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Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

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In recent years California’s legislation has been debating over whether to have an assisted suicide bill (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). Oregon passed a bill back in 1997 allowing the assisted suicide (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). Now some lawmakers are urging others to agree and pass the act, sending the bill to the governor of California (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). California’s lawmakers have seen at least 4 bills come through their legislation like this one since 1995, about the same time Oregon was discussing theirs (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). For many people with terminally illness this gives them the right or freedom to “die with dignity” within their own home (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). …show more content…

The bill will allow terminal ill patients to quicken their death and give them the freedom to choose when it happens (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). California’s bill has been modeled after that of Oregon but with more precautions in place (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). If the bill is passed into law patients could obtain lethal dosage of pain killers causing death (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). Precautions put in place for the bill would make the patient requests twice orally for the assisted suicide (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). The requested must be two weeks apart, one of which has to be in writing (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). Once the requests are made two doctors then must sign off stating the patient will die in 6 months or less (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). Witness are to oversee the patients written request and certify that he or she is of good mind (The Editorial Board, 2015, September). The patient must then receive counseling about hospice and palliative care (Thompson, 2015). A statement must be signed within 48 hours of self-inflicted death that they are still sound of mind (Thompson, 2015). They are reminded before the doctor writes the prescription that they do not have to fill the prescription nor take it the choice is solely theirs (Thompson,

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