PAS is opted for when the patient is terminally ill and he/she no longer
wants to continue life-supporting treatments that are often excruciating, financially
unaffordable and offer no hope for survival to terminally ill patients. This chapter talks
about the ethical concern of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is one of the
perennial ethical problems of medicine, how it can be distinguished from euthanasia,
and what are the different types of practices that constitute end-of-life procedures. It
talks about the factors that make PAS a legal and ethical issue. Furthermore, PAS’s
prevalence across the world, especially in Pakistan, is discussed, and also the causative
factors leading to PAS have been shed light upon. Moreover, the influence it has on
individuals and society and the ways by which we can address issues encountered as a
result of physician-assisted suicide are made part of this discussion.
Keywords: Alternative options, Causative factors, Ethical debate, End-of-life decision making, Healthcare sector, Hippocratic oath, Lawful implications, Physician-assisted suicide, Prevalence, Potential consequences, Patient autonomy, Religious teachings, Social depravity, Terminal illness.
