Death With Dignity Research Paper

Death With Dignity: Is it Ethical or Not? Brittany Maynard was a 29 year old young woman with terminal brain tumor that decided to take her own life. Maynard moved to Oregon so she could "die with dignity" which is being assisted in one's death by a physician. People will fall on two sides of this case there are those that support Maynard's decision to die with dignity and others do not support her decision and view it as ethically wrong. Ronald M. Green a professor for the study of ethics and human values at Dartmouth College supports Maynard's decision. He supports her decisions since physicians are not actively involved in physician-assisted suicide. He explains that the government as well as doctors block our access to lethal medications and drugs, however in cases of physician assisted suicide they no longer block this access to people. (Green 2014) In other words, once the doctor or physician has written out the …show more content…
In order for something to be ethical, "It has to be pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles or morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct or being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice, especially the standards of a profession." (Dictionary. com) In order to determine whether or not physician assisted suicide or euthanasia is ethical we have to determine if it is moral. Moral is defined as , "Being concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character or holding or manifesting high principles for proper conduct." (Dictionary.com) The act of taking one's own life is deemed as immoral therefore it would also be deemed unethical. Even if someone takes their own life with the assistance of someone else such as a physician the act would still be considered immoral since someone is still losing their life in the