When Suicide Is the Best Option Physician-assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with direct, or indirect assistance of a physician. This year approximately 1,228,600 people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer. Of those diagnosed 564,800 are expected to die. Why should these people have to suffer in pain before they die? Fatally ill people should be able to have the right to decide to end their pain. Patients should have the right to die via doctor assistance.
Although this issue has been an ongoing debate for decades there are currently only five states in the U.S that allow physician-assisted death. Physician-assisted death was first legalized in Oregon and the Netherlands.
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If a patient is suffering and in pain, they should be able to decide their fate. Relief from agony is what doctors are supposed to give their patients. Doctors should have enough empathy to understand why their ill patient wants to die and be able to sympathize with them. For example, as an act of consideration, domesticated pet owners are able to have their animals put to sleep when they are suffering and dying. Why are humans not cared for in the same way? People deserve to feel like they are loved at the end of their lives, not like they are a burden. Physician-assisted death would make sufferers more comfortable with their situation and help dying people depart in a peaceful, painless way. Physician assisted death can decrease medical costs. Ill people, especially terminal patients, can become depressed and require mental treatment. A study done by the Center for American Progress found that medical treatment facilities often pass along the cost of treating uninsured patients to their insured patients. This amounts to as much as eight percent higher premiums due to the lack of universal healthcare in the United States. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide would decrease these costs tremendously and improve the healthcare