Utilitarian And Virtue Ethics Of Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician Assisted Suicide Physician assisted suicide or PAS is a controversial topic in the world today. But the important question is, should physician assisted suicides be allowed in cases such as: the patient’s suffering is far too great and there is no chance of them getting better? This is a highly debated issue, that has activist groups on both sides fighting for what they think is the right thing to do. Physician assisted suicides can stop the excruciating pain a patient is in, especially if there is nothing that can be done to stop the pain. Or it can be done for a patient that fully understands that there is nothing that can be done to save their life, so as not to put their loved ones into financial hardship. In this†¦show more content†¦6.1). Since this ethical theory deals with virtuous character, that would be a good trait when you are trusting a doctor with your medical needs. In a moral dilemma, using a process that considers making the most people happy may be the best outcome. Radbruch, Leget, Bahr, Mà ¼ller-Busch, Ellershaw, de Conno, Vanden Berghe (2016) defines assisted suicide as â€Å"a person intentionally helping another person to terminate his or her life, at that person’s voluntary and competent request† (pg. 5). With this definition, the patient is in complete understanding of outcome of their decision. So applying the utilitarian theory, it would be to allow patients that fit all the criteria the choice of physician assisted suicide as it would provide them the happiness of having that as a choice. This is an important choice to have because as it states in the same article, â€Å"patients must be suffering unbearably, with no prospect of improvement, but the illness does not have to be terminal† (Radbruch et al, 2016, pg. 4). Why should someone wanting to go through with a physician assisted suicide be forced to l ive a life they do not want? 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