The Relationship Between Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide

It is said that helping somebody who wants to die in a peaceful, painless way should be legal. Choosing how we die is a basic human freedom and if an individual's quality of life is deteriorating, due to a terminal disease such as cancer, they should have the right to stop their suffering via physician assisted suicide. It might be the case that the drugs for assisted suicide are far less expensive than the cost of their current medical care. This allows the government to save money as well as the lift the financial burden from the family of patients who are suffering from serious illness. Some people say that physician assisted suicide decreases the value of human life, but this isn't the case as it actually helps those who are terminal retain their dignity and choose their own death.

Additionally, the term “euthanasia” does not mean the same thing as assisted suicide. Often people confuse these processes when they differ immensely. Despite this, they remain similar in their resulting death of a human life through the help of a physician. Euthanasia is the direct killing of a patient by a physician by means of lethal injection and it is completely controlled by the doctor. On the other hand, patients in assisted suicide have full control over the process that leads to their death. For this reason, procedures of these sorts must be eliminated as medical treatments and should not be authorized. Consequently, physician assisted suicide has been proven to lead to euthanasia in some cases. Assisted suicide should become illegal in all fifty states of the United States of America because it raises religious concern, endorses legalized murder, puts vulnerable people at risk of abuse, and

Assisted Suicide/ Euthanasia is wrong and should not be allowed to be a law. Families shouldn’t have to go through that pain of their family member killing themselves because they hate the pain they are going through. The pain will go away with time and there is medicine for any kind of pain. There are some people who believe that there should be a choice for people who are in pain and they should have that choice because they want what they think is best for themselves. However, there are people who take Assisted Suicide/ Euthanasia to the extreme and people who “have pain” use it and they use it for the wrong reason. Many people don’t think this is a necessary reason for killing yourself. Studies show that there is a great amount of people who suffer from pain or depression that commit suicide(Why Assisted Suicide). Dr. Eli Robbins found that 47% of those committing suicide were diagnosed with schizophrenic panic disorders and

Those against physician-assisted suicide believe that legally banning the right to die is probable and needed. It is a law that cannot have enough regulations that will protect all patients because loop holes can lead to abuse, privacy, and the actual choice of death. This is described by, “…a legal ban on physician-assisted suicide is constitutionally permissible in light of the state’s legitimate and weighty interests in preventing abuse, protecting patient autonomy, and avoiding involuntary death” (Sunstein 1124). This abuse can be viewed that the poor minorities would be heavily hit by the use of physician-assisted suicide because of their lack of money and representation. These loop holes can be managed though. Being specific in the law

It’s one’s right to decide what happens to their body. Deciding one wants to end their life because they’re terminally ill and in pain should be permissible. It's no worse than a cancer patient refusing treatment, or a person being taken off life support. In fact, it might be better for people to be able to access physician assisted suicide as those suffering with chronic pain and no hope for a better future will be able to choose to die painlessly and with much more dignity. When the government refuses patient’s physician assisted suicide, people do at times decide to take matters into their own hands and attempt to end their own lives. This can go wrong and cause the patient to be in even more pain. This only includes those who are mobile enough to attempt suicide as well. The law against physician assisted suicide can also drive loved ones to end the patient’s suffering: so they no longer have to see them live in agony and misery. This causes many issues as the loved one may go to jail, or deal with psychological guilt for the rest of their lives. It seems better to allow people the ability to access physician assisted suicide as it’s no different than when one refuses treatment which is only prolonging

Albert Camus once quoted, “But in the end, one needs more courage to live than to kill them self.” Today I will be discussing the topic of Euthanasia also known as “assisted suicide.” The word originated from the Greeks, meaning “good death”. Euthanasia refers to the ending of one’s life, primarily to end suffering and pain. Euthanasia is a controversial topic and generates many political and religious debates. Although euthanasia is illegal in Canada, in some jurisdictions such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and the American states of Washington, Oregon and Montana, euthanasia is a legal and common practice.

Physician assisted suicide is legal but it is always subject to change. How does this make you feel? Do you agree with this choice or not? There are only 4 states in the U.S. that makes this legal. Oregon, Montana, Washington, and Vermont are the only states that have made this legal in the U.S. People are actually putting their lives into someone else’s hand who mind you gets paid for what they are doing. They are letting someone who is getting paid to do what they are doing decide if they live or not. Physician assisted suicide should not be legalized in any of the 50 states. Euthanasia is the practice of ending a human life with that person 's consent, voluntary stopping of eating and drinking, and physician assisted suicide invites compromise among caregivers or family member who might have economic or otherwise selfish interests in ending another’s life.

