Importance Of Legalizing Assisted Suicide In The United States

Most people should be able to accept that once they get to this point, these people have little to live for. Sometimes, those who are capable of communicating their desires, wish to pass on before the pain from their terminal disease starts to get too unbearable or they lose any sense of dignity they might have had. It is for the rights of those patients, that people within the assisted suicide movement are fighting for (ERGO).

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.

The thoughts of assisted suicide are very mixed. Some people believe that it is a great way to put terminally-ill patients out of the their pain and suffering. They see it as a way for a person to die with dignity after suffering from a painful disease. Others think it is beyond morally wrong for a doctor to intentionally end a patient’s life. They feel that a doctor should not have unnecessary deaths riding, on their shoulders the rest of their career. Assisted suicide goes way beyond the beliefs of medicine and is morally wrong in so many ways.

Matthew Paris explains in his article “Soon We Will Accept That Useless Lives Should End,” published in the Spectator, that dying is not a desire for the patients with a terminal illness. Terminally ill patients end their life because they did not receive pleasure from the life that they had. Pleasure was taken away in their lives when the pain and suffering took over. Patients who are labeled with a terminal illness lose their quality of life quick. There are many cases in which patients would much rather choose an assisted death over living in pain. In Brittany Maynard’s article, she describes the suffering that she endured in her battle with brain cancer. Even though Brittany’s cancer was labeled terminal, she still had many surgeries. When given her prognosis of six months, she knew her quality of life would rapidly diminish. She went through with physician assisted suicide for many reasons, one of them being that she did not want to suffer anymore. The same article displays a perfect reasoning as to how physician assisted suicide ends suffering for the patient. Brittany Maynard chose physician assisted suicide to escape the pain and suffering that she would soon face. Having full brain radiation would leave her scalp with first-degree burns. Even if Brittany chose hospice care, the tumor developing in her brain would eat away at her mind and she

Many people in the world are suffering from illness that cannot be cured. They live their last days in pain and suffering wondering when and why it happened to them. Instead of suffering, many people dream of suicide to take their pain away but they know no one would understand. In very few states, it is legal for people to get assistance to put them out of their pain and suffering. It is called assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is the help from a physician to end their patients’ lives with their permission. The patient must have a terminal illness with less than six months to live to qualify. Many people are against assisted suicide because they believe that it is just a cover for murder. People should be thought of as dying with dignity

When it comes to the topic of, should physician-assisted suicide be legal in every state, most of us will readily agree that it should be up to a terminally ill person to make that decision. Whereas some are convinced that it is inhumane, others maintain that it is a person’s decision to end their own life. I agree that physician-assisted suicide should be legal in every state because in most cases, people that are terminally ill should have the right to end their own life with the assistance of a physician.

Imagine having to witness a family member or even a friend on life support be kept alive while knowing that there is no chance for a cure. A patient might feel like it is their time to go, but family members might have a hard time accepting the situation and will disagree. That is why patients in those extreme situations should have the option to end their life peacefully or continuing living in the conditions they are in.

Brittany Maynard stated in an article she wrote on CNN, “Having this choice at the end of my life has become incredibly important. It has given me a sense of peace during a tumultuous time that otherwise would be dominated by fear, uncertainty and pain (Maynard, Brittany).” Since Brittany Maynard had gotten her prescription of euthanasia knowing that she could use it at any point she felt a sense of calm at the end of her life and felt that she could now die with dignity. The rest of her life didn’t have to be painful. Since she did have a terminal brain disease she had spent most of the last year of her life in tremendous pain, and once Brittany is refused treatment, she felt relieved. In contrast to Brittany’s story is the story of a woman named Pam Parlanti. This woman had unendurable arthritis pain near the end of her life and could barely get out of bed. Although she requested multiple times to die, her body held on for 11 days after her request and she died angry that others should have control over how she wanted to die (Parlanti, Steve). The story of Mrs. Parlanti proves that without the right to have voluntary doctor assisted suicide people will be forced to suffer for the remainder of their life even though the quality of their life is immensely poor. Family members watch their loved ones deteriorate this

Terminal illnesses are terrible diseases that will ultimately end in death. What many people do not understand is that many terminal illnesses can cause an inability to function. Which is challenging for patients that have lived independently. The frustration of them not being able to function at the level they are used to would consume them. Although there are many reasons to ask for a life-ending medication, in 2014, Oregon reported that the inability to partake in events, the loss of independence, and the loss of dignity were among the top reasons why patients requested the medication (Goodale, Grossman, and Grundy 16). In addition to the patient's feelings, it can be as tough for the family of the patient. As humans, one of the most difficult things to do is to watch someone we love struggle. Physician assisted suicide would end the

Suffering is a constant companion of humans today; people experience it every day, whether it be emotional or physical, internal or external. Living with a terminal illness is also living with suffering, both because of the physical pain that is felt, and also the emotional blows the patient experiences every day. A terminally ill patient has a monumental part of their life taken from them. Few aspects of life still remain in their control, because of doctors, family members, and the illness itself. However, there is a practice that places a final decision, the right to choose the circumstances of death, with the patient. Physician-assisted suicide (PAS), or physician

Over the last thirty years the fight over assisted suicide has earned a spot in the national spotlight, for both positive and negative reasons depending on your stance on the issue. There have been challenges made based off the constitution, the right to privacy and moral reasons for both sides. While there have been many notable persons of interest during this time some have helped the cause as others have hindered progress.

Assisted suicide laws, otherwise known as Death with Dignity and right to die laws, are both controversial and largely discussed in state legislatures across the United States. These laws permit patients with a terminal illness to either commit or have assistance in committing suicide through a medical process. Due to the influence of changing public opinion, the increase in the passage of state laws, and the advocacy of prominent public figures, support for assisted suicide laws has increased in the United States since Oregon set the precedent with the passage of its state law in 1997.

If assisted suicide becomes legal in the United States then it would be legalizing murder. The question of assisted suicide being “mercy killing” has been a debatable topic for a while but there is no question that it is murder. There have been countless examples of loved ones killing loved ones because they are doing it out of “mercy”. In Kentucky, a man is facing murder charges for shooting his wife because he claimed it was “mercy killing”. His wife was in a battle with aggressive breast cancer and was reportedly suffering immense pain (Hanafin). It is difficult to think that a husband can shoot his own wife just because she was in pain. Also, there were two gunshot wounds. If a man really wanted to end his wife’s suffering then he would

Do you think assisted suicide should be legal for people who suffer from a terminal illness? It is not legal in Pennsylvania but it's legal in California, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Medical technology isn't good for a person suffering from a terminal disease. Many people who suffer from a terminal disease want the right to assisted suicide. Assisted suicide should be legal for people who suffer from a terminal illness.

AVE and NVAE should be legalized in the united states of america because of the depth in which it has already been practiced. Euthanasia has been practiced since the ancient times of Plato and Epicurus, with AVE and NVAE being permissible in certain God-sent situations (Richardson 14-16). Euthanasia continues through 1516, when Thomas More writes in Utopia “[when]...life becomes unbearable for the incurables...priests do not hesitate to prescribe euthanasia… they end their lives willingly” (Emanuel 793). Euthanasia continues in modern times, as a 1961 survey by the University of Chicago revealed that about 61 percent of physicians believed someone in their line of work had taken action in ending the life of the distressed, whether through