Assisted suicide :: essays research papers

Assisted suicide is a controversial issue in our society today. We ask the question, should people have the right to decide when and how to end their lives? Imagine a loved one in unbearable pain and knows it is only going to get worst until finally death. What if a loved one came to you and asked you to help them escape all their pain and suffering. Wouldn’t you want to help that loved one if you could? Hazel Blazer suffering from cerebral spinal meningitis that could not be cured is an example. Eugene Bauer suffering from terminal throat cancer, or Clarence Herbert who suffered a heart attack and remained in a coma. There are two places in which terminally ill patients can be legally assisted in suicide. The Netherlands is one place where assisted suicide is common among terminally ill. The method they use is euthanasia. Euthanasia is considered very humane and done very carefully. The family has the right to be there when terminally ill patient is given the drugs. The process is totally up to the patient if they want to end their life or not. Another place where assisted suicide is legal is in Oregon. Passed by the voters in 1994 the law enables terminally ill patients to obtain lethal doses of medication if their doctor determines they have less then six months to live. The right to die is illegal in most places, but yet an individual has a constitutional right to request the withdrawal and withholding of medical treatment even if doing so results in death. The right of a person to refuse medical treatment is widely practiced and a more accepted way to end ones live in our society. Living wills are one way to refuse medical treatment. These wills are legal documents which state how much treatment a person wants and where to stop. Another way to refuse medical treatment is do-not-resuscitate orders. In which the person states if something would happen they would not want to be resuscitated. The raises an important question, is the request of assistance in dying just an extension of an individual right to control the kind of treatment received when dying? Karen Ann Quinlan suffered a respiratory arrest which left her in permanent vegetative state. The condition left her unable to breathe without respirator and unable to eat without a feeding tube.