Should Abortion Be Legalized? Essay

Physician Assisted suicide (PAS) is also known as Assisted death and assisted euthanasia. Webster dictionary defines PAS as: suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or by information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient 's intent. The first documented occurrence of the right to die concept appeared in papers handed out by the American Hospital Association in 1973. These papers, called the patient bill of rights, included informed consent forms and allowed a patient to refuse treatment. Refusal of needed treatment results in complications up to and including death. In 1974 the city of New Haven, Ct opened the doors of the first Hospice. This made way for the concept of palliative care. Many palliative care facilities utilized the

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.

Imagine someone you love with, but with a terminal illness such as cancer. The chemotherapy drugs are terrible to the human body and to the mind. Your loved one is suffering daily. Physician Assisted Suicide is rather new alternative for people who have less than six months and who are suffering from a terminal illness (Barone). Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) is the act of assisting people with their death in order to end their suffering, but without controlling legal activity (Physician). PAS is now legal in Oregon, Montana, New Mexico, Washington, and Vermont (Physician). This new law was enacted into law in January 1997 in Oregon in which it was called the Death with Dignity Act. Since the legalization of the Death with Dignity

Currently, PAS is legal in six states: Oregon, Washington, California, Vermont, Montana, and Colorado (as of the 2016 election). It all started in the 1990’s when Dr. Jack Kevorkian went on an individual endeavor to legalize PAS in the state of Michigan (Strate, et al. 23). Kevorkian’s pursuit led the issue to the Supreme Court where it was examined in a religious, medical, and right-to-life point of view (24). By June 1993, the Michigan Commission on Death and Dying (MCDD)

Physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill is one of the most debated policies in America. Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is only considered a when a patient has a terminal illness and expresses their right to end their life with a physician. This scenario typically takes place when a patient is suffering severely from a terminal illness and it is only a matter of time before they will die. Advocates for PAS have typically had a loved one who is or was suffering through their final stages of life. Each individual state has specific laws and policies regarding the process of PAS; however, the requirements for a patient to be considered for PAS are similar (Death with Dignity, n.d.).

In 1994, Oregon became the first state to pass a bill legalizing physician aid-in-dying (Richardson, 2011). This law would allow a terminally ill patient with 6 months or less to live to end their life by their own terms (“It’s Not Assisted Suicide”, 2011). This bill leads to the question “Why would a form of purposeful death be legalized?” The bill, itself was passed for many reasons including the fact that the patients want to have control over their life and ultimately their death (“It’s Not Assisted Suicide”, 2011). They also do not want to live in fear of what will eventually happen to them. “Death with Dignity” was passed is because many terminally-ill patients do not want to live in excruciating pain and in fear of what will happen to them, living a prolonged life or taking control over one’s death is a personal choice belonging only to the individual making it.

In 1776, our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence, guaranteeing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This brings up the question, if you have the right to life, do you have the right to death? After all, it is your life and no one else’s, right? This is the question at the very center of the controversial debate on the legalization of physician assisted suicide in the United States. Anti-physician assisted suicide groups often argue that no individual truly wants to end their life. However, that statement does not ring true to those who would actually utilize physician assisted suicide- terminally ill patients. Imagine being diagnosed with a terminal disease, followed by months and sometimes years of treatment that brings insufferable side effects due to countless medicines, drugs and surgeries only to be told that you have a minimal chance of survival and will have to undergo treatment for the rest of your life. This is the bleak reality for many who are terminally ill. A compassionate individual would conclude that it is not fair for patients to be forced to live this kind of life or lack thereof, if they do not wish to do so. Physician assisted suicide should be a legal option to competent, terminally ill patients in the United States in order to end their suffering, reduce the damaging financial effects of hospital costs on their loved ones and families and to preserve the individual right of people to determine their

