Assisted Suicide

Introduction

Ethical and legal norms exist in virtually all societies to help protect human life and regulate when taking or not prolonging life is ethically permissible. In most Western societies, the Judeo-Christian religious tradition has given great importance to the sanctity of life. Modern medicine has also gained extraordinary new powers to prolong life. Within the last few decades, medical treatments such as kidney dialysis, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, organ transplantation, respirator support, and provision of food and water by artificial means have become common in hospitals. While these new treatments often benefit patients, restoring them to well-functioning lives, they also can be employed in circumstances where they may be neither a benefit to nor wanted by patients. Where once pneumonia was the "old man's friend," the way in which "nature" ended a life that had become seriously debilitated, now the time and manner of death has been brought increasingly under human control. In coming to grips with sustaining, taking, or not prolonging life, medicine has drawn on both its own ethical traditions and society's broader ethical and religious traditions. (Zucker 78-80)

Physician-assisted suicide is a compassionate option for those who suffer and have reached a clear decision to end their lives peacefully. While suicide is not the preferred way to end life, it is a perfectly reasonable option. Physicians are in the unique position of being able to prescribe medication that can, in worst cases, make such a peaceful end possible. This paper discusses assisted suicide and whether it should be allowed or not.

Discussion

A topic that continues to engage heated public debate is euthanasia, the painless putting to death of a person suffering from an incurable condition. Passive euthanasia is withholding treatment that otherwise would prolong life, allowing death to occur naturally. If a person with severe lung disease is not put on a ventilator or given antibiotics to prolong life, this is passive euthanasia. In contrast, active euthanasia occurs when someone takes an active step to deliberately end another's life, such as giving an overdose of medication. Active euthanasia is considered murder in our country. The differences between active and passive euthanasia are not always clear-cut. For instance, “pulling the plug” on a ventilator is sometimes considered passive because it allows the death to progress naturally, but it is active in that it is an intentional, conscious act to end life. (Battin 17-50)

Assisted suicide is the procedure in which a physician helps a seriously ill individual to comfortably end his or her life, generally by prescribing a lethal dose of a drug. Assisted suicide is a very controversial issue. Depending on the survey, from one-half to two-thirds of the American public think it should be legal for physicians to help terminally ill patients end their lives painlessly. Most respondents are also aware of the need for safeguards to protect the vulnerable.

People have the right to decide when to die in order to prevent prolonged suffering from an incurable or terminal illness. Opponents argue that assisted suicide is ...