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 prescription for a lethal dose of medication they are no longer involved in the process. Once the prescription is written and in the hands of the patient it is up to them whether or not they will end their life or not. Physicians are not at fault after they write out the prescription to their patient since the patient decides whether or not to take their own life or not. However, there are people that oppose "death with dignity" since they feel that it is ethically and possibly morally wrong to take one's own life. David Payne, a senior contributor at The Federalist, does not feel that Brittany Maynard's death was dignified. David Payne can relate to the issue on a personal level since his father had the same tumor as Brittany Maynard. Maynard stated that she did not want to put her family through the pain of witnessing her health deteriorate over a period of weeks or months. Payne states , "But it would have never occurred to my father to take his own life for feat of putting his family through a "nightmare scenario" -for what nightmare could be divined from a family's taking care of a man they loved, treasured, and valued? " (Payne 2014) He considers it a privilege to care for a dying loved one and doesn't understand why anyone would want to take that opportunity away from their family to care for them when they most need it. Payne is also concerned with the fact that people seem to take life for granted and feel that it an annoying …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