Preview

Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
161 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide
Every person knows what the circle of life consists of- to be born, to grow and to die. The lines between the right and wrongs of each are fuzzy and unclear. Assisted suicide brings up one of the biggest moral debates and there are so many questions with no clear answers: who should and shouldn’t be allowed to assist in suicides? Should assisted suicide be just for the terminally ill, or for all? What protection will there be for the people? and the biggest question of all- is it right or wrong? Those who are considered “pro-death”, believe that being able to choose how one dies is their own right. That there is a significant “difference between killing a patient and allowing a patient to die” (Breslow). Others however, believe The Suicide

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    There are times when life takes an unforeseen route, and one is faced with an obstacle or situation that was not expected. Many people are diagnosed with terminal diseases, have accidents and are left with severe impairments, and suffer horrendous complications from medical issues. One has the right, according to law, to make medical decisions about their care and treatment options. But should one have the right to end their life? Assisted, or voluntary euthanasia, is the direct administration of a lethal agent to end one’s life at the request of…

    • 1466 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I believe euthanasia can be the most humane option for those suffering enough if the patient chooses it. I would say I am for active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia in some circumstances seems less humane than active because with passive the person is left to die slowly from lack of treatment or sustenance whereas active would put an instant relatively painless end to the pain. Active euthanasia should be administered only in special circumstances where the suffering is great and the patient has little time left to live. It needs to be distinct from suicide.…

    • 94 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Terminally ill patients that desire death is already a touchy subject with the government, religion, family, and ethics and so there is no true right or wrong answer to whether physician assisted suicide is ‘justified’. To only answer the prompt and ignore the legality and morals of the physicians performing the assisted suicide, I believe that yes, mental health professionals should serve as gatekeepers for physician-assisted suicide. There are many arguments against a Mental Health Professional (MHP) to be the gatekeeper, such that they are biased and ethical issues, that one person should not make that decision for someone else, that it should not be mandatory for MHP’s to be involved, and also that there aren’t across the board standards to assess a patient’s mental state to make a rational decision about their own death.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people argue that physician-assisted suicide is unethical and suggests that the human life is not valuable; however, this is untrue. Physician-assisted suicide allows a suffering individual to feel a sense of dignity and power, even in his or her last moments in life. What is more valuable than that? While the situation might be unethical in the case that the patient had no say in his or her own planned death, physician-assisted suicide requires that the patient be fully aware of what they are choosing to do. There is nothing unethical about a fully competent individual choosing to end his or her life in a peaceful manner, rather than in agony. As an alternative to physician-assisted suicide, some physicians encourage patients to believe that refusing to eat or drink would be a better way to die. This method of suicide takes many days and causes the patient even more suffering than what he or she already has to endure. The symptoms of dehydration…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is assisting a loved one to die morally acceptable or is it murder? This essay will look at both sides of this argument and leave the reader to decide which side they more agree with. The main article I will be looking at is the one by Susan M. Wolf and the death of her sick father. There are two sides to this situation. One group of people feel that it is morally and lawfully wrong to help in the death of any person, regardless of who they are and believe the culprit to be just as guilty as a murderer. Others will argue that it is only helping to speed up a process that is inevitably coming and helping a person to quit the pain is human nature showing sympathy and courage. In this essay, I will be looking at both sides of this argument and leave it to the reader to decide which argument he believes to be more reasonable.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Euthanasia is very controversial and in most countries illegal. Even though it is illegal there are a lot of people who think that it should be legalized. Euthanasia is when a medical professional administers medicine that will end the patient`s life. People would make the option to have this done if they were suffering or if they had someone in their life who come make the decision for them when they could not , then that person would. This would put them out of their misery and they would pass away shortly after.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that patients do not have the right to Physician- Assisted Suicide under the constitution. However, the Supreme Court did not ban PAS (US Legal, Inc., n.d.). Later, in 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that laws related to Physician- Assisted suicide would be voted upon within each state. Currently, Physician- Assisted suicide is legal in five states in the U.S. including Oregon, Vermont, Washington and California where it is mandated by state law. Montana is mandated by court ruling. The first state to legalize physician assisted suicide was Oregon in 1994, followed by Washington in 2009. Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Kansas, Minnesota, Idaho, Michigan, Tennessee, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, New York,…

