Should Physician Assisted Suicide Be Legal?

             Throughout the United States, committing suicide or attempting to commit suicide is not a legal offense; however, helping another person commit suicide is a criminal act. Physician assisted suicide occurs when a physician facilitates a patient's death by providing the necessary means and information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act. Physician assisted suicide is illegal in most states with the only exception being Oregon, which allows people who are terminally ill and in intractable pain to get a lethal prescription from their physician. Physician assisted suicide has been gaining support over the past half century in the United States. There are many issues involving physician-assisted suicides. The main issues are that the terminally ill should be able to choose when they should die, physician-assisted suicide would help alleviate the suffering of both the terminally ill patient and their family, and physicians should not be prosecuted for their role in physician-assisted suicide.
             Many believe that terminally ill patients should be able to choose when they should die. Also, these patients who are willing to request physician-assisted suicide want to "die with dignity" and die on their own terms. Many terminally ill patients don't want to live without working body parts. These patients seem to want "an easy way out", but in reality he/she doesn't want the agony of treatments because he/she would be the one experiencing all the side effects of these treatments. Also, these ill patients fear the suffering and pain that comes with being terminally ill.
             The terminally ill don't wish to suffer, nor he/she wants his/her suffering to bring on suffering for his/her family. While many families would like their ill loved ones to continue to live as long as possible, some terminally ill patients would rather not endure their suffering while witnessing their family's suffering as well. These patients fear...

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Should Physician Assisted Suicide Be Legal?. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 08:17, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/97746.html