What Is Physician-Assisted Suicide?
PAS is not the same thing aseuthanasia.
Moreover, physicians are not required by law to assist in the ending of a patient’s life.
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They can conscientiously refuse and are protected by law to do so.
Central to the oath is the phraseprimum non nocere(meaning first, do no harm).
Doing so, they argue, is equivalent to “killing” or “murder.”
Doing so essentially deprives a patient of autonomy, including the right to die.
They argue that PAS is an entirely different issue unrelated to palliative or hospice care.
Studies investigating suicide rates after the passing of PAS laws have thus far found no association.
In addition, there is no evidence that people “rush” to get PAS once laws are enacted.
Over 25 years, only 2,454 assisted suicides have been performed in the state.
Over time, insurers may not only promote PAS to their patients but encourage it.
To date, there is no evidence of that occurring.
As such, people are more often denied access to PAS due to the cost, particularly poor people.
Some states require multiple diagnoses from multiple providers.
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Patients Rights Council.Assisted suicide laws in the United States.
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National Institute on Aging.What are palliative care and hospice care?
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.Medicare Hospice Benefits.
2023 Oct 3:spcare-2023-004292.
CNN.Physician-assisted suicides fast facts.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.Conceptual, legal, and ethical considerations in physician-assisted death.
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