The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

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Recommended: Objection to morally permissible physician assisted suicide

Death remains as one of the greatest mysteries today. Even though dying is a natural part of existence, American culture is unique in the extent to which death is viewed as a taboo topic. Rather than having open discussions, we tend to view death as a feared enemy that can and should be defeated by modern medicine and machines. Many people fear their end of life care, dying, and what will come after death. Society has become institutionalized, therefore most people die in a place with many health professionals. One main controversy over the last few decades are whether or not people should be able to choose when they die with assistance from a physician. Physician assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide is the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life. There are some people that are strong advocates and others that do not agree at all.
The 1906 debate concerning whether or not to legalize Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) legal in Iowa and Ohio was the first significant effort to make PAS legal. Ohio quickly rejected it with a vote of 79-23 in the Ohio Legislative. Many other states were also denied but a few were very close. Today, there are many countries for it that still practice, such as Switzerland, The Netherlands, Japan, Mexico, Belgium, Columbia, Albania, and the states of Oregon, Washington, and Vermont in the United States. Those that are against it are Italy, Australia, U.S., Canada, England and Wales, Sweden, Germany, and France (Baird, 2009). Many of those ar...

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...o soon and don’t wait for recovery. Many religions believe that if you commit suicide you are sent straight to Hell. Therefore, it is harder for those families. This could also give doctors too much power which could open the floodgate to non-critical patient suicides and other abuses. Government and insurance companies may put undue pressure on doctors to avoid heroic measures or recommend the procedure (Death with Dignity, n.d.).
Overall, the ending of one’s life should be left in the hands of that one individual and nobody else. People should be free to determine their own fates by their own autonomous choices, especially when it comes to private matters such as health. No one person’s life should be at the mercy of what other people believe would be best. Life or death and the way they will be carried out or ended, should be nobodies choice but the individual.

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