The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide

751 Words4 Pages

Despite assisted suicide’s reputation for straining religion, the Hippocratic Oath, and Palliative Care, assisted suicide should be a legal treatment nation-wide because it can retain a patient’s dignity, alleviate costs of medical care, and end suffering early. Most states in America have not sanctioned assisted suicide – and if one were to look up the mere reason as to why, one would be bombarded with glaring blue links screaming “Why Assisted Suicide Must Not Be Legalized.” It’s a hot potato argument flying back and forth between terminally ill patients and dated notions. Firstly, death is embraced as a climacteric moment wherein one attains spiritual understanding, hence, euthanasia is viewed as an inhumane method of death that interrupts this process. Scriptures of religions may also have God condemning those who kill innocent human beings to suffer …show more content…

The first and foremost statement within this oath is the promise to do no harm to their patient – however this is teeming with ambiguities. There is no quantifiable way to measure one’s pain nor define it; not to mention historically there is an overabundance of cases where doctors administering thalidomide to eliminate morning sickness in pregnant women caused physical malformations within the fetus. Despite all this, many physicians agree that assisted suicide does offer something important to patients: self-autonomy and dignity. When a patient is afflicted with an irremediable disease, then the ability to keeping a patient healthy is futile; ergo they might suffer a slow decline to an inevitable death. Whether assisted suicide should still be considered an unethical way of treating someone fated to knock on death’s door or not, the patient should decide for himself. Thus, assisted suicide is a decision that respects one’s dignity and allows them to die painlessly surrounded by loved