Assisted Suicide: The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia. Words6 Pages. Euthanasia, otherwise known as “mercy killing,” is the act of intentionally ending the life of a person who suffers from an untreatable or incurable condition that typically causes a great deal of pain (“Euthanasia”). The practice has been a contentious legal issue in the United States ever since Oregon enacted the Oregon Death The Pros And Cons Of Assisted Suicide. When patients suffering from serious health conditions are towards the end of their lives, they are given an option that can change their lives and the lives of those around them. This option is praised as an act of preserving dignity, but also condemned as an act of Why I believe in Voluntary Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide An essay by Derek Humphry The movement for choice in dying is dedicated to the view that there are at least two forms of suicide. One is 'emotional suicide', or irrational self-murder, in all of it complexities and sadness
Assisted Suicide Essays: Examples, Topics, Titles, & Outlines
The movement for choice in dying is dedicated to the view that there are at least two forms of suicide. One is 'emotional suicide', or irrational self-murder, in all of it complexities and pro assisted suicide essay. Let me emphasize at once that my view of this tragic form of self-destruction is the same as that of the suicide intervention movement and the rest of society, which is to prevent it wherever possible.
I do not encourage any form of suicide for mental health or emotional reasons. Nevertheless, life is a personal responsibility and we know some people are so tormented that they cannot bear to live.
In such circumstances, understanding is called for. I believe that there is a second form of suicide -- justifiable suicide, which is rational and planned deliverance from a painful and hopeless disease, pro assisted suicide essay. I don't think the word 'suicide' sits too well in this context but we are stuck with it.
I have struggled for twenty years to popularize the term 'self-deliverance' but it pro assisted suicide essay an uphill battle with a news media which is in love with the words 'assisted suicide' and 'suicide. Also, we have to face the fact that the law calls all forms of self-destruction 'suicide. Let me point out here for those who might not know it that suicide is no longer a crime anywhere in the English-speaking world. It used to be in many places, pro assisted suicide essay, punishable by giving all the dead person's money and goods to the government.
Attempted suicide, which hundreds of years ago in Europe was punishable by execution, is no longer a crime. Do not confuse this decriminalization with health laws where a suicidal person can in most states be forcibly placed in a psychiatric wing of a hospital for three days for evaluation.
But giving assistance in suicide remains a crime, pro assisted suicide essay, except in the Netherlands in recent times under certain conditions, and it has never been a crime in Switzerland and Germany, although the taboos there are strong. The rest of the world punishes assistance in suicide even for the terminally ill; although the American State of Oregon recently passed by citizens' ballot measure a limited physician-assisted suicide law.
After court battles initiated by the pro-life movement, the Oregon law took effect at the beginning ofa year during which there were 16 lawful assisted suicides, while in there were Not exactly the stampede our critics were predicting!
Even if a hopelessly ill person is requesting assistance in dying for the most compassionate reasons, and the helper is acting from the most noble of motives, any form of direct euthanasia remains a crime in the remainder of the Anglo-American world, pro assisted suicide essay. You cannot ask to be killed. Punishments for this are usually 'life' and for assisted suicide, fines or up to fourteen years in prison.
It is this catch-all prohibition which ERGO and other right-to-die groups wish to change. In a caring society, under the rule of law, we claim that there must be exceptions for the hopelessly ill after all other avenues have been exhausted.
Jack Kevorkian was guilty in law but morally innocent in my view of helping a terminal man to die by lethal injection. A Michigan jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and he was jailed for years. In recent years two spouses in New York State have been imprisoned for assisting their sick wives to die.
Exactly there is the pro assisted suicide essay law reform problem we have to surmount. The word 'euthanasia' comes from the Greek -- Eu, "good", pro assisted suicide essay, and Thanatos, "death".
Literally, "good death". But the word 'euthanasia' has acquired a more complex meaning in modern times -- it is generally pro assisted suicide essay nowadays to mean taking action to achieve a good death. Suicide, self-deliverance, auto-euthanasia, aid-in-dying, assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide, pro assisted suicide essay, physician-assisted dying -- call it what you like -- can be justified by the average supporter of the right to die movement for the following reasons:.
Also, if a doctor asked for a death certificate knows that the patient was in an advanced state of terminal illness then not much fuss will be made over the precise cause of death. Police, paramedics, medical examiners, and coroners put a low priority on investigation of suicide, particularly when evidence comes before them that the person was dying anyway.
Some claim that it is sufficient to legalize physician-assisted suicide and not voluntary euthanasia as well. I have never taken that halfway view, pro assisted suicide essay. Here's why:. Having considered the logic in favor of euthanasia, a person should also contemplate the arguments against it:, pro assisted suicide essay. First, should the person go instead into a hospice program and receive not only first-class pain management pro assisted suicide essay also comfort care and personal attention?
Hospices by and large do a great job with skill and love. The right-to-die movement supports their work. But not everyone wants a lingering death; not everyone wants that form of care. Today many terminally ill people take the marvelous benefits of home hospice programs and still accelerate the end when suffering becomes too much. Some 60 percent of those who took advantage of the Oregon physician-assisted suicide law the first two years were in hospice care.
A few hospice leaders claim that their care is so excellent that there is absolutely no need for anyone to consider euthanasia. They are wrong to claim perfection. Neither hospice nor euthanasia has the universal answer to all dying. Fortunately most, but not all, terminal pain can today be controlled with the sophisticated use of drugs, but the point these leaders miss is that personal quality of life is vital to some people. If one's body has been so destroyed by disease that it is not worth living, then that is an intensely individual decision which should not be thwarted.
In some cases of the final days in hospice care, when the pain is very serious, the patient is drugged into unconsciousness 'terminal sedation'. If that way is acceptable to the patient, fine. But some people do not wish their final days to be spent in that drugged limbo.
