Free Essays on Assisted Suicide

Assisted Suicide Thesis: We do not have the freedom of speech unless we have the freedom to refuse to speak. And we do not have the freedom of religion unless we have the freedom to not be religious. So then how do we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness unless we have the freedom to deny any of these? â€Å"Our Life Is Not Our Own If We Cannot Choose When To End It!† Euthanasia: the final analysis in America today many arguments are centered around the right to choose: the right for women to have and abortion, the right for gays to be allowed to raise children or to be legally married, and the right to physician assisted suicide. ( ) These arguments all have something to do with the individual having the right to make this choice, but what if they are unable to make this choice? Say for instance, a man was hit by an oncoming truck, and is being held alive by a machine, what will happen to him? Who will make the decision for him to live or to die? In most case’s it will be the physician. Well you may ask yourself why cant we choose, that is to die? If a person is terminally ill and has a quality of life so low that they do not have the will to go on, ( ) they are not given a choice. Why then are those people not allowed to seek out a painless alternative in their situation? ( ) Though it is illegal many seek out p hysician assisted suicide ( ) or assisted suicide. Most memorable are those involving Dr. Kevorkian. Known as â€Å"Dr. Death† as some headlines read, Dr. Kevorkian has become famous for his many assisted suicides and his suicide machine. ( ) This all may sound fine and dandy, but not everyone agrees with it. Many religions contend and advise against a person seeking suicide of any kind. ( ) In religious views, life is a gift from god and one not to be thrown away or wasted. ( ) It is viewed that by committing suicide of any kind we are di... Free Essays on Assisted Suicide Free Essays on Assisted Suicide Assisted suicide, also called euthanasia (originated from the Greek, eu, meaning â€Å"good, and thanatos, meaning â€Å"death†)( No Author, http:// www.religious tolerance.org), is the act of assisting a person who wants to die. That person may want to die for a multitude of reasons, be it because of a terminal illness, extreme pain and suffering, or because of an illness that will leave the person with some extremely diminished capacity. This topic has become one of great controversy as of late, with the prevalence of the HIV virus, the virus that causes AIDS, as well as the increase of debilitating diseases like Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. This paper will touch on many points of the issue of euthanasia, as well as a defender of it. At the end of this paper, it will be plain to see by any open-minded individual that euthanasia should be legal. There are several forms of euthanasia. First, there is voluntary (or active) euthanasia. This means that a competent person makes a voluntary request, without changing their mind, to be helped to die. A popular example of voluntary euthanasia was the assisted killing of a patient with ALS by Dr. Jack Kevorkian in 1998. Dr. Kevorkian’s patient was terrified of the advancing illness, and of dying a painful and horrible death in the near future. The patient had Dr. Kevorkian inject him with a series of controlled substances, which caused the patient’s death ( No Author, religioustolerance.org). There is also non-voluntary (or passive) euthanasia, in which case the patient is not able to express the wish, either by incompetence or the incapacity to do so. This is usually fairly simple, such as removing life support, stopping emergency medical procedures, not feeding the patient, causing death, or not delivering CPR when the patient has stopped breathing or the heart has stopped. The third type is involuntary euthanasia. This is when a competent patient is allowe... Free Essays on Assisted Suicide Physician assisted suicide presents one of the greatest dilemmas to the medical profession. Should someone who is mentally competent, but deemed terminally ill, be allowed to engage in physician-assisted suicide? According to the First Amendment of The Constitution of The United States, one has the freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The Fourteenth Amendment states, The State cannot deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The group believes that a terminally ill patient has the Constitutional right to decide whether or not to end his or her life with the help of a licensed medical doctor. There have been many cases over the years where a terminally ill patient who is mentally competent has made the choice to either partake in physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide occurs when the physician provides the patient with the means and/or knowledge to commit suicide(Death and Dying,91). Euthanasia is when the physician administers the death causing drug or agent(Death and Dying,92). The most recent case is that of The State of Florida v. Charles Hall. Charles Hall is dying of AIDS and challenged the State of Florida to let him die by a self-administered lethal injection without fear of prosecution(rights.org/ deathnet/open.html). On January 31, 1997, a Judge ruled that Charles Hall could take his own life with the aid of a doctor. Senior Judge S. Joseph Davis, brought in from Seminole County, found that Florida’s strict privacy law and the equal protection clause in the U.S. Constitution entitled Hall, 35, and Dr. McIver to carry out an assisted death without fear of prosecution (Sun-Sentinel, 1A). On February 11, 1997, Charles Hall’s ruling was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court: he no longer has the rig ht to end his own life. He will have to wait unti... Free Essays on Assisted Suicide Assisted Suicide Thesis: We do not have the freedom of speech unless we have the freedom to refuse to speak. And we do not have the freedom of religion unless we have the freedom to not be religious. So then how do we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness unless we have the freedom to deny any of these? â€Å"Our Life Is Not Our Own If We Cannot Choose When To End It!† Euthanasia: the final analysis in America today many arguments are centered around the right to choose: the right for women to have and abortion, the right for gays to be allowed to raise children or to be legally married, and the right to physician assisted suicide. ( ) These arguments all have something to do with the individual having the right to make this choice, but what if they are unable to make this choice? Say for instance, a man was hit by an oncoming truck, and is being held alive by a machine, what will happen to him? Who will make the decision for him to live or to die? In most case’s it will be the physician. Well you may ask yourself why cant we choose, that is to die? If a person is terminally ill and has a quality of life so low that they do not have the will to go on, ( ) they are not given a choice. Why then are those people not allowed to seek out a painless alternative in their situation? ( ) Though it is illegal many seek out p hysician assisted suicide ( ) or assisted suicide. Most memorable are those involving Dr. Kevorkian. Known as â€Å"Dr. Death† as some headlines read, Dr. Kevorkian has become famous for his many assisted suicides and his suicide machine. ( ) This all may sound fine and dandy, but not everyone agrees with it. Many religions contend and advise against a person seeking suicide of any kind. ( ) In religious views, life is a gift from god and one not to be thrown away or wasted. ( ) It is viewed that by committing suicide of any kind we are di...