The Right To Live VS. The Right to Die
Even with today's medical marvels and vast advances in pain medication, people are still
forced to suffer through death. For some, death is a long, drawn-out, and painful experience for
themselves and for those who love them. Euthanasia, also called physician-assisted death, can
take away all the unnecessary pain felt by a terminally ill patient in their last few months. The
right to die, or death with dignity, is a publicly known controversy that has a large amount of
questions and too few answers. The people who are effected most by choosing euthanasia is the
doctor, the family of the patient, and the patient themselves.
Doctors agree with the use of euthanasia two to one. The doctor is the one person
who is with the patient through out the entirety of their medical battles. Physicians know better
then anyone else the pain that can be caused and felt in the last few months. They act as
councilors and are told the pain the patient is feeling. They know that pain medications don't
always work. Dr. Cecil McIver turns a physicians choice of physician-assisted death into three
different considerations. She says, "Firstly, a doctor must always act in his patients best interest.
Secondly, dying is sometimes in a patient's best interest. Thirdly, if the doctor agrees with his
patient that dying is in the latter's best interest, it becomes his obligation to provide assistance."
(McIver, 632) It is the doctor who takes every precaution to make sure the patient feelings to go
through euthanasia are not just temporary. The patient goes through weeks of therapy and
eventually stands before a judge, maybe even a jury, and his family before a release from pain is
given. "When terminally ill patients suffering becomes intolerable despite every effort, this is a
medical emergency that requires a compassionate response. Physician a...