Death with Dignity The phrase “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is one of the most well known phrases in America. This phrase, which is located in the United States Declaration of Independence, gives all humans these “unalienable rights”, which are rights that cannot be taken away or denied. However, our government has denied millions of people across the nation these basic rights for centuries. These oppressed people include terminally ill patients, who have virtually no say in how they live their lives after they are diagnosed. Some of these patients want to try to fight their illness, while others want nothing more than for it all to be over. Sadly, patients do not have the ability to end their suffering, even if they wanted
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Many terminal illnesses are associated with very painful treatment options, which also have painful side effects. No person should be forced to endure physical pain, especially when it will not even save their life when it is all said and done. If a patient wants to receive treatment, and they want to try to battle their disease, then that is great. However, if they no longer want to fight, or deal with the pain, then they should be able to make the choice to die peacefully. In the article “Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal”, written by ProCon.org, Stephen Hawking is quoted saying “I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives and those that help them should be free from prosecution. We don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?” (ProCon.org). Hawking believes that if a person is terminally ill, and are in great pain, then they should have the right to chose to die peacefully. He makes the comparison between humans and dogs when they are near the end of their lives. He comments on how humans put down animals in order to end their suffering, but we allow people to suffer through excruciating pain on a regular basis due to terminal illnesses. Similar to Hawking, Faye Girsh, senior advisor at the Final Exit network and doctor of …show more content…
When someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and they begin to receive treatment, they are often times bedridden and forced to stay in the hospital. This causes patients to feel like they are no longer in control of their lives, and that they just have to do what the doctor tells them to do in order to deal with their illness. If you give people the option to receive treatment and fight, while also providing them the option of assisted suicide to end their suffering, patients will feel like they have complete control of their fate. This idea of the importance of patients having control of their situation was examined by Barbra Coombs in her article “Oregon's Experience With Aid In Dying: Findings From The Death With Dignity Laboratory”. She noted that “family members identified the most important at the time of the request as wanting to control the circumstances of death, wanting to die at home, loss of dignity, fear of poor quality of life, loss of independence, and inability to care for self in the future” (Coombs 3). She learned from the families of terminally ill patients that one of the patient’s main concerns was being in control of what happened to them. They wanted to have a sense a certainty about something in a situation that otherwise provided none. Similar to
Many terminal illnesses are associated with very painful treatment options, which also have painful side effects. No person should be forced to endure physical pain, especially when it will not even save their life when it is all said and done. If a patient wants to receive treatment, and they want to try to battle their disease, then that is great. However, if they no longer want to fight, or deal with the pain, then they should be able to make the choice to die peacefully. In the article “Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal”, written by ProCon.org, Stephen Hawking is quoted saying “I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives and those that help them should be free from prosecution. We don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?” (ProCon.org). Hawking believes that if a person is terminally ill, and are in great pain, then they should have the right to chose to die peacefully. He makes the comparison between humans and dogs when they are near the end of their lives. He comments on how humans put down animals in order to end their suffering, but we allow people to suffer through excruciating pain on a regular basis due to terminal illnesses. Similar to Hawking, Faye Girsh, senior advisor at the Final Exit network and doctor of …show more content…
When someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and they begin to receive treatment, they are often times bedridden and forced to stay in the hospital. This causes patients to feel like they are no longer in control of their lives, and that they just have to do what the doctor tells them to do in order to deal with their illness. If you give people the option to receive treatment and fight, while also providing them the option of assisted suicide to end their suffering, patients will feel like they have complete control of their fate. This idea of the importance of patients having control of their situation was examined by Barbra Coombs in her article “Oregon's Experience With Aid In Dying: Findings From The Death With Dignity Laboratory”. She noted that “family members identified the most important at the time of the request as wanting to control the circumstances of death, wanting to die at home, loss of dignity, fear of poor quality of life, loss of independence, and inability to care for self in the future” (Coombs 3). She learned from the families of terminally ill patients that one of the patient’s main concerns was being in control of what happened to them. They wanted to have a sense a certainty about something in a situation that otherwise provided none. Similar to