Assisted Suicide Essay

Physician-assisted suicide should be legal nationwide. As a former hospital employee, I know first-hand that some diseases can cause so much disability and pain that patients want to end their lives because they have had enough. Something dear to me is personal autonomy, a right of all people. If the patient is competent and wants to end their life, and a health care provider is willing to humanely help end that patient's life, then physician-assisted suicide should be legal and be performed, per the individual's wishes.

“We don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?”(Stephen Hawking) Not only is assisted suicide not legal in most states, but people are judged for taking that option. So basically, they should just live in pain because you’re uncomfortable…? How is ending your dog's life because he’s in unbearable pain any different from helping a person end their pain?

Legalized physician assisted suicide. California, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have made it legal by legislation, and Maine has made it legal by a court ruling. The remaining 45 states

Assisted suicide is suicide committed with the aid of another person, or physicians. It is only legal in four states in the U.S., where physicians are allowed to prescribe medication to hasten death. Ending suffering through euthanasia is a moral issue that has caused many controversies.

Thirty six states have statutes that explicitly criminalize assisted suicide: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin. Eight states criminalize it through common law: Alabama, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Vermont, West Virginia. Three have abolished common law crimes and do not have statutes criminalizing assisted suicide: North Carolina, Utah, Wyoming. In Ohio, the state’s supreme court ruled in Oct 1996 that assisted suicide is not a crime. In Virginia, there is no real clear case law on assisted suicide, nor is there a statute criminalizing the act. However, there is a statute that imposes civil sanctions on person assisting in suicide. Oregon permits physician assisted suicide.

Assisted suicide is the suicide of a terminally- ill patient, achieved by using a prescribed drug from a doctor for that specific purpose. It is legal in only six states in the United States of America including: Oregon, Montana, Washington, Colorado, Vermont, and California. Countries such as Germany, Japan, and Switzerland have legalized assisted suicide in past years. It has been disputed for many years and continues to be a controversial issue whether physicians should be authorized to end an individual’s life with their prescription and if this should be done legally.

their patients, or to assist them in ending their lives? Many people may believe that physicians would never perform the latter, but in actuality one practice does so. Physician assisted suicide is the intentional ending of one’s life brought on by lethal substances prescribed by a doctor. In the majority of cases, the patient is terminally ill and simply does not desire to live any longer. Their physician provides the medication necessary to end their life. Many supporters aver that this practice is merely an act of compassion as terminally ill persons may suffer extreme pain that eradicates any will to live. They also assert that the decision to die is of the patient’s

In the United States today, only several states legally recognize physician-assisted suicide as an option for families and terminally ill patients hoping to embrace a death with dignity. Although there is a growing movement to promote access to physician-assisted suicide, the topic is still widely regarded as taboo. As of 2016, the states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Colorado, New Jersey, and California are the only states to allow full and legal access to physician-assisted suicide. Alongside those states are Montana and New Mexico, which legally offer “aid in dying,” meaning the state allows for physicians to assist in alleviating the longevity of the dying process.

To fully understand the issue at hand, one must understand the various forms of euthanasia. The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition defines euthanasia as “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals…in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.” Euthanasia can be either passive or active. Passive euthanasia occurs when a patient is relieved of medical treatment and is allowed to die naturally. Active euthanasia occurs when either a physician or a family member actively takes the life of the patient, perhaps through lethal injection, and eliminates a natural death process. Many people commonly use the word “euthanasia” to refer to assisted suicide. Essentially, assisted suicide is a form of active euthanasia in that a person, usually a physician, aids in the suicide of a patient.

I believe physician assisted suicide should be legal because it is your right and better to do it with a doctor than by yourself at home.

The federal legalization of physician-assisted suicide is a conflict of ethics. This is one reason the problem has yet to be resolved. There are multiple sides to this argument. Some people want the government to mandate the legalization of physician-assisted suicide while others believe the practice to be morally unacceptable. Then there are those who do not have enough knowledge on the issue to have an opinion at all. This issue that needs to be brought to Americans’ attention sooner rather than later, because more Americans are being given the opportunity to vote on the topic.

Whereas Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming do not recognize common law. This means that they have no statutes that pertain to the assisted suicide topic.

Assisted suicide is a form of suicide where someone helps dying patients suffering from health problems die by taking medicine prescribed by their doctor to help them die in peace without suffering. In October 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill to make assisted suicide legal in his state after the death of a California woman named Brittany Maynard (McGreevy, 2015). The Catholic Church was fighting Jerry Brown because they did not want the bill to pass since suicide is against religious teachings (McGreevy, 2015). The California Governor made the decision to sign the bill based on a person’s right to decide when and how to die (McGreevy, 2015). California joined Oregon, Washington and Vermont in making this legal. Other states such as New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Connecticut, the District of Columbia and Maryland are trying to pass legislation to make assisted suicide legal (McGreevy, 2015).

Currently it is legal in four places among the world, Oregon, Washington, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The parameters of assisted suicide are different in every state or country. For example, Oregon’s law states that the patient must be terminally ill two physicians must have consulted with the patient, and that the patient must make repeated requests for assisted suicide to qualify. Many other countries do not outlaw assisted suicide but rather have no laws against them at all. However, physicians may face other charges if they do this in certain areas that don’t consider assisted suicide. If physician assisted suicide was pronounced legal in all states many laws could be constructed to respect the rights of the doctors, the patients, and their families. It would be easy for law makers to construct specific laws so that assisted suicide is not something just anyone could obtain.

Is the role of a medical professional to ensure the health and comfort of their patients, or to help them end their lives? Since Dr. Kevorkian assisted in the suicide of Janet Adkins in 1990, physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has been one of the most controversial issues in the medical field today. While some view it as an individual right, others view it as an unethical issue that goes against medical ethics and religious values. Mr. H. M. is an elderly man who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and no chance of improvement. After excruciating pain and suffering, he has decided to request physician-assisted death in his home state of Oregon. Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act (DDA) states that terminally ill patients are allowed to use