Imagine being diagnosed with a life-ending disease and experiencing such excruciating pain that doctors say cannot be healed. Pain is a terrible thing to experience, especially when it is permanent. What can be done to relieve that pain? What if the only option to rid the pain from the patient is death? No one knows how that feels until it happens to them, that is why assisted suicide is used. Assisted suicide is a practice throughout most of the United States that terminates the lives of dying patients. This process is when patients are in agonizing pain that is too overwhelming to bear; therefore they beg physicians to end their lives. Physicians have the ability to end a patient’s life by withholding medication or removing the patient from a life supporting device. Patients have to meet certain requirements before the procedure can be completed. Many people wish that this practice was legal, but there are others that do not believe in it. Legalized physician assisted suicide is not common in all areas throughout the United States. There are many different views about physician assisted suicide, and the subject is a rather touchy one to discuss. There are many details about this issue that many people are not informed about like the past situations dealing with assisted suicide and physicians, areas that allow the procedure to be done, and the rules and regulations that patients have to meet before anything can be done.

There are several reasons why physician-assisted suicide is such an ongoing argument between people in this day and age. Whether they want it legalized or don’t want anything to do with it, it’s safe to assume that this topic is rather controversial in our society. In the debate titled “Doctor-Assisted Suicide Is Unethical and Dangerous” written by Ira Byock at the New York Times, he states, “Legalizing assisted suicide fixes nothing. The principle that doctors must not kill patients stands. Two moral wrongs don’t make a right” (Byock, 2015). Some may agree with Byock, but others truly believe that the patient should be able to make a choice about their end-of-life treatment and no one else should be able to tell them otherwise.

In fact there aren’t any valid reasons for physician assisted suicide to be legal. “There Is No Justification for Legalizing Euthanasia,” by Peter Glover, directly discusses why physician assisted suicide is wrong and gives statistics. Two of the main reasons people are promoting physician assisted suicide is because of the pain people who request physician assisted suicide may have and because it is believed it can give others a chance to die with dignity. Both of these issues are addressed in this source. Pain is tolerable now because of the pain medication hospice and doctors can provide. It states that 95% of pain is controllable and the other 5% can be reduced so it is at least manageable. Therefore, that argument is no longer valid. Furthermore, is the

The article “Euthanasia is Not Merciful: There’s Meaning in Life even in the Deepest Pain”, by Mary Ticinovic argues the negativity of euthanizing, and why it should not be legalized. The argument is that agreeing with or legalizing euthanizing will be giving the ok to murder. Mary states, “Favor of suicide goes against the principle that all life is precious”. Some patients whom are suffering for an incurable disease may seek out to be euthanized. Euthanasia currently is illegal in United States, but physician-assisted suicide (PAD) is legal in OR, VT, AND WA. This topic is very controversial.

Every single day, people all over the United States are diagnosed with terminal illnesses. They are forced to wait until they die naturally; all the while their bodies are deteriorated by the illness that will eventually take their lives. Sometimes this means living with insufferable pain and nothing they can legally do about it. People are able to put their pets to sleep when they are suffering; it is even considered the humane thing to do. Why must we live with life ending illnesses and insufferable pain? Physician-assisted suicide should be legalized because people should have the right to end their lives when they choose to and contrary to popular belief, physician-assisted suicide will not leave the presumably vulnerable

(. . .) If society creates a “right to suicide” and legalizes “physician-assisted suicide,” the message perceived by a suicide attempter is not likely to be, “We respect your wishes,” but rather, “we don’t care if you live or die.” I assure that this is very, very true. The human race is based on relying on other people, and when people do not rely on other people, or do not have anyone their for them, it eats that person up. Do not get me wrong, some people are just fine with being independent, but when someone feels like nobody sees them, they start to get messed up. Then that’s when depression and other mental illnesses start to mess with their mind. And legalizing assisted suicide in the world tells them they are basically alone, and the only thing someone will do is give them something that will kill them. Now please, think about that and tell me how humane that is. If someone were to look at the steps to being granted assisted suicide, they would question the whole process

The controversy of a doctor assisting their patient who is already dying, end their life sooner to save them from continuous unnecessary pain and agony has been the topic of controversy for years. The practice of euthanasia is in my opinion a mercy and should not be banned because in reality it doesn’t physically hurt anyone. You could say it hurts the patient but then again that patient is already in tremendous pain or in an incapacitated state of no recovery, as in paralyzed or brain damage etc., so in reality it would actually help them by assisting ending their pain by assisted suicide. A doctors job is also always help their patients and the practice of assisted suicide in many ways is actually helping the person. However there has and probably always will be people who do not agree with the idea of a dying person end their life for sooner than nature had intended. This demographic would suggest that by dying by your own hand or assisted by a physician for medical reasons is still considered plain suicide. And for the religious people it is a sin by their beliefs. The people could also argue that it is not a person’s right to make that decision.

Not only is assisted suicide considered murder, it also goes against Physicians’ Hippocratic Oath. “Hippocratic Oath: An oath (or promise) all physicians must swear to uphold, regarding the ethical practices of the medical profession” (Lee). By allowing doctors to stray from this oath, it will be easier for them to aid in or carry out assisted suicides when it will never be entirely necessary for them to consider the option. “In 2005, Texas doctors removed two patients from life support without advanced directions and against the wishes of the patient’s family” (Pawlick). By not legalizing assisted suicides, families will be able to decide when their family member is physically unable to continue with the provided treatments, but only when the patient themselves can no longer communicate their wishes and no document stating how they should go about the situation has been left in their families possession.