Assisted Suicide Essay, Research Paper

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Walking through the corridors of any hospital would show one several things. There would be people healing, hurting, dying, and coping with all sorts of problems. Even though some of them may share the same misfortunes, they are separated into two categories: those who are still fighting for their lives and those who have given up. To those who have given up, the thought of suicide always arises because one no longer has the desire to deal with a problem and they just want out. There may be a man whose withered and shaky hands can not even hold a cup for a drink of water which aides him in choking down the never ending line of pills he must take every day to keep his body from completely breaking down, or maybe there is a teenage girl who battles with not only the cancer that is eating at her from the inside, but also deals with the radiation and chemotherapy that is supposed to be curing her but only drains her more. If one were to look at these cases, one may say that suicide would be the easiest path to take. They might say that someone should help the suffering permanently and aid him or her in their death. After all, ?No decent human being would allow an animal to suffer without putting it out of its misery. It is only to human beings that human beings are so cruel as to allow them to live on in pain, in hopelessness, in living death, without moving a muscle to help them.?-Isaac Asimov (Tada, 56). Although some say it is the best path for those who are elderly or terminally ill, assisted suicide should not be allowed because it is the same as murder.

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When one finds out that they have a terminal illness, there are several realities and decisions they must face. The first reality is that there is nothing they can do about their situation and their first decision is whether to fight and make the most of the time they have left or just give up and take ?the easy way out?. They face emotional and physical stress, decreasing health, and sometimes outrageously high medical bills. All of these factors can lead one to feel as if taking their own life would be the best option. Society helps to make the thought of suicide seem better by saying that ?One no longer commits suicide, one performs self-deliverance? (Tada 31). People view it as making it better for themselves and for those around them, so they want to have an assisted suicide where a doctor can give them an injection or drug that will let them solve their problems. ?In studies of assisted suicide and euthanasia?physicians reported that loss of dignity, pain, not wishing to die in an ?unworthy way?, being dependent on others, and being tired of living were the reasons patients have for requesting euthanasia? (Hendin 243). Some feel that taking their own lives is wrong, but having a doctor do it for you is not wrong at all. They do not consider it to be the same as suicide. This is where the controversy begins. Society says that it is a patient?s right to take his or her own life or have a doctor take it if the patient feels there is no hope for him or her. This is wrong though because with today?s continually advancing technology there is always a hope of getting better and if not then one should try to live it out and make the best of the rest of his or her life.

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Another factor in a patient?s decision is the family. A patient may want to commit suicide because he or she does not want to be a financial, physical, or emotional strain on his or her family members. He or she may decide that it would be better to simply save his or her family from the hardship of taking care of him or her. This can not be a legitimate argument though because no family would want to see their loved one end his or her life. Most would want him or her to try to live out his or her life to the fullest and make cherished memories while he or she can. Another scenario with the family would be if a teenage girl is in a coma and the doctors give the family the opportunity to just ?let her go?. No one would want to make that kind of decision, because if the girl had a chance to say so, she would probably tell them one of two things: either to go ahead and let her die peacefully or to give her a little while longer to fight and try to pull through. A patient may also take into consideration how his or her family feels about suicide when making his or her decision. If one?s family is strong in the belief that suicide is wrong, then he or she may be more prone to leave suicide as a last resort or not even an option at all. If he or she is from a Christian family, then his or her family might back up their views with the scripture ??a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die?? (Ecc. 3:2). Holding to this scripture, the family feels that man has no right to change God?s plan for his life. It is not man?s place to ?play God? and take matters into his own hands by taking his life and going against what God has for him rather than just dealing with his problems, whatever they may be.

