Why Assisted Suicide Should be Illegal
Did you know that 63 percent of elderly individuals would choose assisted suicide in fear of being a burden to their family, friends, or caregivers(Golden)? Many people think that taking their life is a free choice but often, external pressure, mental illnesses, and financial means come into play with the decision to “escape”. For these reasons, legalization of assisted suicide would provide more deaths and widespread acceptance of suicide changing our society forever.
First of all , external pressure on physician-assisted suicide would consist of their families and the patient’s dependency on his or her’s machine. Patients often feel pressured to end their life because they feel their life has lost all value to it and will constantly be a burden to carry. For example, a terminally ill patient was
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95 percent of those who kill themselves are shown to have diagnosable psychiatric illnesses in the months preceding suicide(Quill pg 39). Suicidal patients who desire an early death during a terminal illness are usually suffering from a treatable mental condition, most commonly a depressive one. The reason for this is that Depression is the first reaction of a patient’s knowledge of a serious illness or death. This can be treated by a combination of empathy, psychotherapy, and medication. Mental illnesses contribute to the most common reason to kill yourself by means of assisted suicide. In Conclusion , legalization of assisted suicide should come to be even though some people would say that it is the patient’s choice to decide if he or she wants to die. External pressures, financial stability, and mental illnesses all play a major role in the ultimate decision to end your life by the means of assisted suicide. In conclusion, assisted suicide should not become legal because of the bigger impact it would have on