Assisted Suicide Essay: Should Euthanasia Be Legal

359 words | 2 page(s)

Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide is a controversial topic, and I do understand how an individual’s position on this issue will be influenced by his/her religious beliefs, political views, religious beliefs, and cultural background. I believe a patient should have the right to pursue physician-assisted suicide if he/she has a legitimate reason.

Every person has the right to enjoy a certain quality of living. However, people sometimes reach a stage where their quality of life has deteriorated significantly as was the case with Australian botanist and ecologist David Goodall . Even South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu believes dignity is important and one should be allowed to seek physician-assisted suicide if his/her quality of life is too poor . If it is not possible for people to live with dignity, the society should respect their desire to end their life with dignity.

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I also believe physician-assisted suicide should be allowed because not all medical conditions are curable. In such cases, it is sometimes more agonizing to live than die through physician-assisted suicide because living with an incurable disease is akin to slow and torturous death. The Hippocratic Oath in the medical community requires the medical professionals not to bring harm to the patient . However, when the patient is living with an incurable disease and desires to end his/her life with dignity, the medical professionals may be inflicting more harm on the patient by prolonging his/her suffereing than allowing him/her to die with dignity. I believe it is more compassionate to reduce the suffering of the patient with an incurable disease through physician-assisted suicide than to force him/her to experience a slow death against his/her desire.

Physician-assisted suicide should be allowed because some individuals experience a quality of life that is below a certain acceptable level, either as a result of aging or due to health issues. Physician-assisted suicide is also a compassionate approach in some instances because there are health conditions that are incurable and the patient may want to end life early rather than go through a slow and torturous death.

    References
  • ProCon.Org. Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal? 15 May 2018. 12 July 2018 .

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