Over the Counter Death

Over-The-Counter Death

        Each year, a countless number of people die in the United States from various reasons. Car accidents, heart disease, and obesity are high up in the charts for the main causes of death; however, assisted suicide is a growing problem throughout the nation. When assisted suicide is and is not acceptable should be clearly defined so that there is no moral grey area. Although assisted suicide is deemed to be negative among various societal groups, under certain circumstances, assisted suicide should be admissible due to the reasoning behind the desire to die.

In the year 2005, there were 32,637 suicide deaths. That means the suicide death rate that same year was 11% per 100,000 population (Alters 72). Alters provides a chart illustrating that in 2005, in Oregon alone, there were about sixty prescribed recipients under the Death with Dignity Act. Among those sixty, thirty to forty deaths resulted in the intake of fatal drugs (78). This brings about the notion of assisted suicide (also referred to as euthanasia), “an umbrella term for a death that requires an intentional act or omission on the part of a second person” (Downie 191). There is debate about the ethical aspects of euthanasia today.

Within the assisted suicide topic, there are various types of assisted suicide and euthanasia. The general definition of assisted suicide is “the act of intentionally killing oneself with the assistance of another” (Downie 192). While euthanasia is commonly used synonymously with assisted suicide, it is defined as “an act undertaken by one person with the motive of relieving another person’s suffering and the knowledge that the act will end the life of that person” (Downie 192). Because these definitions are so similar, the two terms are used interchangeably.

        Assisted suicide should only be administered in extreme situations. For someone who has cancer and endured chemotherapy, only to have cancer cells reform in their body, it is almost...