Legalizing Assisted Suicide

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When society examines the issue of the legalization of assisted suicide, the main factor considered is generally morality. However, this is not the main factor involved in assisted suicide. There are many different elements that influence this issue, and those elements are what make the legalization of voluntary euthanasia so incredibly complex and controversial. The legalization of assisted suicide is an issue with very many drawbacks, including the possibility of involuntary euthanasia, the possibility that the desire for this assistance based on false pretenses from mental distortion could be easily avoided, and professionals being forced into acts that most are not morally comfortable with. Involuntary euthanasia is a very clear risk of …show more content…
Mullock was describing how voluntary euthanasia might spread into involuntary, and then society would become one of assisted suicide. An example of this happening is the Netherlands, where this act happens in people’s houses, like it is an everyday situation. However, even if it is common, that does not mean it is always with genuine consent. Those who support this law say that there will be ways to determine if the suicide was desired by the victim or not, but that will not always be the case. “There is no way of legalizing assisted suicide...without also legalizing it...under conditions in which there is no genuine consent” (Lesser, 2010). There is no way to be able to determine if there was consent for a suicide conducted by an outside party because the victim, who would be the only one to tell the truth, would be gone. So, because of this dilemma, murders could go unsolved and could be falsely claimed as an …show more content…
“Euthanasia or assisted suicide must be, without any doubt, the personal decision of an individual, without the influence of other people” (Quffa, 2013). Supporters believe that anyone can make the right decision based on the level of personal suffering. However, if that person’s suffering could be helped using palliative care, then death should not be a choice. No one should believe that death is necessary simply because there is an idea that there is no other choice. But supporters of this law find this belief acceptable. Furthermore, those people say that assisted suicide should be legal because it would lower the costs for housing patients and for the medicine for patients. Money should never be an excuse to take someone’s life, and so that reasoning is completely flawed. The law would never be passed based on that principle. Also, if this were the case, scientists would not be as motivated to develop new medicines for terminal diseases. Therefor, more people would desire death as a release because there would be no medicine to help lower their suffering. Another reason that people support this law is that people are given the choice until the very end. “Although a physician writes the prescription, the physician need not be present when the patient self-administers the medication” (Westefeld, 2013). Supporters say that because of this, the

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