Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia is defined as “suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or by information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient's intent” (“physician–assisted suicide”). Most of the patients who request physician assisted suicide have life threatening illnesses and want to end their suffering. There has been a debate, mainly for the past two decades, about whether or not it’s ethical for physicians to legally be able to cause someone to die even if the patient is requesting it. Even though according to Northwestern University “Physician-Assisted Suicide is not a new phenomenon. Suffering has always been a part

One opposition is that it goes against many people’s religion. People argue that according to their religion, God owns people’s bodies and you shouldn’t do anything to harm it. Suicide is also seen as a sin in many religions and it angers people of those religions that assisted suicide is a choice. These arguments would seem valid to people who are religious, but for people who aren't religious it wouldn’t be fair to keep it illegal just because it goes against some people's religious beliefs. Another opposition to physician assisted suicide is that some people believe that even though the doctor has permission to help the person die, that it is still considered murder. This argument seems silly because the person is dying in a safe, humane way and the doctor isn’t directly “murdering” the person. The person is giving the doctor permission and they’re helping the person die the way they want to, rather than suffering. There is also another argument saying that it would be unethical for assisted suicide to be legal. This argument can be refuted because it would be more ethical to end someone’s suffering rather them suffer and they would die peacefully. It is more humane than letting the person commit suicide themselves. Some people argue that it would lead to people abusing it and getting assisted suicide for non-critical diseases. This could easily be refuted because physician assisted suicide would be regulated and the doctors could prove that the person has a terminal