Running head: HOSPICE VS.

ASSISTED SUICIDE

Hospice VS Assisted Suicide

Nicole Katyryniuk
Liberty High School
3/19/15

Hospice VS Assisted Suicide

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

There is a difference between a person who is dying and a

person who is suicidal. I do not want to die, I am dying (Brittany
Maynard, 2014). As many people may have heard, Brittany Maynard a
young, happy, newly wed had been diagnosed with a terminal brain
cancer. This cancer brought her six months of pure pain and
discomfort. Instead of living with the pain, Maynard decided to take a
larger step and began the process of ending her life with the Death
with Dignity law that is provided in Oregon. This law allows men or
women who have a terminal disease to end their life with the approval
of two different physicians. Assisted suicide, also known as Death with
Dignity, has been the better option for people, but for others it is
simple, pain management. Hospice is an option for people whose life
expectancy is six months or less, and it involves palliative care (pain
and symptom relief) rather than ongoing beneficial measures, assisting
patients to live there last days to the fullest, with purpose, dignity,
grace, and support (Hospice and Palliative, p. 1). The differences
between the two are simple: managing pain or throwing in the towel
and taking a drug that is expected to end a persons life. The choice
between assisted suicide and hospice consist of helping patients who
are at the end of their life, die happy and content with themselves.
Assisted suicide gives terminally ill patients the chance to end there
suffering and finally be in control of how their life may play out even
with extreme disposition from others.

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

Hospice is an end of life care for patients who are suffering from
terminal diseases. Patients who need hospice are normally older and in
need of assistance medically and at home care. The professionals and
volunteers that assist hospice patients are normally there for medical,
emotional, and spiritual support (Hospice Care: MedlinePlus, p. 1). The
number one goal for all hospice employees is to try and control the
pain and other symptoms so that the patient can be as alert and
responsive as possible. For a patient to be in hospice they must have a
maximum of six months or less to live which is also the same for
assisted suicide (Hospice Care: MedlinePlus, p. 1). Hospice can be
implemented at home, in a hospice center, a local hospital, or a skilled
nursing center. No matter where hospice is located, patients are given
the highest medical attention as needed to help them leave peacefully.
For the people who have terminal illnesses, there is a huge moral
decision to be made: go through with pain that the illness supplies or
choose to end it. The term-assisted suicide is when a patient is
suffering from an incurable disease; the agony can be stopped
immediately by taking a lethal drug provided by a doctor to begin the
process of assisted suicide (Merriam Webster). The drugs that are
prescribed are called secobarbital and then pentobarbital. The lethal
dose prescribed is 9 g of secobarbital in capsules and 10 g of
pentobarbital liquid, is to be consumed at the same time (Medscape,
n.d.). To begin the process of assisted suicide, a patient must be

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

capable of making a verbal request to a physician. Even with a request,

patients still would need a doctors permission, but the doctor can send
the patient to hospice care if necessary. By law, a second doctor is
required to sign off on the medical case before the patient acquires the
drug. After the case is cleared, a doctor can prescribe the drug to the
patient but cannot directly administer the drug because then that
would be considered euthanasia.
For example, giving a patient a lethal injection or putting a
plastic bag over her head to suffocate her would be considered
euthanasia. On the other hand, if the person who dies performs
the last act, assisted suicide has taken place (Patients Rights
Council, n.d.).
The cost of the drug approximates to about $35 to $50 dollars, much
cheaper than any long-term facility. Insurance almost never covers
lethal drugs, so patients are paying out of pocket. After taking the
prescription, the patients will slowly fall into a coma about five minutes
after consuming the drug, with death approaching within an hour and
half.
With the legalization of assisted suicide in Washington and
Oregon, it conveys extreme ethical problems that hospice programs
have to face. Up to 90% of terminally ill patients who use the stateregulated procedure to end their lives are enrolled in hospice care
(Campbell & Black, 2014, p. 1). Campbell and Black in their article,

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

Dignity, Death, and Dilemmas, state that with patients who are
enrolled in hospice, there is a chance to begin the process of assisted
suicide. Ninety-five per cent of both groups, however, favored hospice
policies that would allow a patient to choose assisted suicide while
enrolled in hospice and allow hospice clinicians to continue to provide
care (Miller, Harvath, Ganzini, Goy, Delorit, & Jackson, 2004, p. 687).
Hospice is very knowledgeable at giving their patients the right care on
relieving the pain that patients are living through. Most people are
afraid to die which is understandable, unless patients have other
circumstances where people would rather die than live. A quote by the
same authors states, almost two-thirds of respondents reported that
at least one patient had discussed assisted suicide as a potential
option in the past year(Miller & Harvath, 2004, p. 688). This quote
shows the amount of people who are not undertaking assisted suicide.
Many people are scared to admit that they need an extra resource to
help with handling the disease and its symptoms. Assisted suicide
would be a huge potential option for anybody who is suffering from
horrible illnesses and would like to finally take control in how their life
plays out.
While some people agree with assisted suicide, there are others
who do not, especially the Catholic Church. The outcome of our
society's debate on physician-assisted suicide may depend on how well
we communicateand act upona similar message (Doerflinger &

