Legalization of Assisted Suicide: A Compassionate Option

847 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on legalization of assisted suicide

Legalization of Assisted Suicide Assisted suicide happens when a sick patient chooses to end their life by having a doctor prescribe them lethal drugs. This end of life choice is chosen by thousands of people each year. Legalizing it would help many people with illnesses and their families. Assisted suicide should be legalized because it could end the pain from any illness it may have caused, it has already been legalized in five states, and it is a person’s choice to choose what is best for them. People with an illness could take away their pain by choosing this decision. Doctors and pharmacists are making the patients suffer even more if they keep them alive, “Forcing the terminally ill to suffer and live or allowing them to die …show more content…

People should not have someone to tell them to keep going if all they are going to do is suffer. Patients should have a choice to choose what is best for them and their family in the long run. It is that person’s life and their responsibility for their actions they choose to make. They might talk to their family about it and ask how they feel, but at the end of the day, it is still their decision. Many people disagree with assisted suicide and think it should be illegal in all states. Some religious people think that our life is not actually our life, but it belongs to God. Also, some people don’t want to know how they die and when they die. “Flights booked; a last meal; and a life ended. I do not want to live -- or die -- in a world like that” (Harris). People just want Vasquez 3

to live their lives and let everything in God’s hands. God has the power to help people through their struggles and be there for them whenever they need him. All though, God can’t always make our decisions. They have to choose what is best for them and how they want to live their life. People can choose when they want to die and when they want to be with God. Also, people would not want to hurt their family and leave them in pain. Everyone dies at one point. It is a part of life and it is a struggle. The family should be happy that their loved one died in peace and is not in pain …show more content…

Citizens should have a right to choose what is best for them.“But on the other hand, if we are indeed masters of our destinies, then the manner in which we choose to die should be a personal decision” (Backmann). No one should go through any pain. People should live a happy and peaceful life and live how they want to. Why not make assisted suicide legal in the whole United States when it is already legalized in five

Show More
Related

  • The Ethical Dilemma of Assisted Suicide

    2261 Words  | 5 Pages

    Assisted suicide is becoming increasingly more common. Arguing the topic is extremely hard because it means the the life or death of a human being. Today, assisted suicide is legal in multiple countries, but only a few states in the US support this. Therefore, creates a struggle for any person wanting to go through this process. Being this is a broad topic, most people are torn between one side, I personally believe there should be a compromise in between the middle. For instance, not just someone going through a troublesome time in their life should have the ability to up and kill himself. That in my perspective is taking an easy way out for something that is worth a tremendous amount. However, the few people with a deadly illness or cancer that can no longer fight the pain or perhaps unresponsive should be given that option. Just because we have the ability to be euthanized does

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Assisted Suicide

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    It’s hard for a family to go through this and the terminally ill want to save their families from as much heart break as they can.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...their own life and die with their own dignity is huge thing among anyone. No one should be denied the right to leave this earth if they are in constant and terrible pain. But people were also asked whether physician-assisted suicide should be allowed for people in severe pain who aren't terminally ill or for those with disabilities and the outcome was, “a solid majority — 71 percent — opposed the idea, with only 29 percent in favor of it. The results were the same as in 2011.” (Hensley, 2012). The whole idea of having physician-assisted suicide is for a patient with a severe illness with months to live is to go out in peace and without any complications. Overall, physician-assisted suicide has many pros and cons but the main issue is the patient. It should not be up to anybody except the dying patient. There are only four states that have legalized assisted-suicide.

    Read More

  • Analyiss on Jerry Fensteman´s I See Why Others Choose to Die

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jerry Fensterman, in his essay "I See Why Others Choose to Die", talks about how he can understand why terminal ill people after so long in pain with no hope to cure choose to end their life sooner than expected. Fensterman, who was a dignose with cancer, says "I know now how a feeling, loving, rational person could choose death over life, could choose to relieve his suffering as well as that of his loved ones a few months earlier that would happen naturally." I agreed with the writers point of view, and I can also understand why someone would make this type of decisions. It is not only physically devastating for the whole family to go through this type of situations, but it could also be economically damaging, and not to mention the stress that is slowly draining everyone around.

