Is Assisted Suicide Ethical?
Physician-assisted suicide, also known as euthanasia or mercy killing is the act intentionally inducing a painless and quick death to patients who suffer from serious forms of diseases or patients in a permanent coma (Sjöstrand). Normally, it is carried out by a doctor or a nurse. Euthanasia has raised a lot of controversies all over the world and the main argument is based on whether causing a painless death is ethical. The advocates of euthanasia claim that it is ethical to perform euthanasia on terminally ill patients since it is a solution to patients who are hopeless and in great pain. On the other hand, the opponents see euthanasia as a violation of the human right to live and hence, unethical. While many …show more content…
In other words, euthanasia should be considered a fundamental human right. Human beings have the highest form of life on earth, which should be lived happily and not in pain. To a larger extent, restricting euthanasia among ill patients is just like denying them one of their basic human rights, the right to happiness (Sjöstrand). When our pets suffer from incurable illnesses, such as cancer and we are convinced that they experience a lot of pain every day, we often decide that putting them to sleep is the best solution. This is usually heart-breaking and does not mean that we do not have compassion for those pets, yet, we made that decision to end their lives. Since they are more important than animals, human beings should have the right to decide when to die with dignity just as animals have. Some would argue that if this was offered, patients and doctors could give up on recovery too early. A way to prevent this is by offering assisted suicide to patients who have received all the help they can get and there are signs of improvements only (Dworkin). Despite the current advances and development in the medicinal field, doctors can only manage pain associated with various diseases and therefore, in cases of excruciating pain, it calls for euthanasia. For instance, patients who suffer from terminal illnesses, such as cancer are often in endless pain, …show more content…
Dignity in the sense that their bodies are not wasted due to the endless pain and the medications, yet, there is no hope that they will be cured. Besides, by carrying out euthanasia, doctors and nurses relieve the terminally ill patients of the constant pain they experience. Therefore, assisted suicide is a moral and ethical practice. Works Cited
Dworkin, Ronald. Life's dominion: an argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom. Vintage, 2011.
Fletcher, Joseph F. Morals and Medicine: the moral problems of the patient's right to know the truth, contraception, artificial insemination, sterilization, euthanasia. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Muehlenberg, Bill. "Europe: Euthanasia for infants: Europe's shame." News Weekly 2926 (2014): 17.
Sjöstrand, Manne, et al. "Autonomy-based arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: a critique." Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 16.2 (2013): 225-230.
Somerville, Margaret. Death talk: the case against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP,
Physician-assisted suicide, also known as euthanasia or mercy killing is the act intentionally inducing a painless and quick death to patients who suffer from serious forms of diseases or patients in a permanent coma (Sjöstrand). Normally, it is carried out by a doctor or a nurse. Euthanasia has raised a lot of controversies all over the world and the main argument is based on whether causing a painless death is ethical. The advocates of euthanasia claim that it is ethical to perform euthanasia on terminally ill patients since it is a solution to patients who are hopeless and in great pain. On the other hand, the opponents see euthanasia as a violation of the human right to live and hence, unethical. While many …show more content…
In other words, euthanasia should be considered a fundamental human right. Human beings have the highest form of life on earth, which should be lived happily and not in pain. To a larger extent, restricting euthanasia among ill patients is just like denying them one of their basic human rights, the right to happiness (Sjöstrand). When our pets suffer from incurable illnesses, such as cancer and we are convinced that they experience a lot of pain every day, we often decide that putting them to sleep is the best solution. This is usually heart-breaking and does not mean that we do not have compassion for those pets, yet, we made that decision to end their lives. Since they are more important than animals, human beings should have the right to decide when to die with dignity just as animals have. Some would argue that if this was offered, patients and doctors could give up on recovery too early. A way to prevent this is by offering assisted suicide to patients who have received all the help they can get and there are signs of improvements only (Dworkin). Despite the current advances and development in the medicinal field, doctors can only manage pain associated with various diseases and therefore, in cases of excruciating pain, it calls for euthanasia. For instance, patients who suffer from terminal illnesses, such as cancer are often in endless pain, …show more content…
Dignity in the sense that their bodies are not wasted due to the endless pain and the medications, yet, there is no hope that they will be cured. Besides, by carrying out euthanasia, doctors and nurses relieve the terminally ill patients of the constant pain they experience. Therefore, assisted suicide is a moral and ethical practice. Works Cited
Dworkin, Ronald. Life's dominion: an argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom. Vintage, 2011.
Fletcher, Joseph F. Morals and Medicine: the moral problems of the patient's right to know the truth, contraception, artificial insemination, sterilization, euthanasia. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Muehlenberg, Bill. "Europe: Euthanasia for infants: Europe's shame." News Weekly 2926 (2014): 17.
Sjöstrand, Manne, et al. "Autonomy-based arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: a critique." Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 16.2 (2013): 225-230.
Somerville, Margaret. Death talk: the case against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP,