The Issue Of Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician-Assisted Suicide
With the recent popularity of the book and movie, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, the already controversial topic of physician-assisted suicide has been brought back into the limelight. The story follows the love story of a permanently paralyzed man and his caretaker. Overwrought with pain and suffering, the quadriplegic chooses to end his life through the assistance of a physician, much to the despair of his caretaker. Minus the love story, part of my life is parallel to a portion of this story. My cousin was in a terrible hockey accident when he was fifteen years old, ultimately leading to his paralysis. He is confined to a wheelchair and cannot do many things for himself. Though I was much younger when all …show more content…
Those who oppose this idea believe that either doctors or the family of a patient will encourage or even force the decision to choose physician-assisted suicide onto the patient. For the doctor, this would prevent them from having to treat the patient any longer and possibly waste money and treatments on a terminally ill patient. The family members may not wish to continue spending all of the money or they may be worried about insurance. Both of these ideas would, in fact, be an abuse of power. However, the Death with Dignity Act from Oregon states that “a patient [must have] the ability to make and communicate health care decisions to health care providers” (Oregon.gov). Therefore, one would need to make up their own decision in order for the process to even begin. Due to this, it would be much more difficult for doctors or family to persuade a patient to take part in the …show more content…
It is ethical because, although a life is being lost, that life wanted to be ended. They are at peace whether or not there was more that could’ve been done or if they could’ve lived another six months. No matter what, whoever chooses to go through with physician-assisted suicide is happy when they die, rather than in pain or scared or not surrounded by the ones that they love. According to the opposing side, “assisted suicide isn 't 'choice; ' it is the end of all choices. Doctor prescribed death is not 'death with dignity; ' it is really the euthanasia of hope" (ProCon). Even if there was hope of a possible good or even worse outcome, it wouldn’t matter. If one could choose when and where to be put to rest, that would be ideal in my opinion. The moment when there was finally peace is where the dignity comes into play. Dignity is when those who wish to die peacefully die with their friends and family surrounding