Should Assisted Suicide Be Illegal Essay

Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide and euthanasia are often confused together, but in fact they are different. With the assisted suicide the physician or doctor provides the necessary information and the patient performs the act. With euthanasia the physician or doctor is the one who performs the act. People for assisted suicide believe that if you have an illness and have no long-term survival, you should have the right to do it. People against assisted suicide believe that it devalues human life. (npr.org) So the question or issue would be should assisted suicide be legal or illegal?

Oregon is one of only five U.S. states, along with Vermont, Washington, Montana and New Mexico, that allow medically assisted suicide. Everywhere else in the country it is a crime, even if they’re terminally ill. Legislatures in Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have recently introduced death with dignity bills (http://america.aljazeera.com). In Oregon assisted suicide has been on the books since 1997, since then there has been a steady increase both prescription recipients and the number of deaths (cnn.com). Euthanasia.procon.org stated that Americans have the right not to suffer, and said it should be a crime not allowing someone to live when they don’t want to suffer anymore. There are terminally

People tend to believe that pain is why most people are for assisted suicide but available data suggests that pain is rarely the reason why people choose assisted suicide. Instead, most people do so because they fear burdening their families or becoming disabled or dependent (cnn.com). With assisted suicide available it can pressure elderly, sick and depressed patients to end their life. Depression is often overlooked and underdiagnosed with old people and the people with chronic illnesses. The term “terminally ill” is so broad that almost all people can claim the need for assisted suicide