Heads Live – Tails Die
Heads Live – Tails Die
Who decides when it is time for a person’s life to end? At one point, every living person must die. What happens when a person wants to take his or her own life? Who has the authority to say yes or no? The right to assisted suicide is a heated topic that concerns people all over the United States. The debates go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Some are against it because of religious and moral reasons. Others are for it because of their compassion and respect for the dying. Physicians are also divided on the issue, and differ where they place the line that separates relief from dying--and killing. For many, the main concern with assisted suicide lies with the competence of the terminally ill. Many patients, who are in the final stages of their lives, have requested doctors to aid them in exercising active euthanasia.
The Good Death
When people see the word euthanasia, they see the meaning of the word in two different lights. Euthanasia, for some, carries a negative connotation; it is the same as murder…for others it carries a hope to the end of all suffering. Assisted Suicide is somewhat related to Euthanasia. The word Euthanasia comes from the Greek language: eu meaning "good" and thanatos meaning "death", i.e. the "good death". It now refers to the act of ending a person's life, at their request. Assisted suicide is when someone provides an individual with the information, guidance, and the means to take his or her own life, and with the intention to use these options for this sole purpose. When a doctor helps another person kill themselves it is called “physician assisted suicide”. There are two types of Euthanasia. The first, Passive Euthanasia, is the death of a person by removing life support equipment, stopping medication, or not eating and drinking which allows the person to dehydrate and starve to death. These...