Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

Have you ever considered what you would do if you were diagnosed with an incurable disease? Have you thought about what your quality of life would be like months or years after your diagnosis? Many people think of physician-assisted suicide, or when a “doctor provides a mentally competent, terminally ill patient with a prescription for a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient's request, which the patient intends to use to end his or her own life” (Braddock). It is often that individuals confuse physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. The difference between the two is the person who administers the life-ending drug. Doctors should be allowed to assist patients with suicide because patients want to be remembered as “healthy”; they want to be able to die when and how they choose, and they believe they have the right to take their own lives.
Many would argue that once the patient has been given the lethal medication there is no guarantee of what will happen. For example, someone (other than the patient or physician) could administer the drug to the patient without their consent or …show more content…
When given the option of assisted suicide, patients are considered competent enough to still be able to make their own decisions. These patients have been told by physicians that there's no cure for their specific illness or that they only have a limited time before they are expected to die. Therefore, instead of continuing to live in pain or with immense difficulty in the upcoming months or years, they believe it would be better and less painful for them and for those around them to die when they choose to and how they choose to. Stephen Hawking states, “I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives and those that help them should be free from prosecution. We don’t let animals suffer, so why

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The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide