The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide

Even though the ban of PAS was challenged in several court cases such as Vacco versus Quill in 1997 and Glucksberg versus Washington also in 1997, the Supreme Court and Congress left it as a state issue not a federal law because of the violation of the due process clause of the fifth amendment which states, “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…” and the fourteenth amendment which states “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without the due process of law”. The United States Constitution allows states to prohibit physician assisted suicide but in 1997 the Supreme Court ruled that “assisted suicide is not a constitutional right” (Hall, Kermit). In 1997, U.S. Congress

Joe Biden, Senator Chris Dodd, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich. However, most key democratic figures like President Barack Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator John Edwards, believe the states should decide whether PAS to be legal or not in their own legislation (“Hillary and Obama on Assisted Suicide and Medical Marijuana”). Many disapproving Democrats believe that assisted suicide is a form of extreme individualism, and that The 'free choice' of assisted suicide will sooner or later become a 'forced choice'. Terminally ill or disabled people sometimes do have suicidal feelings when they feel ashamed of their own condition, or when they feel that they are a burden on their families. The desire for death under those conditions is not free, but forced. It is forced by the absence of social support. Although, the bill only applies to people who are terminally ill. The real reason for suicide is not illness itself, but a fear of disability and loosing autonomy. In considering the past, Democrats have led the national fight for Patients' Rights legislation to protect against the cost-cutting excesses of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) because they believed that not allowing people to commit suicide violated religious

By raising money through donations to the Not Dead Yet organization, which will go towards better and easier access to hospice care as well as if Congress is persuaded to overturn physician assisted suicide from a state law to a federal law and financially help the Not Dead Yet's donation fund. There are over 4,500 hospice agencies in the United States, but because of funding restrictions and the inflexibility of the Medicare Hospice Benefit requiring patients to have a life expectancy of six months or less, millions of people don't have access to them. By using these donations, federal dollars and Barack Obama's health care plan, the financial means would be slowly but surely reached. Obama's health care plan will save each American $2,500 a year for health costs, prevent insurance companies from over charging, cover all pre-existing conditions and import safe and cheaper drugs made in other countries. An estimated 60-80 million dollars will be needed to fund hospice care and to ban physician assisted suicide. If this solution succeeds, no person will be denied or unable to afford hospice care any longer and the battle between giving the right to murder and improving access to health care will also end. The lethal doses that are prescribed but never used will be