There is no denying that afflictions such as terminal illnesses can cause excruciating amounts of pain, which are often unbearable and persistent. There are many Canadians that fall victim to this pain, and unfortunately are so badly beaten and broken down by this pain they succumb to the state where life seems meaningless. These once powerful and vigilant Canadians become so deteriorated, that death becomes a viable and easy solution. However, what many of these battered Canadians don’t understand is that there are other options with much less severe consequences. Because of the pain these vulnerable Canadians, many of which are elderly with other predisposing conditions, the judgement of how precious a human life is and the impact of death
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However, if assisted suicide is made a legal medical “treatment”, there is a real possibility of abuse of malpractice with a permanent and completely avoidable result. In fact, cases have been reported that euthanasia has occurred without patient consent (Dieterle 129). According to research done by J.M. Dieterle (129), there have been close to 1000 cases a year in the Netherlands where patients have died as a result of euthanasia without explicit consent of the patient. However, many of these cases have been a result of passive euthanasia, where morphine is given to help alleviate the pain of the patient, while the physician knows very well that this dosage may hasten the death of the patient, who often has a very short time until death (Dieterle 130). However, this very example still frightens many people, especially the elderly, who cohesively share the same concern regarding the malleability of the requirements over time for a patient to make an end of life decision. They fear that if a patient becomes unable to make their own end of life decision, that the decision fall into the hand of another on their behalf and with this comes the potential of wrongful death. Elderly participants of a study done in New Zealand all share this same fear, one of the participants went on to …show more content…
This may lead people to believe that physician assisted suicide is perfectly controlled and without risks, but these beliefs would be false. Just because there has not yet been a case of wrongful death yet it Oregon doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a close call in its young existence since 1997, when assisted suicide was legalized. Despite the tight regulations and conditions that make up the “Death With Dignity Act” in Oregon, Jeannette Hall had come close to losing her life prematurely. Jeannette had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was given 6 months to live doctors, and after learning this Jeannette had decided to go with the route of assisted suicide. After some convincing from her physician, Jeannette was admitted to cancer treatment, which has allowed her to live an additional 13 years and counting. Needless to say Jeannette believes that Oregon has made a grave mistake by legalizing assisted death (Miedema 5). One in favour of assisted suicide may say that this is just one case out of many, but who is to say that it may not happen again and end much worse. This is too great of a risk to take when it comes to human life and this same risk is one of the many reasons why capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been and will remain illegal in
However, if assisted suicide is made a legal medical “treatment”, there is a real possibility of abuse of malpractice with a permanent and completely avoidable result. In fact, cases have been reported that euthanasia has occurred without patient consent (Dieterle 129). According to research done by J.M. Dieterle (129), there have been close to 1000 cases a year in the Netherlands where patients have died as a result of euthanasia without explicit consent of the patient. However, many of these cases have been a result of passive euthanasia, where morphine is given to help alleviate the pain of the patient, while the physician knows very well that this dosage may hasten the death of the patient, who often has a very short time until death (Dieterle 130). However, this very example still frightens many people, especially the elderly, who cohesively share the same concern regarding the malleability of the requirements over time for a patient to make an end of life decision. They fear that if a patient becomes unable to make their own end of life decision, that the decision fall into the hand of another on their behalf and with this comes the potential of wrongful death. Elderly participants of a study done in New Zealand all share this same fear, one of the participants went on to …show more content…
This may lead people to believe that physician assisted suicide is perfectly controlled and without risks, but these beliefs would be false. Just because there has not yet been a case of wrongful death yet it Oregon doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a close call in its young existence since 1997, when assisted suicide was legalized. Despite the tight regulations and conditions that make up the “Death With Dignity Act” in Oregon, Jeannette Hall had come close to losing her life prematurely. Jeannette had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was given 6 months to live doctors, and after learning this Jeannette had decided to go with the route of assisted suicide. After some convincing from her physician, Jeannette was admitted to cancer treatment, which has allowed her to live an additional 13 years and counting. Needless to say Jeannette believes that Oregon has made a grave mistake by legalizing assisted death (Miedema 5). One in favour of assisted suicide may say that this is just one case out of many, but who is to say that it may not happen again and end much worse. This is too great of a risk to take when it comes to human life and this same risk is one of the many reasons why capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been and will remain illegal in