Right to Die Cases
The right to die is increasingly being legalized and is now legal in five states in the US. Herein is the case Aja Riggs’s right to die situation as well as its ethical and legal ramifications. The essay also offers my opinion regarding the court’s decision
When Aja Riggs was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she moved to the District Court, seeking a ruling that would allow her doctors to help end her life without facing criminal prosecution. Riggs argued that terminally ill-deserved and mentally competent patients assisted suicide so they would have a dignified death leading to the case being ruled in her favor (Mexican, 2016). However, the then state Attorney general appealed the decision to the New Mexico Supreme Court and rejected the District’s judge ruling was rejected (Printz, 2015). Based on substantive ethics, if assisted suicide were allowed, it would be problematic given the nature of the physician-patient relationship. Assisted suicide would affect trust in the relationship because it would alter the role of the medical profession’s role in society. A physician’s role is to provide care and address suffering and not to hasten death (Pozgar, 2020). Concerning the legal ramifications, the case would have resulted in the State laws. The changes would create a challenge because prescription laws would have to be modified to encourage effective pain management while regulating their misuse.
I agree with the court’s decision to deny Aja Riggs’s right to be aided in dying under the New Mexico State constitution because there are alternative treatments. Palliative care and hospices are effective treatments to minimize pain and allow a patient to die in the natural course of their illness. Palliative and hospice care are extraordinarily available in the US; virtually any person in New Mexico can have access to hospice care if anyone needs it. Thus, compassion arguments for physician-assisted suicide fall short because there is alternative quality care to relieve suffering in dying patients.
References
Mexican, P. H. T. N. (2016, July 1). New Mexico Supreme Court rules against physician-assisted suicide. Retrieved from https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/health_and_science/new-mexico-supreme-court-rules-against-physician-assisted-suicide/article_6fee621d-e689-520d-a51f-974d08ec5ec2.html
Pozgar, G. D. (2020). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Printz, C. (2015). Death with dignity: Young patient with brain tumor puts a face on the right-to-die movement. Cancer, 121(5), 641–643. doi: 10.1002/cncr.29283