Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

Words: 1361
Pages: 6
Open Document
“Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” This quote by Phil Donahue is famously used as an argument on the topic of suicide. However, what if the problem was not temporary and was, in fact, permanent? Such permanent problems include terminal illness and will only get progressively worse as time goes on. In order to present a permanent solution to a permanent problem, assisted suicide has been made available in Oregon through the Death with Dignity Act. Assisted suicide is when a trained physician terminates the life of someone who explicitly requests death in a painless manner. Due to confusion of the meaning of homicide, some people believe that assisted suicide is the same as murder because in both instances the “murderer” …show more content…
The difference between this and murder is that murder is defined as ending someone else’s life with malice aforethought (“Murder”). In assisted suicide, the subject chooses the date in which they want to end their life, but in murder, the murderer chooses when the subject dies. Assisted suicide requires consent and is not instigated until the explicit request of the subject while murder is always done without consent. The physician does not wish to inflict pain on the subject but wants to terminate their life with as little suffering as possible, “70% of 719 American adults answered that they believe that if a patient who has an incurable disease and his/her family requests assisted suicide, the doctor should be allowed to end that patient’s life in a painless manner” (Gallup). The majority of American adults believe that if a person is suffering, they should be given the right to die or participate in assisted suicide. A murderer wishes to inflict pain on the subject and end their life in order to fit to their own personal agenda. Suffering is the worst fear come to reality for everyone. Suffering is what every person strives to avoid in pursuing happiness, so giving the right to die to someone in pain is something that comes naturally to
Show More

Related Documents: Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

considering assisted suicide. In the Netherlands, 61% of people who take the lethal dose for assisted suicide don’t know that they are being killed. Assisted suicide is the practice of prescribing drugs for terminally ill patients to end their own lives. Some people believe, that assisted suicide is a humane way to end pain and suffering for someone who is terminally ill. But others will say that assisted suicide is morally wrong and violates the basic tenets of medicine. Assisted suicide is morally…

Words 1052 - Pages 5

Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

rose steadily for four decades but has remained roughly stable since the mid-1990s.” (Gonchar) The term “assisted suicide” used in defining the act of helping a patient end their life on their terms is wrong and should not be used to qualify such act because terminally ill patients also have the right not to suffer through unbearable pain that has no end. The term “physician –assisted suicide” was formally used before the passage of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act in…

Words 1433 - Pages 6

Argumentative Essay On Assisted Suicide

Assisted Suicide “If you were to die tomorrow, what would you do?” The question is usually answered with big dreams or things on a bucket list. Yet if I told you “You are going to have a long and painful death.” The answers would not be the same. Some have even opted to say, “I would want to die.” Assisted suicide is when a physician or doctor takes your life, with your permission. It can also go under the name mercy killing. It is designed to be an option for people who are suffering greatly…

Words 815 - Pages 4

Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

themselves anymore. This is when physician assisted suicide comes into play. Physician assisted suicide is when a terminally ill patient has the right to decide when they want to die. If a patient chooses this path, their doctor will give them a drug that will take their life painlessly and stop their suffering. With most of these laws the patients has to be under certain conditions and have an allotted amount of time left to live. Physician Assisted Suicide is highly debated and legal in few places…

Words 1416 - Pages 6

Argumentative Essay: The Legalization Of Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide is a topic that has been enduring ongoing debate for many years. Whether to allows doctors to end a patient’s suffering, or to do all they can to prolong their lives. Although many oppose it, I believe that it should be legalized, and it is in states like Oregon and Vermont. One major controversy surrounding this is the sue of the Hippocratic oath by doctors. It is a historically taken oath that basically says that doctor will do no harm to their patients. This poses a very serious…

Words 886 - Pages 4

Argumentative Essay: Supporting Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide, commonly known as voluntary euthanasia, is a highly contentious issue. Ethics, morals, religion, politics, and personal beliefs all play a role in the debate. As a society with advanced medical treatment, we have prolonged death more than needed and in some cases, longer than a terminally ill person wishes, leading to a diminished quality of life. Supporting assisted suicide allows a terminally ill person to decide for a dignified and humane death while at the same time it lessens…

Words 461 - Pages 2

Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

and injuries. Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) lessens the amount of pain that terminally-ill patients feel and speeds the process of dying. Physician Assisted Suicide is only legal in six states, however it should undeniably legal in every state because doctors are allowing their patients to “go out” on their own terms. These terminally-ill patients can choose their last meal, who they want to be with and what environment they want to pass away in. Physician Assisted Suicide is a necessary evil in…

Words 2084 - Pages 9

Argumentative Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) , a very debatable topic. Terminally ill patients, who may have depression, have the option to decide their fate. A very concerning fact. PAS gives doctors too much power and weakens patients voices. It can corrupt medical treatment as the world knows it. On the other hand, PAS could end the suffering of many patients close to death. It will also let them die with dignity. PAS has become a better alternative to some other methods people have had to use such as voluntary…

Words 779 - Pages 4

Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

sickness can study from the patients that decide to choose a physician-assisted death. A terminal patient’s body that already chose an assisted death “provides scientists with the opportunity to benefit from the dying process” (Winslade and Markides 17). These bodies provide scientists and doctors with the ability to discover more about these incurable diseases, and possibly find cures for them. Although a physician assisted death is not advertised as a medical experiment, “various procedures can…

Words 434 - Pages 2

Physician Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

legal for physician assisted suicide (Maynard, 2014). Getting a better understanding of what physician assisted suicide is about, could make people realize that it is not always as bad as they think. Many people do not know what physician assisted suicide is or how it works. Physician assisted suicide is defined as “voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician” (Physicain-assisted suicide, 2015). The process…

Words 1300 - Pages 6