Pros And Cons Of Legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician assisted suicide is the killing of a patient, who is terminally ill, by a doctor with the patient’s full consent. There is constant debate and controversy concerning this topic and whether or not it should be legal. Those analyzing the issue take a multitude of factors into consideration, including: the patients, families of the patients, and the doctors. Terminal illnesses have existed for years and until recently, patients have had to suffer through it all. With this, physician assisted suicide could possibly be a helpful alternative. However, people are still asking the question, should it be legalized? One argument against physician assisted suicide is that there are different types of medical care, like palliative care, which are specially designed to provide relief and comfort from a terminal illness. An issue with this argument is that many terminally ill patients have lost the will to live, …show more content…
According to “8 Main Pros and Cons of Physician Assisted Suicide”, “Advocates point out that it is ethical for a person to keep his or her dignity by putting a stop to the sufferings brought by terminal illness.” Terminally ill patients are going to die in usually less than a year, so why not give them the option to go peacefully and with their dignity? It would save them from suffering and save their families from having to see them suffer. Those few terminally ill patients who have been fortunate enough to have the option of assisted suicide, said they were happy to have the choice to leave with their competence and dignity still in tact. Many supporters of the issue like the idea of having the option to end their lives before the terminal illness causes them to become brain dead or pushed into a coma. Finally, when it comes down to it, it’s the patient’s decision because it is their life and they should have the right to choose what to do with