    • 136 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Supporters of assisted suicide believe that this act benefit terminally ill patients by relieving their suffering. This is probably one of the reasons why Netherlands court determined that a physician is allowed to prevent severe and irreversible suffering, even if it reduces patient’s life (Bosshard et al, 2002). The act of assisted suicide or active euthanasia is allowed in Netherlands, Switzerland and Oregon under different conditions and legislations. The situation can be seen differently in places, where by moral and legal discourse; assisted suicide is interpreted as the freedom or right of the individual as in Switzerland and some states of US. From the ethical perspective, patient’s choice of suicide represents an expression of self- determination and while exercising self- determination people take responsibility of their lives and for the kind of person they become. They have a right to refuse the life- sustaining treatment if they don’t want to suffer anymore and according to law, physicians must respect their decisions to forgo life- sustaining treatment that are capable of making their end of life decisions. By refusing life- sustaining treatment, terminally ill people know that they are going to die soon and in order to avoid suffering or pain they ask physicians for assistance to end their…

    • 2855 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On June 2016, Canadian Federal Legislation released new laws on legalizing assisted death(1). Some people is opposed to these laws since they believe that one should not give up on her or his life and consider assisted death as murdering, whereas others hold a different opinion. Most of the people argue this problem base on the perspective of a patient and neglected another group involved in assisted death--the doctors.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The debate about whether assisted suicide is morally right or morally wrong is an extremely difficult controversy. Many people assume that it is morally wrong since the practice is in fact illegal in the majority of the United States. Many people also believe that assisted suicide is spiritually wrong especially in terms of religion; from experience, many Catholics believe that the idea of suicide is a sin. However, in any controversy there is always another side. There were factors that led me to believe why assisted suicide can be morally right. According to William Winslade, a Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch and Kyriakos Markides, a professor in the department of preventative…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” Nelson Mandela. What are human rights? The right to life, the right to our bodies? Do we have a right to control how we die? Assisted suicide or euthanasia is medically receiving help to end one's life and it is legal in five states. Despite being a highly debated issue there has yet to be a consensus on the ethics of performing euthanasia. While those in favor of euthanasia say that people have the right to end their suffering on their own terms and the legalization will permit much needed regulations to protect the patient from abuse; those against assisted suicide argue that the practice contradicts…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assisted suicide is a non-widely known controversy in our country for years now. Many, including professionals in the healthcare industry, confuse this term with euthanasia and other similar concepts. Assisted suicide is when a physically and mentally capable person, most likely diagnosed with a terminal illness, makes a decision to end their lives themselves for reasons such as to not inconvenience their families with financial and emotional difficulty, and to end their own suffering. On the other hand euthanasia is when another person, usually a physician, is directly performing the act on the dying person with or without their consent for emergency reasons. Clearly, the difference is that assisted suicide gives the person the right to die…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assisted Suicide Pros

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Assisted suicide is the suicide of a patient suffering from an incurable disease, affected by the taking of lethal drugs provided by a doctor for this purpose. I am neither for nor against because I see the pros and cons on this topic, which puts me on the fence. Although if I had to choose a side I would say I am more leaning towards being for assisted suicide. There are times where assisted suicide is acceptable and there are times where it is not. All in all, assisted suicide depends on the situation when deciding if you are for or against the issue.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When you lose sight of the beauty of life and live in fear of the future that is ahead of you because it will be short, what choice do you have but to leave on your own terms. Everyone has the right to their own life and if someone is suffering, they have the right to die. Assisted suicide should be allowed in hospitals in the United States because it is unethical to prolong a person’s suffering, each person has a natural right to end their life, it would decrease the amount of terminally ill patients that end their lives themselves, and it has been practiced for thousands of years and should therefore still be allowed. There are several cases and text that support and demonstrate these…

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assisted suicide is an issue that has prompted discussion on the “right to die” and whether or not it is an inherent right in the Constitution. Those against assisted suicide say those who assist should be incarcerated for murder and medical professional should have their licenses revoked and integrity questioned. They believe this goes against the Due Process Clause in the Constitution, stating citizens should not be “deprived of life. liberty, or property.” Proponents of assisted suicide argue that Due Process protects their rights to personal choice and should be an option for those who are terminally ill and suffering. The novel (and upcoming movie) “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes explores this debate.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays