Dying Wish: Arguing The Right To Die

1020 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Controversy of euthanasia

Most people have a black or white view on euthanasia, completely for or against it. Whether or not they are for it, some personal stories can sway their understanding. Even though euthanasia means " good death", may not be a good death to all and their loved ones. Yet if all are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and ones happiness is no longer being free of pain shouldn’t it be legal?
The general argument made on CBS Sunday Morning, in their work "Dying Wish: Arguing the Right to Die", is that terminally ill patient's will lose hope in miracles or any sign of recovery. More specifically, CBS argues that you would want to be alive to witness a possible healing, but how could you if you choose to end your life. CBS writes, “Were afraid for all those people who will hear that dire prognosis and just accept It.," In this passage, the author is suggesting that there is always the possibility of a "god sent" gift to take the risk of using euthanasia. In conclusion, CBS' belief is that life is too precious to take the gamble. In my view, CBS is right because everyone's life is …show more content…

More specifically, the author argues that during the last stages of life those who choose death should be able to spend their last few minutes with their family where assisted suicide is legal rather than being alone ending their life without assistance. He writes, "By being with him [his father] in his final moments, or merely even knowing of his plans, they'd [his family] be held responsible for his death." In this passage the author is suggesting that family is comfort, and they should be with their dying loved ones at the end of the road. Prolonging death is a painful and discouraging process—if the patient and their families are in agreement, the fate should be in the hands of those

Show More
Related

  • Analyiss on Jerry Fensteman´s I See Why Others Choose to Die

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jerry Fensterman, in his essay "I See Why Others Choose to Die", talks about how he can understand why terminal ill people after so long in pain with no hope to cure choose to end their life sooner than expected. Fensterman, who was a dignose with cancer, says "I know now how a feeling, loving, rational person could choose death over life, could choose to relieve his suffering as well as that of his loved ones a few months earlier that would happen naturally." I agreed with the writers point of view, and I can also understand why someone would make this type of decisions. It is not only physically devastating for the whole family to go through this type of situations, but it could also be economically damaging, and not to mention the stress that is slowly draining everyone around.

    Read More

  • The Right to Die with Dignity: Physician Assisted Suicide

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    Physician assisted suicide should be a choice of the patient in Florida. There has long been a debate on Physician assisted suicide in the state of Florida, and in many other US states. The government has the burden on whether to pass an initiative on allowing physician assisted suicide. The Right to die initiative is decided on a state by state basis.

    Read More

  • Euthanasia: Your Right to Die

    625 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today there are five to ten thousand comatose patients in long term care facilities (Wheeler A1). There are countless elderly people in care facilities that have repeatedly expressed a desire to die. There are countless terminally ill patients that have also begged for death. Should these people be allowed to die, or should they be forced to keep on living? This question has plagued ethicists and physicians throughout the years.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...hat patients should be allowed to make the decision of the right time to end their life’s and to always have the right to die with dignity. Without physician assistance people who are terminal ill may commit suicide in a messy, horrifying and traumatic way. Terminal ill patients sometimes suffer discomfort and pains so terrible that is beyond the comprehension of those who have not actually experienced it. The options given to those individuals to end their own life can saved them from their misery, therefore such policies are morally right. Also with allowing this policies we can spare a lot of suffering to the family, without a doubt it can be traumatic for a family member see their loved ones slowly die. Sometimes terminal ill patients remain connected to artificial respirators devices, taking strong doses of painkillers and in general living an unworthy life.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Wrongfulness Of Euthanasia Essay

    1256 Words  | 3 Pages

    This point seems to be a good starting point in that most everyone can agree. Gay-Williams summarizes this well in his statements, “Also, we may be inclined to euthanasia because of our concerns for others. If we see our sickness and suffering as an emotional and financial burden on our family, we may feel that to leave our life is to make their lives easier.” (4) This provides the strongest point and also the weakest in the argument, in that such thoughts are normal for people who are close to death’s door, or severely sick. This also covers the thought that a person might have, that they want to agree to Physician Assisted Suicide to end their suffering. At this point in the article, or near the end, I would recommend stating that such thoughts can be natural but counseling is available in almost all cases, talking to family members to get their opinions, and that obtaining financial help is often available through churches, donations or other means. I would also state that sometimes the “greater good,” or the most beneficial aspect of a decision is not always the choice we want, but what is the best good for the group or mankind as a whole. It would be imperative to state that the family of the patient take council on their opinions and thoughts about a loved one possibly committing physician assisted suicide. Once again, death is final, and with it, all possibilities for obtaining more

    Read More

  • Euthanasia: An Ethical Dilemma

    1817 Words  | 4 Pages

    The ethical debate regarding euthanasia dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. It was the Hippocratic School (c. 400B.C.) that eliminated the practice of euthanasia and assisted suicide from medical practice. Euthanasia in itself raises many ethical dilemmas – such as, is it ethical for a doctor to assist a terminally ill patient in ending his life? Under what circumstances, if any, is euthanasia considered ethically appropriate for a doctor? More so, euthanasia raises the argument of the different ideas that people have about the value of the human experience.

    Read More

  • Euthanasia and the Right to Die

    2072 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Oxford English Dictionary defines euthanasia as “the action of inducing a gentle and easy death” (Oxford English Dictionary). Many people around the world would like nothing more than to end their lives because they are suffering from painful and lethal diseases; suffering people desperately seek doctors to help them end their lives. Many people see euthanasia as murder, so euthanasia is illegal in many countries. Euthanasia is an extremely controversial issue that has many complex factors behind it including medical costs, murder and liberty rights. Should people have the rights to seek euthanasia from doctors who are well trained in dealing with euthanasia?

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay: The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia

    1907 Words  | 4 Pages

    Another reason a patient may opt to euthanasia is to die with dignity. The patient, fully aware of the state he or she is in, should be able choose to die in all their senses as opposed to through natural course. A patient with an enlarged brain tumor can choose to die respectively, instead of attempting a risky surgery that could leave the patient in a worse condition then before the operation, possibly brain-dead. Or a patient with early signs of Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease may wish to be granted euthanization before their disease progresses and causes detrimental loss of sentimental memories. Ultimately it should be the patient’s choice to undergo a risky surgery or bite the bullet, and laws prohibiting euthanasia should not limit the patient’s options.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay Euthanasia

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, to preserve the individual 's self respect they would not want their family to see them fall apart and wither away. Nevertheless, the end of a family member 's life is hard on all loved ones and the last memories they have should be ones of joy and care. A patient should be able to pass away peacefully knowing that they did so with their respect and dignity intact. In the article “Is physician-assisted death in anyone 's best interest?”, James downar explains that many people try and delay death, even when faced with a hopeless situation. However, although they remain cognitively intact, other patients have limited life prolonging options and their quality of life and function deteriorate below the threshold that they consider acceptable. This portrays the idea that regardless of whether or not a person is in favour of, or opposed to euthanasia, all people would agree that they would want a dignified death for themselves and their loved ones. The problem starts when people cannot agree as to the definition of 'dignity. ' According to a new survey commissioned by ‘Dying With Dignity Canada’, approximately 84 per cent of Canadians support assisted dying. These results clarify that terminally ill patients need their rights recognized. That being said, those who are continually opposed to voluntary euthanasia must not deny people the right to die with

    Read More

  • Right to Die: An Examination of Euthanasia

    2090 Words  | 5 Pages

    The person has waived their right to life by consenting to suicide, there is no fear that would be caused if only those who are terminally ill and consent are killed, and the grief is inevitable anyways as death is imminent. They go on further to make an analogy with starving children [1]. This analogy does not hold, as the reason that assisted suicide is pursued is to relieve suffering, and is unrelated to the “value” that human life has. Finally, they argue that allowing assisted suicide will cause people to be pressured into committing suicide [1].

    Read More

  • The Euthanasia Debate

    1219 Words  | 3 Pages

    Euthanasia is defined as the painless killing of a terminally ill patient by means of lethal injection by a doctor in a controlled medical environment. Similarly, physician assisted suicide (PAS) is when a patient requests a lethal prescription from a doctor or pharmacist to end their life before a fatal disease does. The two are akin to each other and are almost interchangeable in definitions. Being a highly controversial topic, there is a plethora of arguments surrounding PAS, all very emotionally driven and opinionated. There are those who firmly believe that euthanasia should be legal, pointing to morality and ethics to defend their position. On the other side, of course, are those who are inflexibly against the idea of assisted suicide and wish for it to be banned immediately. Right behind them are the individuals who find PAS completely unnecessary, questioning the position of a doctor the moment they participate in assisted suicide. Finally is the notion that people have the right to euthanasia, finding protection in the US Constitution. All sides pose very solid and cohesive arguments with plenty of understandable points and respectable views.

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Euthanasia

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    Our values, opinions and beliefs depend on what culture, religion and the society we come from. People who are against view euthanasia as murder and that we must respect the value of life. Those who are in favor of euthanasia believe that doing such act eliminates the patient’s pain and suffering. Also, the right to die allows the person to die with dignity. Euthanasia may involve taking a human’s life, but not all forms of killing are wrong nor consider as murder. It depends on the underlying reasons and intentions. If you value a person’s life and the cause of death is for the patient’s benefit and not one’s personal interest, then euthanasia is permissible.

    Read More

  • Euthanasia Pros And Cons

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some people might think that it’s immoral to kill someone without natural cause. The goal for Euthanasia is to provide a person a way to relieve extreme pain or when a person life is just going downhill for them. This also help’s free up medical funds to help other people. In other cases it could be a freedom of choice if the patients wants to end their life without going through anymore suffering. A lot of argument is over if Euthanasia devalues life or if it is against human moral to take another life. While a person decisions does play a role in this, most of the time it will be a physician choice to see if the patient should live or

    Read More

  • Suffering In Silence Essay

    2411 Words  | 5 Pages

    One can say that the argument of euthanasia is identical to what the argument about abortion was like. The government legalized abortion because they believed that a woman had the right to choose what her body would or would not go through. The same argument can be made for euthanasia. A terminally ill patient should have the right to decide whether they want to put their body through the treacherous pain of the disease, or if they want to end their suffering while they can. Therefore, the government should grant physician with the ability to end his or her patients suffering if it is his or her wish. The fight for euthanasia is no different than the fight for abortion, gay marriage, or even right to bear arms. They are all a freedom in some way, and that freedom should be respected.

    Read More

  • Legalizing Euthanasia

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    Defenders in personal liberties argue that all people are morally entitled to end their lives when we feel it to be necessary (Johansen, 2000). Jay Johansen states in his article “Euthanasia: A Case of Individual Liberty?”, “Rather than endure great pain and suffering for the remainder of their lives, ill patients should have the ethical choice to choose to end their [suffering]” (Johansen, 2000). Samia Hurst in her article “Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia” affirms, “Some patients may request euthanasia to avoid the weakness and loss of mental failures that some diseases cause, and many people feel that the wisher shou...

    Read More

More about Dying Wish: Arguing The Right To Die

Open Document