Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

Death is a natural process that will be experienced by everyone at some point, desirably at the end of a long, well lived life. The reality is that no one knows when that time will come or how it will happen. Unfortunately, for the terminally ill, death is in the near future and it is a sobering reality. Therefore, when that time comes, people need to know that they will have options, and the assurance that death does not have to be an agonizing end. They can choose to endure the annihilating pain that comes with the disease and allow it to take its natural course or choose to put an end to it, surrounded by those who love them.

Physician assisted suicide is something that has been debated all the way back to 1st century B.C. As opinions back then favored physician assisted suicide, opinions in the 12th-15th century did not support it, with the backup of the hippocratic oath. As the years progressed opinions on this subject flipped back and forth. Today, the opinion on physician assisted suicide is on it’s favor. However, there are only five states that allow this practice.

There sometimes is a point that a human reaches in degeneration that modern medicines cannot aide or remedy. As described by Lewis Cohen, “Medication such as morphine can help the terminally ill manage pain, but it can’t ameliorate their agony at no longer being the same people that they were before the illness” (Cohen). The unbearable pain and loss of normalcy that accompanies those with terminal illnesses is what pushes them to consider assisted suicide. The mentality is seen simply as “if one is going to die anyway, then why not choose how and when.” Unfortunately, the choice of death for those with incurable circumstances has been twisted into other views and is being misinterpreted as a way for doctors to mercy kill their patients.

Two court cases, Vacco v. Quill and Washington v. Gluksburg, brought about many controversies to the U.S. Supreme Court about Assisted Suicide. Directly from U.S Legal it says, “… The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that physician-assisted suicide is not a protected liberty interest under the Constitution. However… left the door open for states to permit physician-assisted suicide” (U.S Legal 2004). Although the U.S. Supreme Court believes assisted suicide to be a felony by the national government there isn’t a total ban in every state. The Supreme Court left this decision to be decided among each state individually whether to ban physician-assisted suicide or not.

• Death with Dignity Act - Oregon Health Authority states that, “ Oregon passed a law that allows terminally ill residents to end their lives through voluntary assisted suicide of lethal medication, directly prescribed by a physician.” - To be granted the ability for assisted suicide, the individual has to be suffering from a terminal disease and have a doctor that has confirmed that they only have 6 months or less left to live. - The Death with Dignity National Center says that, “By adding a voluntary option to the continuum of end-of-life care, these laws give patients dignity, control, and peace of mind during their final days with family and loved ones.” • Examples of some of the terminal illnesses that should be allowed for assisted

Assisted Suicided Every 16.2 minutes, there are people in the world that take their own life by killing themselves.(Purity, 9) There are are over 40,000 people every year that commit suicide.(Purity, 10) Suicide is the leading cause of death for those of the age of 15-24 years old.(Purity, 13) However, coming up in the media through the last 20 years has been the idea of ending your life by assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is the practice of ending someone 's life.(Newton, 7) A terminal illness is when you have a disease that will end your life within the near future.

Terminally-ill patients and their families are forced to make some of the toughest decisions anyone will ever have to consider. When it comes to end-of-life decisions, there are two main options that will help prevent unnecessary suffering. The use of a widely-accepted practice, a “do not resuscitate" order, which is a legal order to withhold life-saving interventions in the event of cardiopulmonary arrest. And an alternative option, which has been highly controversial and heavily debated over the past twenty years, is the “physician-assisted suicide” or “aid-in-dying” as it is referred to by supporters. As of 2015, California is the fifth US state to allow physician-assisted suicide after Vermont, Washington, Oregon, and Montana.

After researching both sides of the argument, it is clear that the benefits of physician-assisted suicide outweigh the disadvantages. The benefits of ending a patient’s pain and suffering, minimizing the emotional and financial effects on families, and preserving the right for patients to decide their own fate, supports the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.

In 2016, more than 700 terminally ill patients in the United States ended their life on their own terms, taking part in physician-assisted suicide. Six states and the District of Columbia have “Death with Dignity” laws that allow physicians to prescribe lethal medicine to mentally competent adults with terminal conditions. Individuals against these laws believe that it allows for too many unintended consequences, some of these being possible elder abuse and illegal distribution of the lethal medicine used to carry out assisted suicide. On the other hand, supporters of this movement advocate that people who are terminally ill deserve to die on their own terms, instead of dying in immense pain from their condition. These vastly different opinions

Many people think that there are too many problems with physician assisted suicide. Physician assisted suicide is a procedure that allows physicians to prescribe their patients a lethal medication that they can inject themselves with in order to die on their own terms. There are specific requirements that the patients must meet in order to receive this medication. Physician assisted suicide is only for patients that have life threatening illnesses and do not have much time left to live. It is legal in numerous places around the world including certain places in the United States.

What would you do in that moment when “death is knocking on their door” or they are about to die? Some people may answer this question by saying keep them alive by using artificial means. I say no. I firmly believe that this is wrong and you are only prolonging their suffering. Euthanasia is what I believe is the right thing to do in these cases if the sick person would rather go that route.

Whereas, others disagree with the idea of euthanasia because they believe the patient should have a chance to be treated and regain their health instead of choosing the “instant death” route and it may increase the number of assisted suicides. Euthanasia has been made legal in several places around the world such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Colombia, India, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Japan and Canada. The only U.S. states that have legalized euthanasia are Washington, Oregon, Colorado, California, Washington D.C., Vermont and Montana (“Legality of

The pros to having the right to die law are that patients are able to end their suffering and pain. Some patients have illnesses that are so painful that the only way to get rid of the pain is to end their own life. The patient is able to die in dignity because they don’t have to worry about losing their mental and physical capacities. The patient can arrange to say goodbye to their love ones and their financial burden is reduced. Patients are able to donate their organs to other patients if they were planned ahead of time.

Imagine being unable to walk, unable to speak, unable to move and unable to breathe. Imagine being in a state of complete paralysis where the only thing that keeps on functioning is your brain, and you live chained to a machine doctors call life support. Imagine being told that you have an incurable disease that will inevitably kill you. Maybe next month. Maybe next year.

The Right to Die has been taking effect in many states and is rapidly spreading around the world. Patients who have life threatening conditions usually choose to die quickly with the help of their physicians. Many people question this right because of its inhumane authority. Euthanasia or assisted suicide are done by physicians to end the lives of their patients only in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, New Mexico and soon California that have the Right to Die so that patients don’t have to live with depression, cancer and immobility would rather die quick in peace.