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A final side in the assisted suicide controversy is the doctor. Sometimes doctors are in a difficult position because ?they desire to understand the difference between prolonging death and sustaining life? (Tada 43). ?Some doctors believe that better pain control could reduce the number of patients who would prefer to die rather than experience extreme pain? (?CNN Health? 1). ?Physicians who oppose assisted-suicide say extreme pain is a highly motivating factor for patients who choose to take that route. Better and more effective pain relief, they say, is the best alternative. But it?s not clear just how far doctors can go prescribing drugs without getting in legal trouble? (?CNN Health? 2). Others, such as Derek Humphry, feel that ?dying individuals who wish to achieve a painless death ought to be allowed to plan for it? (Tada 27). Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician whose medical license was suspended after he assisted three woman in committing suicide, argued that he did not commit murder and his patients did not commit suicide. He called it medicide: when medical professionals perform suicide. He said the terms ?suicide? and ?euthanasia? have negative connotations. He also said ?Research activity at the fringes of law and morality could be centralized, rationally organized, well controlled, and ethically validated in official ’suicide centers’ created specifically for the good of moribund subjects by affording them a serene, dignified death as well as a proper atmosphere for completely ethical manipulations? (Opposing Viewpoints Series 67). This is just unrealistic and ridiculous. If the law did allow these ?suicide centers?, they would not be controlled nearly as well as they should be. Society would run into the same sort of things that it has with abortion, drugs, and

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alcohol. The U.S. can not even control simple problems and the thought of her trying to control another life and death matter is just preposterous. People say that ?A physician under a right-to-die law would not give a lethal injection, he would administer an aid-in-dying measure? (Tada 31). When doctors assist patients in taking his or her own life, they are going directly against the Hippocratic Oath that they took when first becoming a doctor that states ?I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make suggestion to this effect?. Society twists around words though to make the thought of suicide an appealing one and this is simply wrong for anyone to do.

Life is very serious thing and the thought of assisted suicide being readily available belittles the importance of life. Some are trying to make it sound as if taking one?s life the best option when one becomes sick, crippled, or even just plain depressed. Assisted suicide is completely wrong and should not be allowed. By allowing it, one is allowing someone to take another?s life into his or her own hands and that is not how it was intended to be. People should have no control over when ?it?s their time?, and they should definitely not have control over when someone else?s time to die has come. There is only one true judge of time who decides when it is the right time for someone to die and that is God. No one else the right to appoint death to someone, no matter what the circumstances may be.

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Outline

Thesis: Although some say it is the best path for those who are elderly or terminally ill, assisted suicide should not be allowed because it is the same as murder.

I. There are many realities and decisions that a patient must make such as is suicide the

best way out and is it right.

A. Suicide would end one?s suffering, but there are other alternatives.

1. The patient can take strong medication to alleviate pain.

2. There is always the hope of getting better.

B. It may be a patient?s ?right?, but it?s wrong.

1. The patient?s life is their own to do with what they want to.

2. It?s morally wrong.

II. The patient?s family also factors into his or her decision.

A. The patient may feel like a burden to his or her family.

1. They may feel like a drain financially, emotionally, and physically.

2. They may not want anyone to have to take care of them.

B. The patient and family would be able to prepare financially and emotionally.

1. They can face the reality of death.

2. They can make the arrangements beforehand.

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III. The doctor also plays a role in the assisted suicide decision.

A. Doctors? views vary on the issue of assisted suicide.

1. Some doctors feel that better painkillers will help patients veer away

from suicide.

2. Other doctors think that the patient should be able to choose how they

want to deal with their death.

B. Some doctors say that there should be suicide clinics.

1. This would help regulate and keep track of the assisted suicides.

2. The problem is that these clinics would not be under control like they should be.

IV. Life is a precious thing and should not be treated like some piece of trash that you

can throw away when it gets to be a hassle. No one has the right to kill someone

else, whether it is by the patient?s choice or not. It is wrong and should not be

allowed at all.

?CNN Health: Painkillers stand between patient and death?. Online Posting. 29

November, 1996. http://cnn.com/HEALTH/9611/29/nfm/index.html

Hendin, Herbert. Suicide in America. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,1995.

Tada, Joni. When is it right to die?: Suicide, Euthanasia, Suffering, Mercy. Grand Rapids:

Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.

Opposing Viewpoints Series. Suicide. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc.,1992.