Assisted Suicide : The Moral And Ethical Issues

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Recommended: Legal and ethical issues surrounding euthanasia

When It’s Time
“I 'm not afraid of being dead, I 'm just afraid of what you might have to go through to get there”, stated by Pamela Bone during her deterioration from cancer (Bone). Giving someone the choice of ending their life was not known by many until a man of the name of Jack Kevorkian began performing this procedure. He was the first to assist others in ending their lives due to medical illnesses. His actions caused many years of conflict with the court system, forcing him to spend eight years in prison. Kevorkian’s procedures aroused national controversy over the moral and ethical issues surrounding this extremely sensitive topic. Assisted suicide is slowly becoming more prominent in the world with the discussion of the benefits of the practice, the need for the law due to the possible detrimental aspects of it, and the obligation to remain true to the morals one has set for themselves.
Assisted death can consist of either voluntary euthanasia or physical-assisted suicide. Voluntary suicide is when a doctor purposely administers drugs to force death upon a person, while physical-assisted suicide is when a doctor aids someone in committing suicide by presenting drugs for self administration by a family member or loved one (Tomlinson). This procedure is legal in Vermont, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and recently passed in California. In 2014, Brittany Maynard, a young Californian woman with terminal brain cancer became an advocate for the terminally ill and took her own life under Oregon aid-in-dying law (The Brittany Maynard Fund). Maynard states, “Every terminally ill American deserves the choice to die with dignity… Freedom from prolonged pain and suffering is a most basic human right” (Firger). Having the ability to...

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...e are gaining more knowledge on the incredible aid of the procedure, the importance of regulations, and the moral strain it places on those having to decide for themselves whether it is right or wrong. As with every controversial topic there are ways that can force one to see the good in assisted suicide and ways that can shed light on the bad. There comes a time in everyone’s life where death is knocking at their door, there is no way around that. If there’s one thing that’s true about life its that you won’t get out of it alive, its how and when that differs for everyone. Maybe instead of giving a way out we should try to foster hope instead, but there comes a time in one’s life where the hope is found in death. The light at the end of the tunnel lies at the end of suffering. And why wouldn’t one choose light if they were given the ability to overcome the darkness?

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