Argumentative Essay

702 Words2 Pages

In May of 2006, Gallup Poll found that sixty-nine percent of Americans answered yes to the question "When a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life by some painless means if the patient and his family request it?”. Assisted suicide is suicide committed by someone with assistance from another, usually a physician. Supporters of the Death With Dignity law believe that anyone should be able to take the lethal pill if he or she has a terminal illness and only has six months or less to live. This is legal in the three states of Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Assisted suicide should be legal in California.
The cost of supporting terminally ill patients is very high. CBS News states the expense of life support in the article, “The Cost of Dying”. Extremely ill patients are very expensive for families and the government. It cost Medicare $50 billion for doctor and hospital bills alone during the last two months of patients' lives’. If the Death with Dignity law were passed in California it would ease the financial loss of the state. In the same article CBS News reports the equally important, extremely high price of life support. “It costs up to $10,000 a day to maintain someone in the intensive care unit.” If the Death with Dignity law were passed, it would decrease the financial burden of the families. It is clear that if terminally ill patients took advantage of the
Death with Dignity law, it would decrease the amount of money spent by families and the government.
Americans value freedom of choice, and this freedom should also apply in their right to die. The article, “In Oregon, Choosing Death Over Suffering” by John Schwartz mentions Mr. Wilson, age eig...

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... Cost of Dying; Patients' Last Two Months of Life Cost Medicare $50 Billion Last Year; Is There a Better Way?” CBS News November 19 2009
“Oregon’s 2013 Death with Dignity Report” Melissa Barber 28 January 2014
“Massachusetts Debates ‘Death With Dignity’” Paula Span 29 May 2012
“Euthanasia: Did You Know?” ProCon.org 9 September 2010

“Liberty and Death: A manifesto concerning an individual's right to choose to die” Derek Humphry 24 March 2009
“In Oregon, Choosing Death Over Suffering” John Schwartz and James Estrin June 1 2004
“The Cost of Dying; Patients' Last Two Months of Life Cost Medicare $50 Billion Last Year; Is There a Better Way?” CBS News November 19 2009
“Oregon’s 2013 Death with Dignity Report” Melissa Barber 28 January 2014
“Massachusetts Debates ‘Death With Dignity’” Paula Span 29 May 2012
“Euthanasia: Did You Know?” ProCon.org 9 September 2010

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