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

Gomez, n.d.). With church masses, preachers are putting a strong line
against assisted suicide because in the Catholic bible, killing yourself is
a sin. The ongoing debate is whether families should put their loved
ones through months of pure torture if the pain-relieving medication
does not work.
We are living at a time when some doctors and lawmakers think
that the best solution for some patients' suffering is to give them
lethal drugs for suicide. Catholics committed to the dignity of
each human person must insist: kill the pain. Not the patient
(Doerflinger & Gomez, n.d.).
With Catholics advocating, kill the pain. Not the patient, it is giving
patients who are in the situation of needing to make a decision
whether to end their lives or to continue along and hope for the best
with their illnesses. The Lancet reported on interviews with cancer
patients on June 29, 1996, it found that dying patients experiencing
significant pain were more opposed to assisted suicide than the
general public (Doerflinger & Gomez, n.d.). Even religion cannot halt
the pain, but assisted suicide provides those patients who are in pain a
way to humanely die with dignity.
Even though the most common reason for choosing assisted
suicide is because of a terminal illness, there are many horrible
circumstances that can result in people wanting to end their lives. Most
cases of assisted suicide involve people who have terminal illnesses

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

with a maximum of six months to live, which is the same for hospice
but the cost is what differentiates between the two. The cost (or
financial burden) of hospice can vary significantly. This affects people
dramatically who do not have a terminal illness but have had
something significant happen to them, which leaves them paralyzed
and not be able to take care of themselves.
But such care can be expensive, costing upward of $10,000 a
month,

according to the Health Affairs study. That puts

hospices in a financial bind.

Last year, the Medicare program

paid a base rate of $151 per day to cover all

routine hospice

services, adjusted for geographic differences (Andrews,

2013).

If a patient needs more than what hospice provides, the person will be
paying a higher cost for the medical supplies.
According to a study initiated by the Christopher & Dana Reeve
Foundation, there are nearly 1 in 50 people living with paralysis
-- approximately 6 million people. That's the same number of
people as the combined populations of Los Angeles, Philadelphia,
and Washington, D.C. And that number is nearly 33% higher than
previous estimates showed (Paralysis Facts & Figures, n.d.).
With people who are paralyzed, hospice is the only option because
they need 24/7 care. This brings the people who are paralyzed down to
a level of depression that is hard to comeback from. Assisted suicide
should be available for people who are paralyzed who cannot take care

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

of themselves and who want to end their life. For instance, CNN
reported a news story on a man named Tony Knicklinson, suffering
from "locked-in syndrome," who fought a long legal battle over assisted
suicide (CNN, 2012). There was nothing Knicklinson wanted more was
to end his life. For the people who are paralyzed, the cost of health
care to maintain their medical needs is an outrageous price. The
medical bills are creating more stress for the families and patients
involved then there needs to be. Assisted suicide costs less than half of
what hospice costs and the patients have the chance to die with
dignity.
Assisted suicide helps patients who need and want a way out
because of the pain and suffering they will face. Many cases of suicide
have happened because people sense that they are a liability to others
or they cannot take the emotional or physical pain their illness or injury
has given them. The reason to consider life and whats of value is to
make sure youre not missing out. Seize the day. Whats important to
you? What do you care about? What matters? Pursue that, forget the
rest (Brittany Maynard, 2014). When patients find out what is truly
more important to them, the decision will be made, either assisted
suicide or hospice. But most people do not agree with assisted suicide
but that does not stop some from gaining the strength to perform this
act on their selves when they truly need it the most.

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

References:

Andrews, M. (2013) Hospices, Wary Of Costs, May Be Discouraging

Patients With

High Expenses. Retrieved March 18, 2015, from

http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/012213-michelle-andrews-onhospice-care/

Doerflinger, R., & Gomez, C. (n.d.). Killing the Pain Not the Patient:
Palliative Care vs Assisted Suicide. Retrieved February 18, 2015, from
http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-anddignity/assisted-suicide/killing-the-pain.cfm

Engber, D. (n.d.). How does assisted suicide work? Retrieved March 6,

2015, from
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2005/10/h
ow_does_assisted_suicide_work.html

Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2015, from

http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/frequently-askedquestions/

Hospice and Palliative Care. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2015, from
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/caregiving/hospice-and-

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

palliative-

10

care.htm

Hospice Care: MedlinePlus. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2015, from

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hospicecare.html

Medscape Log In. (n.d.). Retrieved March 6, 2015, from

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/742070_3

Miller, L., Harvath, T., Ganzini, L., Goy, E., Delorit, M., & Jackson, A.
(2004).
Social

Attitudes And Experiences Of Oregon Hospice Nurses And

Workers

Regarding Assisted Suicide. Palliative

Medicine,685691. RetrievedFebruary

13,2015,from

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfvie
sid=713115b8c1284430a871

wer?

2fae60f3315b@sessionmgr114&vid=5&hid=109

ParalysisFacts&Figures.(n.d.).RetrievedMarch10,2015,from
http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.mtKZKgMWKwG/b.5184189/
k.5587
/Paralysis_Facts__Figures.htm

ParalyzedUKmandiesafterlosingassistedsuicidecaseCNN.com.(n.d.).
RetrievedMarch10,2015,from

HOSPICE VS. ASSISTED SUICIDE

11

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/world/europe/uklockedindeath/

Unroe,K.,Sachs,G.,M,D.,Hickman,S.,Stump,T.,Tu,W.,&Callahan,C.(2014).
Hospice Use Among Nursing Home and Non-Nursing Home
Patients.

JGIM: Journal of General Internal Medicine, 30(2),

198. Retrieved

193-

February 18, 2015, from

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-014- 3080-x
11 Emotional Quotes From Brittany Maynard, The Newlywed Choosing
to

End

Her Life at 29. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2015, from

http://www.etonline.com/fashion/152632_11_emotional_quotes_from
_brittany_maynard_the_newlywed_choosing_to_end_her_life_at_29/