Physician Assisted Suicide
According to the AMA (American Medical Association), Physician Assisted Suicide involves physician administered prescription of lethal medication or assistance in finding other means that allow the patient to end their own life. In order to participate in PAS, the patient must be terminally ill- or suffering from an extraordinary pain from a chronic illness, disorder, or disease- and a mentally competent adult. There is much debate surrounding the topic in whether it is ethical to medically assist a patient in their quest of ending their own life. In the United States, only a limited number of locations legally allow PAS: Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont, Hawaii, California, Colorado, and Washington D.C. In opposition of the AMA's perspective that advocates against the action's ethical legality, it is argued that PAS is in fact Dying with Dignity or Physician Assisted Death; some highlight that language indicates its true intentionality. The emerging ...