Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

Try to imagine being diagnosed with a terminal illness. You are given less than six months to live, and you are told there are no medical treatments in the modern world that can save your life. Any treatments you seek will only prolong the inevitable; you will spend your final days in a hospital room, in excruciating pain, and waiting for death. Although this may seem extreme, thousands of people in the United States are faced with this exact scenario every year, and a significant number of them are fighting for their right to die. People who advocate for the right to die believe that terminally ill patients “should have the authority to choose the time, place and manner of their death” (Newton). This movement has been a hot topic in the United

“In cases where the quality of life cannot be improved, assisted suicide provides a dignified option to [end] suffering” (Pearson). Take the story of my cousin, Gwendolyn Oglesby, for example. Gwen was a young and beloved member of my family. She was happy and healthy until early 2011 when she was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. She was given a particularly grim four percent chance of surviving, but she was determined to fight for her life. Gwen did everything she could to prevent the spread of her cancer. This included getting a double mastectomy and going through extremely aggressive chemoradiation therapy; however, all of those treatments were to no avail. The cancer spread to her all of her organs, her spine, and her brain. In January of 2012, she was admitted to the hospital and never left. During her final days, she was in such unbelievable pain that even morphine could not help her. Everyone knew the end was near, but she was forced to suffer through every excruciating minute because she was not given the legal right to die. Quality of life is one of the most important aspects of living; without it, people should be allowed to choose when enough is enough. It is inhumane to expect someone, such as Gwendolyn, to live out every second of pain that comes with a fatal illness. Whenever a doctor can alleviate a patient’s suffering, they should, even when that means hastening the death of a terminal