    Read More

  • Physician Assisted Suicide: The Right to Choose

    2039 Words  | 5 Pages

    Did you know, about 57% of physicians today have received a request for physician assisted suicide due to suffering from a terminally ill patient. Suffering has always been a part of human existence, and these requests have been occurring since medicine has been around. Moreover, there are two principles that all organized medicine agree upon. The first one is physicians have a responsibility to relieve pain and suffering of dying patients in their care. The second one is physicians must respect patients’ competent decisions to decline life-sustaining treatment. Basically, these principles state the patients over the age of 18 that are mentally stable have the right to choose to end their life if they are suffering from pain. As of right now, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont have legalized physician assisted suicide through legislation. Montana has legalized it via court ruling. The first Death with Dignity Act (DWDA) became effective in Oregon in 1997. Washington and Vermont later passed this act in 2009, and Montana passed the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act in 2008. One concern with physician assisted suicide is confusion of the patient’s wishes. To get rid of any confusion and provide evidence in case someone becomes terminally ill, people should make an advanced care plan. The two main lethal drugs that are used during physician assisted suicide are secobarbital and pentobarbital. Appropriate reporting is necessary when distributing these drugs and performing the suicide in order to publish an analysis. Studies found a large number of people accepted this procedure under certain circumstances; therefore, physician assisted suicide should be legal in the United States because terminally ill patients over the age of 18 that are...

    Read More

  • Jack Kevorkian Research Paper

    1549 Words  | 4 Pages

    I understand that the nation’s history has long prohibited and shunned suicide, but in my opinion this is different. This is a more dignified death, which deals with personal autonomy. I understand the fears that the different states have regarding legalizing assisted suicide. However, other countries as well as some of the states have legalized it. It has not caused mass assisted suicides and I believe that it could be done in such a way that does not comprise the patient doctor trust. I am not saying that I condone assisted suicide for everyone, but it needs to be an option for people. I think that if abortion is an option, then assisted suicide should be too.

    Read More

  • The Dangers Of Euthanasia And Physician-Assisted Suicide

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ns. Patients should not be so medically ill that they are unable to make this decision. Patients should be fully conscious and understand the implications of their decision. Everything should be documented possibly even videotaped that way the doctor doesn’t lose their job, receive a lawsuit or worst jail!

    Read More

  • Mapping the Issue: Assisted Suicide

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    One position within the debate for physician assisted suicide is that it should not be legalized. Many defenders cite the issue of pain for this stance. They believe that the amount of suffering that a terminally ill patient is going through is deluding their minds. They also linked this distress towards clinical depression, the root that they say are causing them to want to ...

    Read More

  • Legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    In current society, legalizing physician assisted suicide is a prevalent argument. In 1997, the Supreme Court recognized no federal constitutional right to physician assisted suicide (Harned 1) , which defines suicide as one receiving help from a physician by means of a lethal dosage (Pearson 1), leaving it up to state legislatures to legalize such practice if desired. Only Oregon and Washington have since legalized physician assisted suicide. People seeking assisted suicide often experience slanted judgments and are generally not mentally healthy. Legalization of this practice would enable people to fall victim to coercion by friends and family to commit suicide. Also, asking for death is unfair to a doctor’s personal dogma. Some argue that society should honor the freedom of one’s choice to take his own life with the assistance of a physician; however, given the reasoning provided, it is in society’s best interest that physician assisted suicide remain illegal. Physician assisted suicide should not be legalized because suicidal people experience distorted judgments resulting in not being mentally equipped to make such a decision, people who feel they are a burden to their family may choose death as a result, and physicians should not have to go against their personal doctrines and promises.

