Why Do We Have The Right To Die

Humans should not be forced to live against their will when they are suffering from an incurable illness that will lead to an undignified or painful death. Doctors have enough knowledge and experience to know when a person is close to the end with no hope for a cure. It should be their legal right to choose to end their life in a humane way, instead of waiting for death knowing that it’s not going to be peaceful. It’s common practice to put an animal down to end its suffering, yet that same kindness is being denied to human beings who would choose it for themselves.

Many people argue that humans have the right to life but unknowingly they agree that they have a right to death as well. Just as a coin has two sides: heads or tails so does the human life, it has life and death. Life cannot occur without death. As you live your practice your right to life and as you die you practice your right to die. With that being said, everyone should have the right to end their life if and only if they are terminally ill with no chances of living beyond their expected death

I want to acknowledge that a conversation about death is a conversation that makes many people uncomfortable and stirs strong emotions. Death is a very personal issue, but it is a guarantee that we are all going to die, and that we are all going to lose people we love. Death with dignity is a movement to provide more options for those who are dying. This conversation is growing in the United States, and throughout the world, as to whether a terminally ill adult has the legal right to receive aid in ending their life when they know they are going to die. The non-profit Death with Dignity National Center states: “the greatest human freedom is to live, and die, according to one’s own desires and beliefs”

Humans are given the right to life which states that “nobody should be arbitrarily deprived of their life.” Imagine being given your lifespan at birth, and a person that does not personally know you or your family told you how to spend those years. This is essentially what the government is doing by withholding and criminalizing patients of the resources with which to end their lives. If people have the right to life, that right should also include the right to control their quality of life; the right to life should not entail the life that has been chosen for the individual, but rather the life that the individual choses. Over 91 percent of patients said that losing autonomy was the reason that they chose physician assisted suicide, and 71 percent said that they wanted to die with dignity. The desire to increase autonomy among terminally ill individuals is one that is shared by Dr. Timothy Quill M.D., a palliative care specialist from the University of Rochester Medical Center: “Patients with serious illness wish to have control over their own bodies, their own lives, and concern about future physical and psychosocial distress. Some view potential access to physician-assisted death as the best option to address these concerns.” If we aim to promote freedom and autonomy of oneself, why then, should we deny people the right to choose when, and on what terms, they die? Supreme Court Justice William Brennan states that: "An ignoble end steeped in decay is abhorrent. A quiet, proud death, bodily integrity intact, is a matter of extreme

If someone wants to end their life peacefully instead of dying painfully at the hands of a deadly disease they should be allowed to do that. Every year thousands of people suffer and die at the crippling hands of extremely painful, deadly diseases. Terminally ill patients should have the right to die with the assistance of a doctor.

I do believe that everyone in this world should be given the right to die to the extent of them being terminally ill and if they are fit to decide such an extensive decision that affects them forever. Everyone is given choices in life, not as frequent as we would favor, but when it comes living or dying that should be a personal decision. In the text “Why the Right to Die Movement Needed Brittany Maynard” the author states in paragraph two “In life many choices are not our own, but how we live our life is our choice Maynard did not choose to have cancer invade her brain, but she did choose how to her life…” There are numerous choices in our life that we are not even able to decide what to do on our own, we are told by others. When it comes to death is it a

Furthermore, the right to die, according to the book, Euthanasia, by Linda Jackson, is considered a basic human right. Medical professionals have claimed to have had their patients not wish to undergo the heaviness of sedation. Today, relationships between doctors and their patients have appeared to be more equal, instead of just relying on the doctor, when it comes to making decisions about the patient’s health (Jackson 30). Given these points, allowing euthanasia to terminally ill patients would give them the chance to choose to end their distress, which therefore allows the right to die and the right to decide which type of treatment the patient would receive.

The “Right to Die” law is not as complicated as people try to make it. For those who are terminally ill, elderly with Alzheimers, or being kept alive, it can be a very important and useful law for them to have access to. This law is only legal in 3 states, Oregon, Washington, and Montana. It is a law that has been etablished and made available to those who do not wish to live in a vegetative state, die in severe pain, or not knowing those around them. The law says that the person has the right to end their lives when there are circumstances that will affect them having a meaningful and productive life. The way the law is written, “it does allow mentally competent adults who declare their intentions in writing, and have been diagnosed as

As American citizens, we are protected by individual liberties and the Bill of Rights. The purpose of the Bill of Rights is simple; it is to ensure that the American citizens are guaranteed a substantial number of personal freedoms. What if a person’s dying wish was to die on his or her own terms? Dying on peoples own terms, seems like it would be a constitutional freedom, but sadly, it is not. Image a loved one, a friend, or a family member struck with immeasurable pain faced with a terminal and intolerable illness. This patient would have to go through agonizing pain to fight a battle they cannot win, for the disease has already won. When faced with pain and death, neither the government, nor doctors should have a say other than the patients themselves when choosing to end their life. The decision or ‘the Right To Die’ is solely for that person to make. The decision to end one’s life should be a personal freedom.

Due to advances in medical technology people are living longer and all too often suffering for long periods of time due to their illness, and, this means a slow agonizing death. Individuals should have the same degree of control in choosing the circumstances surrounding their death as they do in choosing the manner in which they live. Although this may be true the only way this can be achieved is if the mentality of God deciding who has the right to die should be eradicated. The medical and religious culture often make the choice for individuals unless they have medical documentation such as DNR’s. They prolong life at any cost, frequently resulting in the quality of life being diminished. The right to die should be a matter of personal choice. Granted that individuals are competent in making decisions for themselves such as deciding when to marry, their profession. If it is legal to drive at 16 and go to war at 18 and legally drink at 21 is it really a stretch to have the choice to die. Most people want to live their lives with dignity and die with dignity. For this reason, individuals like Ramon Sanpedro who was paralyzed in Spain as a result of a swimming accident should be allowed to die with dignity. He described himself as, “a head attached to a corpse” and he further states “Why die? Because every journey had its departure time and only the traveller has the

Most people do not like to talk or even think about death; much less the topic of ending one’s own life. However, for some, death is a desired alternative to living in agony. Euthanasia has been a topic of debate since antiquity, and both sides stand firm on their beliefs. The right to choose death is illegal in most countries. I believe in people’s freedom to do what they please with their own bodies. The basic right of liberty is what America was founded on. Euthanasia should be a legal option.

Death is not a topic that many people are comfortable with, some people believe it is outrageous for others to play God and decide when to end their lives. While this is true for people with normal pains, there are those who feel they have the right to choose their own fate because they cannot bear their pain and suffering anymore. These are people that are terminally ill, people who were diagnosed with a deadly disease without a cure and feel that death is the only way to relieve that pain. These people has gone through many treatments that are slowly becoming less and less effective. Even though the treatment isn’t working, the patients still have to live through the pain from the treatments. Terminally ill

People who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness know that they only have a limited amount of days left. I believe that those people should be able to spend those days however they please. For instance if a person knows that they will spend their last months of life in a hospital, they should have the right to choose if they suffer through that time or not. A persons life should be their choice.

The right to die debate has been an ongoing dispute between opposing sides of this controversial topic. The right to die is the decision made by an individual to die with dignity when they are still capable of continuing their life with the necessary support and equipment. It is a voluntary decision by an individual who is regarded as terminally ill to commit suicide with the refusal of any type of life support that sustains their life. Fatally ill patients who choose to end their own life can do so through physician prescribed medications.