However, the fact is that palliative care and hospice care, regardless of the advancement that Dr. Astrow claims is occurring, is not enough for all terminally-ill patents and there are still many people dying very slowly and in a great deal of pain, regardless of medication. Physician-assisted suicide offers an option for those people, if they want it. No one is being coerced or pressured into ending their life; if someone does not want that option, they do not have to take it. Empirical evidence from the states that have already passed legislation legalizing PAS shows that all of the negative repercussions that opponents to PAS predicted simply have not proven to be viable concerns. For these reasons, there should be legislation put in place that allows dying patients of sound mind to choose physician-assisted suicide if they decide that is the best option to

Currently in America, terminally-ill patients in most states have only two options: receive treatments (some experimental) or wait for natural death. The third option on the other hand, exists in only five states. For dying patients in Montana, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and California, they have the option for a physician assisted suicide (PAS). California recently passed the End of Life Option Act, thereby joining Oregon, Washington, and Vermont when it comes to legalizing PAS via legislation. For Montana, PAS is neither legal nor illegal according to a court decision. Judging by the fact that PAS is currently only practiced in five out of fifty states, it is clear that the issue of hastening the death of patients (by their own wishes) remains a hotly debated topic. This paper will proceed to analyze how each of the five states tackled the issues surrounding PAS.

The majority of people in the United States, strongly believe that Physician assisted suicide, also known as PAS, should be legal. PAS is when the doctor is the one who assists, such as prescribing a lethal dose of medication (Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide). This topic has become an intense controversy in our country. About 33% of the country's population believe Physician Assisted-Suicide should be legal. The people should have right to end their life if they need to.

There are five states that have passed the law: Oregon in 1994, Washington in 2008, Vermont in 2013, California in 2015, and Colorado in 2016. Also, The District of Columbia permitted PAS in 2016. Currently, there are seventeen other states considering the “’death with dignity’” laws. (Sullivan) Only a fraction of the United States have actively followed through with allowing physician assisted suicide to be legalized for those suffering with a terminal illness.

Doctors typically refuse to comply with assisted death requests due to their Hippocratic Oath, but even if doctors are sworn to never allow a patient to die prematurely, people must consider at what point not allowing death is violating the rights and dignity of the patient as well as forcing unnecessary and unwanted suffering. At the same time, defining the exact terms of when the death is or is not acceptable, and ensuring the line is never crossed into murder is vital. It is time for the American people to push legislators toward legalizing physician-assisted death in every state considering that as of now the current end-of-life options are insufficient, studies from Oregon have so far been indisputably favorable, and the recognition that the terminally ill absolutely deserve the right to dignity and control in the manner of their own

Beginning in the 1970s, terminally ill patients were given the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment to end their own life, a process commonly referred to as euthanasia. They would be taken off life support, and death would be allowed to take its natural course. This idea was controversial at first, but now a bigger issue has taken its place. Many patients claim that they reserve the right to physician assisted suicide—killing oneself with means provided by the physician. Assisted suicide has been deemed a criminal offense by most of the United States; however, four states have now accepted the policy. The Death with Dignity Act, as it was called, originated in Oregon in 1994, and it has since been spread to Vermont, Washington, and California (

Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is a suicide made possible by a physician who provides a patient with a means of killing themselves. PAS and euthanasia, the mercy killing of an individual by another, are extremely controversial topics. Even countries that share a philosophical and moral foundation like the United States and much of Western Europe have extremely different legislation in this area. In the United States, just 5 states have legislation in favor of PAS, whereas in Switzerland euthanasia has been legal everywhere since 1942. The reason behind the reluctance in passing legislation for PAS or euthanasia is rooted in religion, the disabled movement, and the slippery slope theory

Just because abortion is legal in all fifty states it is not morally right because a fetus is technically still a person, killing is against the law, and it goes against God’s will for us to have the right to live. In 1973, the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade changed the course of American history. The outcome of this case made abortion, “the termination of a pregnancy resulting in the death of the fetus,” legal in all fifty states (Abortion Facts). Abortion has become one of the most controversial topics in our nation, and is becoming a substantial issue (Sproul 47). Every abortion takes the life of a child, the most innocent of human beings. Not only does an abortion kill the fetus, but the procedure itself is very gruesome and can cause pain to the child or the mother (Abortion facts). On average, there are around 700,000 abortions per year in the United