Assisted Suicide. Essay

Assisted Suicide. Essay

Assisted Suicide

Jack Kevorkian claimed to have killed over 130 people and sentence to 10-25 years in prison. Assisted Suicide is a difficult topic to understand and it is still a subject that has yet to be resolved. Consider the fact that, if someone was dying painfully on their death bed should they have the right to say when they die? Is it right for doctors to assist a patient with their dying decision? Is it wrong to legalize assisted suicide?
Another name for assisted suicide is Euthanasia. Euthanasia is defined as “the action of killing an individual for reasons considered to be merciful” from the American Heritage Dictionary, (“Euthanasia”). The word “euthanasia” comes from the Greek eu, “good”, and thanatos, “death,” literally meaning “good death”. Who is to decide whether a death is good or not? These types of questions have different answers depending on the person being asked. This “right to die movement” is justified by some of the following reasons: The first reason is if an individual has an advanced terminal illness causing unbearable suffering. This reason is also be the most common “excuse” for assisted suicide. For example, an individual that has terminal cancer and will only live a year or less with severe pain. Under these circumstances some individuals choose to end their life sooner than they would if they died a natural death. The second reason would be a severe physical handicap exists that is so confining that an individual could not recover or even tolerate such a limited existence. As an example, in the 2005 case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman in a vegetative state whose feeding tube was removed causing eventual death after a long legal battle (Pickert, “Assisted Suicide”). There are ethical guidelines for euthanasia. If the following guidelines are met, then euthanasia is considered acceptable. The individual must be a mature adult. The exact age will depend on the individual but the person should not be a minor; the laws...

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