Physician Assisted Suicide Speech

Is there a way to decide who gets to live and who doesn’t? Can we encourage one person’s want to die, but look down upon the others? Do we even have a right do die when we choose? What if it wasn’t our time to go and we just threw our lives away because in that moment we were lost? Physician assisted suicide is said to be for those “who are ‘dying, trapped in a ruined body, or just plain terminally old, frail and tired of life’” (1). But what about those who die because they’re depressed, abused, or just plain and tired of life? For those who are for physician assisted suicide, I ask you one simple question: Why? Why do you say it’s compassion? Why is it considered a dignified way to die? Why can we decide who has the right to die? And

Humans have a history of doing bad things in the name of good. Compassion and physician assisted suicide may one day end up falling in the same category of good intentions, but poor proceedings. Ryan Anderson, a researcher of marriage and religious rights, fears that “The temptation to view elderly or disabled family members as burdens will increase, as will the temptation for those family members to internalize this attitude and view themselves as burdens” (3). There is always the possibility that we think we’re showing compassion to others, when in all reality we’re trying to save ourselves from pain or burden. Compassion can be shown in many ways and there are many ways to end someone’s suffering. Kind words, prayers, and spending time with that person and showing how much you care for them are a couple of the many ways we can show true compassion. Death with dignity is another argument proponents of physician assisted suicide use. They say that physician assisted suicide gives people the chance to retain their honor and respect, but what part of overdosing on pharmaceutical drugs seems honorable? When people remember their dead loved ones they remember them as they were when they were alive. They remember their victories, character, compassion, adventures, and the moments spent with them. Remembering the way they died is a sad ordeal that we want erased from our minds. We shouldn’t do them the dishonor of remembering they way they died instead of the way they lived. The last argument proponents of physician assisted suicide have is the argument of autonomy, or having the choice about one’s body and self. They say that we should have the right to end our life when we deem it to be over, but there’s a flaw in that argument. Physician assisted suicide is supported; yet suicide is not? Is it not the same thing? They both believe that their time is over and they