Description
Written Assignment - Right to Die, Death with Dignity Statutes
Currently there are several states in the U.S that have enacted Death with Dignity Statutes. The first state to enact such a law was Oregon. These statutes were not enacted without controversy. For this week's written assignment, research one of the states that enacted a Death with Dignity statute. In your paper, summarize the applicable statute. Be sure to include information on how a patient would obtain the necessary means to end their life. For example, how do they qualify, what is the process to obtain the end of life medications, etc.? Share your thoughts about the Death with Dignity Statutes. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
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***** SOME NOTES TO HELP YOU START! *****
Please make this paper in APA format with a separate title page and reference page and make sure to use credible references:
***sources that you can use that are great sources: WHO, CDC, NIH, JAMA, NEJM, AAPA, AAFP, American Cancer Society, AAAAI, BMJ, PubMed, i.e.
Peer-reviewed medical journals
E-book: “Healthcare Websites”
***sources TO NOTTTT USE: yahoo answers, ehow,com, ask.com, forum-based websites, or personal random blogs from who knows where…
Please make sure this is at least 3 pages (or more) if possible.
Make sure to list the link for the website page with your references.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK SPELLING WHEN FINISHED AND RECHECK THE WORK TO MAKE SURE EACH SENTENCE MAKES SENSE.
PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENTS IN EACH PARAGRAPH…. Do NOT just put because and make it a repeated sentence….. I want to know because why? Or how? Who ? etc. you get what I am trying to say.
****** MY CLASS NOTES SO THIS WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU!*******
Ethical and Legal Issues Related to the End of Life:
Understanding the many facets of death and dying as a future healthcare professional becomes important when carrying out various rights and laws provided for all. The understanding of death and reactions to bereavement require several levels of support and staff confidence to provide support to patients and their families. This is a difficult time for all parties involved and it is important to be sensitive to the various reactions and behaviors that surround the dying process.
During this time the patient, family and friends may react in ways that are not congruent to their everyday behavior. Depending on where they are in the 5 Stage of Dying, their emotions and actions may be a severe contrast to their typical demeanor. People handle death in their own way and on their own timetable. Healthcare workers should understand the stages of dying so that they can not only best assist the patient, but the loved ones who are experiencing issues related to the loss.
In addition, it is important for a future healthcare professional to be knowledgeable of not only the dying process, definitions of death, and the stages of dying, but also understands quality-of-life issues, the use of medications for the dying patient, hospice care, palliative care, viatical settlements, advance directives, choices of life and death, the death certificate, and medical examiner cases. Living wills guide family and friends to respect the final wishes of the patient. These lay out what type of ordinary or extraordinary care that the patient wants or does not want.
The finalization of life, medical law, and bioethics are topics that all healthcare professionals will encounter at some point in their career. Our society has many ways of dealing with the overall grieving process and loss of a family member; however, the most important thing is how we deal with and respect the process.
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Running head: DEATH WITH DIGNITY STATUTE
Death with Dignity Statute
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DEATH WITH DIGNITY STATUTE
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Death with Dignity Statute
Death with Dignity refers to the rights of a patient suffering from a terminal disease being
allowed to end their lives by prescriptive medication that quicken their death. A patient is given
the option to make an informed decision before they are allowed to opt for death with dignity in
order to reduce suffering and pain of imminent death. Death with Dignity statutes are the laws
that have been enacted by different states to allow patients with terminal illnesses to undergo
painless death using lethal medications that are prescribed to them by a physician. These laws are
aimed at giving the patient the control, dignity and peace during their last days with their
immediate family members and ensuring that the patient has the option to end his or her life.
Today various states in the U.S have enacted this statutes such as Oregon, Washington,
California and Colorado.
California has enacted the End of Life Option Act that was signed by Governor Jerry
Brown into law in October 2015 and it came into effect in June 2016. The Statute is currently in
effect and it has been applied by patients to make a formal request from the physicians to
prescribe the end of life medication based on the law. This law only allows terminally ill patients
who are adults and residents of California to access physician assistance in dying by
administering lethal medication that hasten their death provided they have met the specific
requirements outlined in the statute. The statute describes various procedures that the patient and
the physicians must follow in order for the request to be acceptable. For example, the law
requires the patient to make three formal requests from the physician for them to be granted the
go ahead with End of Life medication. In addition, the request must b...
