ESSAY : Ethical Issues of Death and Dying

What principles of ethics will you consider when responding to a patient’s request for assisted-suicide?

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Nonmaleficence and beneficence are the main ethical principles I will consider when responding to a patient’s appeal for assisted-suicide. Nonmaleficence principle is important because it justifies a physician’s role in assisted-suicide. The principle states that a doctor ought not to inflict evil or harm or bring his patients into the risk of evil or harm (Melby et al., 2016). My responsibility is to ensures that my patients are not in the harm’s way. That means that even where death is inevitable, I am bound to give medications that will improve patients’ quality of life and perhaps prolong their stay here on earth. However, for a patient who prefers euthanasia, as a physician, I am obliged to end the patients suffering as long as laws of the land allows such medical…