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The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide

896 Words4 Pages

Even in states where it is legal, there is not much demand for assisted suicide. In 2013, 77 people in Oregon, died by assisted suicide. The issue with assisted suicide is patients are wanting to end their lives either because they are suffering from a terminal illness and are tired of suffering and want to end their life without pain. Assisted Suicide is becoming a problem in the United States and measures need to be taken. Assisted suicide started in the nineteenth century, when philosophers justified self- induced death for those who were sick of suffering.(CITATION) At the beginning of the twentieth century, the double effect was introduced into medicine. The double effect is often invoked to explain the permissibility of an action that …show more content…

In fact, doctors take a pledge known as the Hippocratic Oath, which says,” I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgement, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. What this means is that doctors take an oath and their job is to save patients' lives. But in this instance they are letting patients die. By letting these patients die, the population will go down especially the disabled ones. If this keeps going on it will get worse and worse and possibly people with depression will want to take the easy way out and kill themselves. As doctor if they are suppose to help their patients in the best way possible, then why are they giving them the knowledge of assisted …show more content…

According to the official report on deaths under “Death with Dignity Act”. It states that,”The number of prescriptions written has increased each year since the Oregon Act went into effect. The “Death with Dignity Act” is an act which allows people with extreme illnesses in Oregon able to be prescribed by their doctors with medication that will kill them without suffer or pain. In Oregon the law has circumstances that you have to meet to be able to ask for assisted suicide. Those are, patients must be 18 years of age, suffering from a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less, the patientś must make two oral requests for assistance in dying, the patient must make one written request for assistance, two physicians must be convinced that the patient is sincere, not acting on a whim, and that the decision is voluntary, the patient must not be influenced by depression, they must be informed of :feasible alternatives¨ such as hospice care and pain control and they must wait 15 days between the verbal

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Since Oregon began allowing physician-assisted suicide of the terminally ill in 1997, more than seven hundred people have ended their own lives with prescription medications in the state alone (NPR.org). Physician-assisted suicide is not only becoming a topic of controversy in the United States, but foreign countries as well. Supporters of the issue believe that competent people who do not have a chance of longevity should be able to choose their fate. Opponents argue that terminal diagnoses can be inaccurate, or that the person with the illness may not be capable of making informed decisions. Assisted suicide refers to the act of one giving another the “Instructions, means, or capability to bring about their own demise.”

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