Death With Dignity Essay

Some terminally ill patients are in a great deal of pain. They would prefer to end their life rather than live in pain until their bodies just finally give up and they die. Does the law have right to deny them their last dying wish which is to die with dignity? Euthanasia and or assisted suicide are legal in very few places in the United States (US). Federal law doesn’t specifically protect the act of euthanasia, nor does it prohibit the practice altogether. Instead the right to assisted suicide “Death with Dignity” is established by state law. Montana, Vermont, Oregon, and Washington are the only four states in the US that have legalized assisted suicide. In 1990 the United States Supreme Court ruled that patients or their designated health …show more content…
In the case of Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old newlywed who learned that she had brain cancer. She was told there was no cure for her illness and that she would die in less than 6 months after numerous surgeries. She decided that she wanted to die on her own terms and that she had a right to die with dignity. After months of research she decided that death with dignity was the best option for her and her family. She did not want her family to watch her dwindle away in hospice care. Brittany and her family moved to Oregon because of the death with dignity law. After moving to Oregon and becoming a resident she would now meet all of the requirements. She submitted the assisted suicide request to her doctor and was given the medications needed to end her life. The doctors advised her of alternative car such as hospice or pain meds in an effort to divert her decision. Brittany felt that making this choice gave her a sense of peace because her family would not have to watch her die a slow debilitating death and this would end her pain and suffering. Brittany became an advocate for the “Death with Dignity Law” while she was alive because she wanted to make her own final decision on her life. Brittany felt that she didn’t deserve to suffer for months in tremendous amounts of physical and emotional pain and that no one but she had the …show more content…
Depending on your faith, there are special ceremonies held when someone dies that provides rituals to mark death. Should religious groups be denied their religious freedom to choose euthanasia? Many religious groups think that euthanasia is immoral, regard it as murder, and the ultimate sin. Christians live and abide by the Sixth of the Ten Commandments in the Bible which states “Thou Shalt Not Kill” (EXODUS 20:13 Thou shalt not kill, n.d.). Christians would say trust God for he has a time for you to die. Catholicism thinks euthanasia is a crime and cannot be made legal by any means and that all humans are made in God’s image. Roman Catholics believe that it is a grave violation of God’s Law and only God can take a life. Hinduism has mixed views on euthanasia. Hindu’s believe in karma and the belief that good and bad occurrences in one’s life are caused by how you lived your past life. Hindu’s believe in reincarnation and the act of delaying suffering may further increase bad karma in the next life. They believe that if you avoid karma by making a decision to stop suffering you will pay for it later. In contrast, Hindu’s believe that there are certain circumstances that may warrant you getting assistance with suicide. For example, you get too old to worship properly due to illness then it is ok for you to ask your physician to hasten your death. They consider it a good deed to fulfill ones moral request. Muslims believe that