Suffering In Silence Essay

Suffering in Silence: The Right to End a Patients Suffering

Throughout history, there have been many disagreements on certain issues ranging from war, to the Constitution, to slavery. Currently, one of the biggest disagreements in society is that of euthanasia. The Oxford English Dictionary defines euthanasia as the, “act of inducing a gentle and easy death, especially with reference to a proposal that the law should sanction the putting painlessly to death of those suffering from incurable and extremely painful diseases.” (“Euthanasia”) Some believe that assisted suicide is morally and ethically wrong, while others state that it is helping the patient’s pain cease to exist. Ultimately, if a terminally ill patient wishes to end his or her suffering, the government should allow a physician to respect his or her request.

Just like in any argument, both sides have their advantages and their disadvantages. For example, one of the biggest benefits of assisted suicide has to deal with money. The average American spends more money on medical bills than anything else. Keeping a loved one on life support can cost as much as 10,000 dollars a day (CBSNEWS). After a while, all of that money starts adding up. Performing assisted suicide on those who desire it lessens the amount of bills and the financial burden on family members. Another advantage is that when somebody has a terminal illness or is in a coma, there is not much the doctors can do for them besides try to ease their pain and suffering. If a patient decides that they want their doctor to help them escape the pain, it allows the doctors to have more focus on other patients who can be saved.

However, there are downsides to allowing euthanasia. For example, some think physician assi...

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...ot push the patient towards or away from the choice of assisted suicide.

One can say that the argument of euthanasia is identical to what the argument about abortion was like. The government legalized abortion because they believed that a woman had the right to choose what her body would or would not go through. The same argument can be made for euthanasia. A terminally ill patient should have the right to decide whether they want to put their body through the treacherous pain of the disease, or if they want to end their suffering while they can. Therefore, the government should grant physician with the ability to end his or her patients suffering if it is his or her wish. The fight for euthanasia is no different than the fight for abortion, gay marriage, or even right to bear arms. They are all a freedom in some way, and that freedom should be respected.