A Peaceful Death: Medical Assisted Suicide
Emily Adkins
Professor Bouchelle
College Composition
14 Dec 2012
A Peaceful Death
“Human life consists in mutual service. So grief, pain, misfortune, or "broken heart" is no excuse for cutting off one's life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in lace of a slow and horrible one (debate.org).”
-Charlotte Perkins Gilman (who committed suicide after 6 months with breast cancer)
Death is a natural event that every living thing must go through as part of the life cycle. Death has many causes, such as accidents, disease, and old age. Disease is probably the most painful and stressful forms of death, mainly because of the manmade cures and treatments a person goes through to attempt to fight the sickness. As the disease progresses, the pain is progressing as well. Some pain is worse than others, but those with extreme cases may not wish to die an agonizing death. A peaceful death is something that every living creature is entitled to. For example, if someone’s dog is sick and in pain and will not live a comfortable life because of their sickness, the dog is euthanized. It is an interesting fact that an animal can be euthanized, but a conscious, rational human being cannot have the same treatment if they are incapable of ending their own life. Abortion is the termination of an unborn child, who has no choice in the matter, but that is also legal. It is odd that an animal or unborn child that cannot make the choice to end their life can be killed legally, but a person who decides to ask for assistance in ending their own life cannot do so because it is illegal and defies the morals of the majority. However, just the desire to die should not be sufficient to receive a physician’s assisted suicide. A person should be in physical, not mental, pain. Mental pain can be lessened with medications and
Professor Bouchelle
College Composition
14 Dec 2012
A Peaceful Death
“Human life consists in mutual service. So grief, pain, misfortune, or "broken heart" is no excuse for cutting off one's life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in lace of a slow and horrible one (debate.org).”
-Charlotte Perkins Gilman (who committed suicide after 6 months with breast cancer)
Death is a natural event that every living thing must go through as part of the life cycle. Death has many causes, such as accidents, disease, and old age. Disease is probably the most painful and stressful forms of death, mainly because of the manmade cures and treatments a person goes through to attempt to fight the sickness. As the disease progresses, the pain is progressing as well. Some pain is worse than others, but those with extreme cases may not wish to die an agonizing death. A peaceful death is something that every living creature is entitled to. For example, if someone’s dog is sick and in pain and will not live a comfortable life because of their sickness, the dog is euthanized. It is an interesting fact that an animal can be euthanized, but a conscious, rational human being cannot have the same treatment if they are incapable of ending their own life. Abortion is the termination of an unborn child, who has no choice in the matter, but that is also legal. It is odd that an animal or unborn child that cannot make the choice to end their life can be killed legally, but a person who decides to ask for assistance in ending their own life cannot do so because it is illegal and defies the morals of the majority. However, just the desire to die should not be sufficient to receive a physician’s assisted suicide. A person should be in physical, not mental, pain. Mental pain can be lessened with medications and