A patient should have the right to decide whether they want to endorse the pain of their sufferings or they want to end their sufferings with a fast, dignified and compassionate death. The debate of physician assisted suicide is an important topic that concerns all Americans. This topic was first introduced to the US Senate in 1937, but due to lack of progress president Clinton signed Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997. Since then, there have been five states that have legalized the practice of physician assisted suicide, and California is one of them.
A physician assisted suicide is a request made by terminally ill patient which allows them to request for a prescription medication from their physician for the purpose of hasten their death. Many
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It is also important to understand that physician assisted suicide is different from euthanasia, which is an act that helps ill people to end their life without any legalized authorization. I do agree that every patient should have the right to access physician assisted suicide because individuals have the right to die, allows terminally ill patients to end their suffering with dignity, minimizes physical and emotional pain, reduce financial difficulties on the patient family and health care insurance, lastly it allows family members to say their final goodbye.
The opposition might argue that physician assisted suicide should not allowed in our society due to: it gives too much power to the hands of the doctors, undermines medical research, it also sends bad messages to the public.
The legalization of physician assisted suicide gives too much power the doctors and makes them less accountable. Needless to say, it also gives them the opportunity to play the role of God. Allowing doctors to deliberately end their patient’s life will redefine the relationship between a doctor and a patient, and it will also destroy the essential trust and confidence