Physician Assisted Suicide Is A Universal Experience

Introduction â€Å"Death is a universal experience. No matter what our culture, our religion, our race, or our country of origin, we will all die. How we approach death, how we think about suffering and grief, and what we believe happens after we die vary based on our culture, religion, and spiritual beliefs. Spiritual beliefs ground our thinking about end-of-life concepts.† -Susan Thrane, MSN, RN, OCN Over the years voluntary euthanasia, also known as physician assisted suicide (PAS), has been a huge controversy in the United States as well as in other countries. Physician assisted suicide is defined as a doctor knowingly and intentionally with knowledge, means, or both required to commit suicide. It includes counselling about lethal†¦show more content†¦In religion the views differ and vary and suicide can often offend one’s religion, recent studies have shown that Americans who are religious are most likely to oppose the act, according to Gallup as of 2013. People are at greater risk when aid in dying is secret and unregulated rather than open and regulated strictly and parallels to the regulation of abortion can be made. Assisted suicide and even suicide in general are difficult topics to debate on because they are essentially based on one’s opinion. Topic Background Believe it or not, euthanasia has been a major issue in the first and fifth century in Ancient Rome and Greece before christianity others tolerated euthanasia. Many pagan physicians conducted assisted-suicides, which was against the Hippocratic Oath, the oath prohibited doctors from giving a deadly drug to anyone. People supported this because it gave them the opportunity to decide if they wanted to participate in voluntary suicide. During the Great Depression, euthanasia increased dramatically because of the troubled economy. A public poll in 1937, showed that 45 percent of americans believed it was okay to mercy kill infants born with deformities. The Death with Dignity Act (DWDA), which was passed in 1994 allowed people living in the state of Oregon to request physician-assisted suicide if wanted. The state became the first state to allow a law in American history to permit physician