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Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

660 Words3 Pages

In the United States freedom, liberty, and pursuit of happiness has always been important in people’s lives, the right to choose and the right for people to do what they would like with their lives. When it comes to terminally ill patients there is a debate if it is ethical to allow them to end their life with aid from a physician. There are many names for this, euthanasia, assisted suicide, death with dignity, physician aided suicide, and right to die. It all comes down to the patient’s rights and their suffering. By legalizing assisted suicide, it will allow patients to have control of the end of their life and will allow, provide a safer, clean environment for them to pass, and ease patients suffering. Although, there is much controversy with assisted suicide considering ethics in medicine. According to Josh Sanburn, providing the lethal prescription is giving the terminally ill patient final control of the when and where of their death (2015). Sanburn has been a writer for TIME since 2010, in which he covers world, milestone, and economy issues and occasionally culture articles. Many people associate assisted suicide with relieving suffering, but Sullivan and Taylor state it is more than that it allows a patient to have peace of mind about their imminent death (2018). Sullivan is a physician and an academic ethicist. …show more content…

By having assisted suicide legalized it provides a safer, cleaner way out for patients seeking it (Sanburn, 2015). It would save families and the patient a lot of pain and suffering because in some cases are that bad they will find their own way (2015). Another important consideration, is that a study in Oregon showed that not all who were given the lethal prescription used it (Sullivan & Taylor, 2018). This shows how the peace of mind of the patient really is a large influencer because them knowing they have an

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Physician-assisted suicide is a widely controversial issue that is discussed in today society. There are debates over whether it is ethically correct or whether assisted suicide should be legalized for the terminally ill. Each side of the arguments have different viewpoints concerning individual aspects of physician-assisted suicide. Such as certain guidelines that should exist if legalized. Advocates of physician-assisted suicide argue that it should be legal under circumstances such as great suffering through terminals illness.

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Physician assisted suicide should be decriminalized because, from an ethical and economic perspective, those with terminal diseases have a right to choose death. Many patients feel that even though they will eventually die due to their illness that ending their life will be the best way in the end, but due to expenses they can not

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Furthermore, physicians within the healthcare field serve as a form of hope and can assist with careful judgement and knowledge, and if a patient choices to rely on physician assisted suicide to terminate their own suffering, the healthcare professional should be given the opportunity to take into account the patients free will on the subject matter. Nevertheless, physician assisted suicide, holds sentimental value leading to a clash of different ideas however, I believe it should be legalized within the United States as individuals are allowed the freedom to practice their conventional rights and considering this is a life vs. death situation individuals should be allowed to seek help within their own privacy where government regulation does not play a role (Wong, darthmouth.edu). Additionally, quantity of life vs. quality of life is also associated with the idea of physician assisted suicide and based on my own views on the subject quality of life holds a more significant value within my

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Another big concern has to do with religious beliefs. A lot of family members believe that if a person commits suicide then there are going straight to Hell, which ultimately makes it harder for family members of certain religions to decide what to do. Physician assisted death is a good thing for patient’s that are in an awful amount of constant pain and have no other way of getting

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In the United States 5 out of the 50 states have legalized physician assisted suicide (CNN). Legalizing PAS will be beneficial to the terminally ill and their families. It will also give the terminally ill a chance to die on their own. Religion and moral standards have stopped the legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide, but legalizing Physician-Assisted Suicide would help the suffering end for the terminally ill, they would be able to make the choice on when and how their life ends, and PAS lowers healthcare costs for the patient.

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The legal system is in place not only to protect our rights and administer justice, but to increase the quality of life in a society. By legalizing doctor-assisted suicide, the quality of life increases. First, more lives can be saved with the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide. Many diseases such as cancers can take away use of certain organs. By detecting incurable cancers earlier, it is possible to harvest organs such as kidneys (cancer.org, 2014).

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The proponents for physician-assisted suicide claim that it should be an option for terminally ill, competent adults to hasten the coming of their death. They truly believe that physician-assisted suicide is “a compassionate response to relieve the suffering of dying patients” (Before I Die: Opinions). This option, according to them, should only be exercised when all medical alternatives have failed, palliative care has failed to relieve agony, the patient requests, to die, and a second opinion agrees that it could be an option. These regulations should prevent wrong decisions of the handicapped, minors, elderly, or other incompetent parties (Before I Die: Opinions). One of the main topics mentioned in the discussion about the legalization

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Physician assisted suicide has been an intensely debated problem for years but if used properly, could be an effective way to help those who are suffering at the end of their life. Countless people have been advocating for physician assisted suicide for years and the most famous advocate for assisted suicide was Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He was a pathologist but received the nickname Dr. Death after it was estimated that between 1990 and 1999 he assisted 130 terminally ill individuals in their assisted suicides (“Jack Kevorkian”). Dr. Kevorkian is considered a crusader for physician

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If assisted suicide were to become legal in all fifty states, it would help ease the pain of family members going through their traumatic times. It would give the family a chance to say goodbye and also a chance to be with them their last hours and to prepare them for what is going to happen. Also, caring for a person with a terminal or incurable disease is extremely taxing, the family will almost inevitably come to harbor wishes that the patient's death will occur sooner rather than later so that their pain may end (Howard, par 3). If this were an option to everyone many families would never have to witness all the suffering and the pain, they would get to remember the memories of a happy and painless ending for their loved

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“51% of Americans support assisted suicide when the process is described as doctors helping a patient "commit suicide" while 70% of Americans supported assisted suicide when it was described as allowing doctors to ‘end the patient's life by some painless means.’” Euthanasia is simply doctors ending a patient’s life by painless means and nothing more. However, in some opinions, these patients should not be given the option of assisted suicide because they feel that the patients still have a chance to live a good life, and for some, this may be the case. However, for the majority of people diagnosed with terminal illnesses, their is no positive prognosis or outlook for them, and they are going to suffer until they pass naturally. Terminally ill patients should be allowed to end their life via assisted suicide after they completely understand what euthanasia entails and

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A negative of assisted suicide is that not only can it affect the patient, but it can affect the people around them who do not support their plan. A family member of the patient can become depressed if their family member chooses to end their life. It can ruin relationships between the patient and the family. It can make the patient’s journey difficult if the family refuses, and it can corrupt the practice of medicine by using medicine in a harmful way to people (Anderson). Assisted Suicide can attract vulnerable patients, bullied by rogue doctors, grasping relatives, miserly insurers, or cash- strapped state (“The Right to Die”).

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