Absence of a Patient’s Right to Die: Physician-Assisted Suicide in California President Kelly O'Keefe and the Monterey County Medical Society Daniel Metzger Physician-Assisted Suicide Advocate Image 1
The Issue for Discussion ● California is denying terminally ill patient’s right to die ● Patients being forced to live in pain ○ Artificially kept alive ● Mor als and personal beliefs shape opposing arguments Image 2
Urgency to Consider Legalization ● Four states have legalized PAS ○ Countries across the globe as well ○ Remaining states in US have laws prohibiting this act ● 56% of Americans believe that a doctor should be allowed to assist a terminally ill patient in committing suicide (Gallup Organization, 2013) ● New freedoms being passed across US
Why legalize? ● Inconsistency across country ● Patients taking matters into own hands ○ Inhumane and gruesome ● Death is imminent ● End of life care costs ○ Patients with terminal illnesses can spend $53,432-$105,000 in 2 years (Neuberg, 2008) ○ Family left with debt Image 3
Image 4 Image 5 Why the AMA? ● Leading association of US doctors ● Doctors open to idea ○ Do not want to actually perform the act themselves (Cohen, Fihn, Boyko, Jonsen, Wood, 1994) ● Physicians are being convicted ○ ie. Jack Kevorkian ● Ability to make change
No Reason to Worry ● Arguments are being created out of fear and inability to see possible change ○ Slippery slope ○ Abuse of power ○ Not a treatment option ■ Simply murder ● Doctors can opt out Image 6
Difference from Current Systems ● Laws similar to ● Formation of a PAS ones present in Review states where PAS Board/Council is legal ○ Assigned to cases ○ Complete ○ More formal understanding of laws guidelines ○ Make ○ Stricter overlook decisions/approvals ○ Longer time frame ○ Possible criminalization
What you can do… ● Be open to possible change ○ Hear both sides of issue ● Understand logic of legal PAS ○ Step away from personal morals ● Shift opinion on matter ○ Public announcement Image 7 ■ General public’s opinion will shift ● Slowly stop group’s anti-PAS efforts
Conclusions/Takeaways ● Physician-assisted suicide must be seen as a type of treatment ● PAS can be easy, peaceful, and conducted by a licensed professional who knows exactly what to do ● Improved systems can be put in place in California ● Mistakes will happen, but will lead to beneficial change ● Logic should shape laws, not personal morals
Images Page Image 1: http://www.123rf.com/photo_18095126_female-and-male-doctors-standing-next-to-a-patient- in-a-hospital-bed.html Image 2: http://www.charlottenow.com/charlotte_doctors-g-12/ Image 3: http://laurenjepson111.edublogs.org/ Image 4: https://plus.google.com/+ama Image 5: http://www.cmanet.org/societies/detail/?society=monterey-county-medical-society Image 6: http://blog.megankeane.com/2013/05/29/life-lessons-in-hair-pulling-day-2/ Image 7: http://shotofprevention.com/2012/02/24/how-the-doctorparent-relationship-can-impact- immunization-decisions/
Reference Benatar, D. (2011). A legal right to die: responding to slippery slope and abuse arguments. US national library of medicine . 18(5) 206-207. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3185895/. Cohen, J., Fihn, S., Boyko, E., Jonsen, A., Wood, R. (1994). Attitudes toward assisted suicide and euthanasia among physicians in washington state. The New England journal of medicine . 89-94. Retrieved from http://www. nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199407143310206. Gallup Organization. (2007). Opinion polls/surveys. Retrieved from http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000134. Lesser, H. (2010). Should it be legal to assist suicide? Journal of evaluation in clinical practice . 330-334. Retrieved from http://content.ebscohost.com.library2.csumb.edu: 2048/pdf23_24/pdf/2010/EV1/01Apr10/48858628.pdf? T=P&P=AN&K=48858628&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kSeqK840dvuOLCmr0ueqK5SsKu4Sq% 2BWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOvl7Izj6OORuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA. Neuberg, G. W. (2008). The cost of end-of-life-care. American heart association . Retrieved from http://circoutcomes.ahajournals.org/content/2/2/127.full. State-by-state guide to physician-assisted suicide. ProCon.org. (2013). Retrieved from http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000132.
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