    Read More

  • Assisted Suicide: A Controversial yet Compassionate Choice

    1755 Words  | 4 Pages

    Imagine a scenario where you’re in tremendous pain and you want to end the pain before death comes over you. Even if you wanted to make that choice, the government of the United States has already made this choice for you by illegalizing what is called assisted suicide. There are 3 different kinds of suicide involving the assistance of others; assisted suicide, euthanasia and passive euthanasia, and mercy killing, these came to be a hot topic during the 1990s when doctors and nurses started going to jail because of helping their patients kill themselves, not for financial gain but because it was the humane and just thing to do(Ackerman). As a human we are given the right to life as an infant, so shouldn’t by default we be given the right to die? Assisted suicide should be legal for many reasons, because of our freedoms and liberties, to lessen the amount of end of life pain and to save money.

    Read More

  • Should Physcian-Assisted Suicide be Legal

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    Terminally ill patients should have the legal option of physician-assisted suicide. Terminally ill patients deserve the right to control their own death. Legalizing assisted suicide would relive families of the burdens of caring for a terminally ill relative. Doctors should not be prosecuted for assisting in the suicide of a terminally ill patient. We as a society must protect life, but we must also recognize the right to a humane death. When a person is near death, in unbearable pain, they have the right to ask a physician to assist in ending their lives.

    Read More

  • Assisted Suicide Should Not Be Legalized

    2109 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion, legalizing physician assisted suicide will reduce health care costs by not having patients kept on expensive machines and needing expensive surgeries. Allowing patients to legally receive assistance with their suicides will allow doctors to manage their time on more promising patients instead of ones that will most likely die within a couple days to a couple of months. Legalizing assisted suicide will not only allow doctors to manage their time better, but gives the patient an option. Some worry about legalizing assisted suicide going against the doctor’s oath, but the patients are the ones who are suffering, not the doctors. Many believe that legalizing physician assisted suicide will allow options for the patients so they aren’t suffering anymore.

    Read More

  • Legalizing Physician-Assisted Suicide

    1861 Words  | 4 Pages

    Physician-assisted suicide should be a legal option, if requested, for terminally ill patients. For decades the question has been asked and a clear answer has yet to surface. It was formed out of a profound commitment to the idea that personal end-of-life decisions should be made solely between a patient and a physician. Can someone's life be put into an answer? Shouldn't someone's decision in life be just that; their decision? When someone has suffered from a car accident, or battled long enough from cancer, shouldn't the option be available? Assisted suicide shouldn't be seen as cheating death, but as a way to pay homage to the life once lived. As far as including the mentally challenged in this equation, I am against it. The mentally challenged, although less likely to grasp information, still has the physical awareness to grow. It can be subdued with medicine and psychotherapy. From personal experience I am a witness of being around mentally challenged adults who love life regardless of their conditions. Most don't have the ability to express a request such as life or death. Living life is a daily task just like it is for healthy citizens. Most if not all mentally challenged people aren't in any pain throughout their entire life. For this they shouldn't be targeted for assisted suicide. Death is an occurrence in life, whether it's unexpected or expected, it can't be cheated nor can it be avoided. The terminally ill should have the option to end their suffering with dignity.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the many concerns is allowing incompetent individuals making this irreversible decision, which is why, “all have agreed that this end-of-life option should apply on to competent individual’s”(113). In addition, people opposed to this method argue that patients demanding this process are suffering from depression and not able to make decisions; yet, Rosenfled explains that practitioners most ensure that patients who consent to this medical intervention do it voluntarily, knowingly and

    Read More

  • Thesis Statement For Physician Assisted Suicide

    430 Words  | 1 Pages

    When a person is suffering, denying them the right to die can lead to extreme repercussion such as trying to bring harm to themselves.

    Read More

More about Legalization of Assisted Suicide: A Compassionate Option

Open Document