With increasing awareness of this controversial issue, as well as growing support for doctor-assisted dying across the United States and Western Europe, these are questions that medical providers may need to ask themselves. What are your thoughts?