Physician-Assisted Suicide

Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?

Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?

Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has been debated on for many years as an insensitive, inconsiderate and prolific act among some people in the United States. Some people argue that they have a right to make a decision to die, while others bet to differ in allowing humans to stay alive until their last breath. The technology that is now present can help people to stay alive with the use of a life support machine or other sustaining equipment. This will help dying folks to live a little longer whether days, months or for years. Conflicts arise when a physician have to step in to assist this person. One may not be that ill, but in a vegetative state and wants to terminate their life for whatever reason due to being in the state they are in and the impact it will have on their caregiver. For example, if a person who is on life support for over six months, to me that person is already dead because the machine is functioning or breathing for them. Once they are off these life support machines, they may live a day or two and then die. So whether or not a physician assists that person in dying, they will die anyway. In this paper, I will create a sound argument as to why physician-assisted suicide should be legal based upon the facts presented throughout this paper.

In the United States, there are three states approved to participate in physician-assisted suicide. They are Oregon, Montana and Washington (Honan, 2009). In other countries you have Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands that practice PAS. These states and countries have rules, policy and procedures in place on how to carry out this function. It’s not an easy task on these physicians, but it allows the patient to meet the necessary requirements to proceed with the vigorous procedure to end their life. This procedure acts the same as a Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) order, in which the patient signs at the...