There ought not to be conflict between hospice and euthanasia -- both are valid options in a caring society. Both are appropriate to different people with differing medical needs and ethical values. Later in the 21st century, I am confident that hospice will become a place where people go either for comfort care, terminal sedation, or for assisted suicide, pro assisted suicide essay. It is the pro assisted suicide essay place for a dignified end. Another consideration is theological: does suffering ennoble?
Is suffering, and relating to Jesus Christ's suffering on the cross, a part of preparation for meeting God? Are you merely a steward of your life, which is a gift from God, and which only He may take away? My response is this: if your answer to these questions is 'Yes, God is my master in all things,' then you should not be involved in any form of euthanasia.
It just does not fit. There are millions of atheists and agnostics, as well as people of various religions, degrees of spiritual beliefs, and they all have rights to their choices in abortion and euthanasia, too, pro assisted suicide essay.
Many Christians who believe in euthanasia justify it by reasoning that the God whom they worship is loving and tolerant and would not wish to see them in agony. They do not see their God as being so vengeful as refusing them the Kingdom of Heaven if they accelerated the end of their life to avoid prolonged, unbearable suffering. Another consideration must be that, by checking pro assisted suicide essay before the Grim Reaper routinely calls, pro assisted suicide essay, is one depriving oneself of a valuable period of quality life?
Is that last period of love and companionship with family and friends worth hanging on for? Our critics heavily use the argument that this is the case. Not necessarily so! In my twenty years in this movement, and being aware of many hundreds of self-deliverances, I can attest that even the most determined supporters of euthanasia hang on until the last minute -- sometimes too long, and lose control. The wiser ones gather with their families and friends to say good-byes; there are important reunions and often farewell parties.
There is closure of wounds and familial gaps just the same as if the person was dying naturally - perhaps more so since the exact timing of the death is known. Euthanasia supporters enjoy life and love living, and their respect for the sanctity of life is as strong as anybody's: sanctity as distinct from sacredness.
They are willing, if their dying is distressing to them, to forego a few weeks or a few days at the very end and expire at a time of their choice. Moreover, they are not the types to worry what the neighbors will think. There is another rightist argument that pro assisted suicide essay acceptance of euthanasia practices will quickly destroy the traditional bond of trust between doctor and patient; that the patient will never know if the doctor is going to kill them or not; that commercialized medical practices will jump at the chance to get rid of long-term patients who are short of insurance funding, pro assisted suicide essay.
Those arguments have been answered by the 20 years euthanasia has been practiced in the Netherlands, and by the nearly three years physician-assisted suicide has been available in Pro assisted suicide essay. No evidence of a breakdown in relationships has emerged. Those doctors who are ethically opposed to hastening the end of life just don't do it.
The laws in the Netherlands, Oregon, and the ones which have failed to pass, all give medical professionals the right to refuse to be involved -- a conscience clause. This exemption will always be so as far as I am concerned. In fact, many patients hold their medical advisors in higher regard if they know that he or she will go to great lengths to keep them pro assisted suicide essay terminal suffering, even to the extent of providing, if necessary, a gracious final exit.
What people often do not realize is that, for many, just knowing how to kill themselves is itself of great comfort. It gives them the assurance to fight harder and therefore often extends lives just a bit longer. Many people have remarked to me that my book, 'Final Exit' is the best insurance policy they've ever taken out.
Once such people know how to make a certain and dignified deliverance, with loved ones supporting them, they will often renegotiate the timing of their death. For example, a man in his 90s called to tell me his health was so bad he was ready to terminate his life. I advised him to read 'Final Exit,' which he did and he called me back, pro assisted suicide essay.
He had managed to get hold of lethal drugs from a friendly doctor and so everything was in position. Now he had the knowledge, the drugs, pro assisted suicide essay encouraged by the control and choice now in his grasp, he had negotiated new terms with himself concerning his fate.
Surely, for those who want this way, this is commendable and is in fact an extension rather than a curtailment of life's span. Thanks to the work in the last century of a forceful right-to-die movement, a hidden reality has emerged about terminal suffering, indicating that the time has come for change. What are needed now are laws permitting voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide surrounded with a bodyguard of rules -- but not so many that the patient in unable to jump through all the hoops.
With the inevitability of gradualness, as the idea takes hold amongst rising generations, reform will undoubtedly come.
We who believe must ceaselessly work for it. The above essay may be reproduced for scholarly purposes without permission being sought, provided source acknowledgement is given.
Reproduction in any journal or book must have the author's permission, pro assisted suicide essay. Email: ergo finalexit. Length: 2, pro assisted suicide essay, words.
This essay is Chapter 4 of the book pro assisted suicide essay to Final Exit" published by the Norris Lane Press and ERGO, Oregon, USA.
Unbearable Suffering: An Argument Against Assisted Dying - Kevin Yuill
, time: 2:58Assisted Suicide Essay - Free Paper Sample
· The essay, “Legalized Assisted Suicide Reflects a Biased View of the Disabled” by Samuel R. Bagenstos (Bagenstos, ) is chosen for reflection against the article on Death with Dignity National Center’s website, named, “Death with Dignity and People with Disabilities” (Death with Dignity and People with Disabilities, n.d.) Essay on Assisted Suicide: “For” Factors. Even if you are totally against such specific form of suicide, do not rush to skip all “for” ideas. Among those willing to die in such a way the reasons for committing assisted suicide were the following: Terminal diseases. Losing of Why I believe in Voluntary Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide An essay by Derek Humphry The movement for choice in dying is dedicated to the view that there are at least two forms of suicide. One is 'emotional suicide', or irrational self-murder, in all of it complexities and sadness
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