Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

1105 Words5 Pages

If you or a loved one was dying and in pain, how would you want them to go? Wait it out and stay in pain until they finally went? Or let them go peacefully with the help of a doctor? Physician-assisted suicide is a widely debated topic that should be discussed more often. Many people do not know what exactly physician-assisted suicide is. Euthanasia is a more widely known method of physician-assisted death but has differences from physician-assisted suicide. When a terminally ill patient chooses to die with the help of their doctor, they will to chose between the two. According to The World Federation of the Right to Die Societies, euthanasia is when a doctor will inject the dying patient with a lethal drug causing them to die. Physician-assisted …show more content…

If patients have the right to refuse medical treatment, they should have the right to choose to die under certain circumstances. Those being, they meet an age requirement, have a terminal illness, and are mentally unwell. One of the benefits of physician-assisted suicide is that patients will no longer suffer physically or emotionally. Being sick and in pain for such long periods of time causes patients to become tired and lose their dignity, “Even though patients nearing death have concerns about physical pain and suffering, they are also highly focused on loss of dignity, loss of control, and being a burden or dependent on others”(Alters). Incurable pain and sickness should have a way to end. Physician-assisted suicide is their way of being pain free. If a patient chooses to die in this way, not only will they get to end their pain, but they have the ability to choose when and where they die. This can be a major benefit to some. For example, if the patient has family that lives far, they can all be together for the patient’s passing. The patient can choose to be surrounded by all the people and things they love. Or they can choose to die in privacy. The way in which the patient dies is entirely up to them. Physician-assisted suicide can greatly help patients end their suffering and choose their