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Right To Die Law Essay

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Many people support the right of a terminally ill patient to die-but what if the right became an obligation? And what of the potential for abuse by impatient heirs?
Should dying patients have the legal right to order their doctors not to start or continue medical treatment? Should doctors be protected from prosecution if they shorten a patient's life expectancy with pain killing drugs?
Most of us would answer yes to both questions. But does that mean that we need a "right to die" law? Or is there more to the issue then first meets the eye?

Public discussion of the treatment of dying patients often confuses two separate issues. First is the right of a terminally ill person to be allowed to die without being subjected to invasive medical procedures. Second is the …show more content…

If the doctor who also show that the patient requested the lethal dosage (quite possible the form you filled out giving permission for him to give treatment), the court might well interpret the law in the doctor's favor.
Many people do not find the prospect of legal voluntary active euthanasia alarming. But two things should make us think.
First, as soon-to-be-published Canadian study will show, most health care professionals who work with the dying endorse the patients right to refuse medical treatment, but oppose legalizing active euthanasia. The professionals recognize that if pain is controlled, as it can be in virtually all cases, very few terminally ill people ask to be put to death. Second, experience in Holland tells us that voluntary euthanasia can quickly become involuntary euthanasisa.

Holland is widely regarded as one of the world's more civilized countries . Active Euthanasia is illegal there, but for the past decade the government has not prosecuted doctors who report having assisted their patients to commit

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