Argumentative Essay: The Legalization Of Assisted Suicide

Since 1997, 1,173 individuals have obtained a prescription for a medication to end their life. 752 of these lives have ended prematurely because of a decision made legal by the Death with Dignity Act, stating that terminally ill patients have the right to end their lives through voluntary self-administration of a lethal drug. Assisted suicide, the voluntary death of a patient with a terminal disease by ingestion of a lethal medication, should not be legal because it goes against the promise physicians make to preserve life and creates a slippery slope, pressuring sick patients to end their lives because suicide is a legal option. Upon graduation from medical school, physicians take an oath, making a commitment to a code of ethics. A portion

Choosing the route of assisted suicide is significantly less expensive than long-term end-of-life care, possibly resulting in individuals choosing to end their lives because they can no longer afford treatment or because they do not wish to be a burden on their families any longer, neither of which should be a reason for a life to come to an end prematurely. The cost of treatment poses a significant threat, especially for people who have less access to quality health care and already feel discriminated against by the health care system. It has also been documented that the most prominent reason people choose assisted suicide is not pain; it is fear of indignity at the end of their life. As Diane Coleman, founder and president of Not Dead Yet, a disability organization pointed out, "public image of severe disability as a fate worse than death … become(s) grounds for carving out a deadly exception to longstanding laws and public policies about suicide intervention services … Legalizing assisted suicide means that some people who say they want to die will receive suicide intervention, while others will receive suicide assistance. The difference between these two groups of people will be their health or disability status, leading to a two-tiered system that results in death to the socially devalued group." Both the low cost of assisted suicide and the fear of disability will create a slippery slope, pressuring patients into choosing to end their