There are many contentious and controversial issues that our nation is faced with today. Many are provoking serious arguments and problems within our nation and even in Tennessee. One particular issue that needs to be highlighted is the developing issue of physician-assisted suicide. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes physician-assisted suicide as, “suicide by a patient facilitated by means (as a drug prescription) or by information (as an indication of a lethal dosage) provided by a physician aware of the patient 's intent.” To expound, when a patient decides that they no longer have a desire to live, assisted suicide provides the option to allow a physician to give the patient death-inducing drugs to end the patient’s life. A prime
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Others, however, argue that it is an egregious act at best. Additionally, a third party would consider this issue too subjective to give the issue anything more than mere acknowledgment. Consequently, this issue has been debated over by a vast amount of people over many years. In fact, this issue has not just sprung up in the past decade. However, people have been attempting to gain acknowledgment for this issue for quite some time. Assisted-suicide has been around for centuries and has taken many different forms. It has only recently gained acknowledgment by the American people due to passionate proponents for its cause. As passionate as one may be for Physician-assisted suicide, what should we, the American public, do about such a controversial …show more content…
Ryan Anderson, William E. Simon senior research fellow in American principles and public policy at The Heritage Foundation, argues that physician-assisted suicide is never the right call and should remain illegal. He is completely against it and believes this should be the mindset of others as well. Anderson discusses several of the problems it poses such as “endangering the weak and vulnerable, corrupting the practice of medicine, and betraying human dignity and equality before the law.” He has researched a plethora of information and is trying to expose what he thinks are wrongful issues. He also shows an alternative to the issue, discussing palliative care. Palliative care is, “medical and related care provided to a patient with a serious, life-threatening, or terminal illness that is not intended to provide curative treatment but rather to manage symptoms, relieve pain and discomfort, improve quality of life, and meet the emotional, social, and spiritual needs of the patient” (Merriam-Webster). Anderson’s main goal is to expose the ethical complications of the issue in order to reach the American public and gain sufficient acknowledgment for his
Others, however, argue that it is an egregious act at best. Additionally, a third party would consider this issue too subjective to give the issue anything more than mere acknowledgment. Consequently, this issue has been debated over by a vast amount of people over many years. In fact, this issue has not just sprung up in the past decade. However, people have been attempting to gain acknowledgment for this issue for quite some time. Assisted-suicide has been around for centuries and has taken many different forms. It has only recently gained acknowledgment by the American people due to passionate proponents for its cause. As passionate as one may be for Physician-assisted suicide, what should we, the American public, do about such a controversial …show more content…
Ryan Anderson, William E. Simon senior research fellow in American principles and public policy at The Heritage Foundation, argues that physician-assisted suicide is never the right call and should remain illegal. He is completely against it and believes this should be the mindset of others as well. Anderson discusses several of the problems it poses such as “endangering the weak and vulnerable, corrupting the practice of medicine, and betraying human dignity and equality before the law.” He has researched a plethora of information and is trying to expose what he thinks are wrongful issues. He also shows an alternative to the issue, discussing palliative care. Palliative care is, “medical and related care provided to a patient with a serious, life-threatening, or terminal illness that is not intended to provide curative treatment but rather to manage symptoms, relieve pain and discomfort, improve quality of life, and meet the emotional, social, and spiritual needs of the patient” (Merriam-Webster). Anderson’s main goal is to expose the ethical complications of the issue in order to reach the American public and gain sufficient acknowledgment for his