The Right To Die

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Recommended: should the us legallize physician assisted suicide

To die or not to die is NOT the question for the terminally ill. The question is how to die.

The act of suicide is unpleasant and people do not like to discuss the topic but suicide happens. It is contemplated by some, especially people suffering from painful incurable diseases who wish to end their misery. The terminally ill and those with debilitating diseases should have the choice to seek help from physicians to die. But currently with only three states allowing physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill, many cannot get the support they need or access to a painless way to commit suicide. Terminal illness can create a burden on the family both emotionally by watching the loved one suffer and financially with the cost of care. If allowed to die, these burdens can be alleviated. And finally, physicians should have the legal freedom to treat their patients to the end even if it means assisting them to commit suicide. Therefore, all states should legalize physician assisted suicide permitting mentally competent patients who are terminally ill or suffering incurable unrelenting pain to choose when to die thereby ending their pain and suffering, releasing the financial and emotional burden to them and their families, and allowing physicians to follow the Hippocratic oath to care for their patients and to take a life if necessary.

In physician assisted suicide, after a request from a patient, a doctor prescribes a lethal dose of medication, making the means of death available but not participating in it. The patient then chooses whether or not to take the medication. But some patients may not kill themselves at all if they know the legal option of help from a doctor will be available if the day comes that they wan...

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...an Diego: Greenhaven Press.

Hedberg, K., & Tolle, S. (2002). Physician-assisted suicide and changes in care of the dying: The Oregon perspective. Assisted Suicide (pp. 7-9). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Oregon Death with Dignity Annual Reports. (n.d.). Oregon.gov Home Page. Retrieved July 25, 2010, from http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/ar-index.shtml

Palmore, E. (2001). The terminally ill should have access to assisted suicide. Terminal Illness (pp. 154-163). San Diego: Greenhaven Press.

Rogatz, P. (2003). The arguments of those opposed to assisted suicide are flawed. Suicide (pp. 119-127). San Diego: Greenhaven Press.

Steinbrook, R. (2008). Physician-Assisted Death -- From Oregon to Washington State. The New England Journal of Medicine, 359(24), 2513-5. Retrieved July 24, 2010, from ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source. (Document ID: 1611103091).

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