Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay

Since Oregon passed its “death with dignity” law in 1997, four more states have followed suit in giving patients diagnosed with terminal illness the “right” to a hastened death. On the other hand, several states, including California, have proposed but failed to de-illegalize it. This issue has proven to be very controversial--- igniting decades of heated debates, dividing legislators, organizations, and families between “pro-life” and “pro-death,” and shaking the very foundations of the practice of medicine. However, amidst the burgeoning bandwagon effect and the plethora of arguments for the said “right,” I find that it needs to be repealed on these grounds: it threatens and abuses the vulnerable, and casts aspersions on physician integrity.
First, misdiagnosis, and inaccuracy in terminal diagnoses are common in medical practice. Furthermore, the risk of coercion, and manipulation should not be …show more content…
The image of “compassionate healers,” which doctors throughout generations have painstakingly forged, will be forever smudged as “death-bringers.” The maleficent intentions of a few “doctors” will stain the reputation of each and every physician. How are we supposed to entrust ourselves or our loved ones to the care of a physician who we know performs assisted suicide? The reason why medicine is held in the highest esteem by our society is because it has steadfastly stood by the Hippocratic Oath---“primum non nocere,” first do no harm. It works mutually: it reinforces the doctor’s commitment to beneficence and at the same time the patient’s sense of assurance. If this fundamental cornerstone of the medical profession is shattered, the entire practice of medicine, as we know it, will cease to exist. It will generate an atmosphere of distrust and trepidation in patients toward their doctors and animosity amongst doctors who stand firm in medical orthodoxy versus those who serve an entirely different