Legalizing Assisted Suicide Argumentative Essay

Every year, science makes incredible discoveries that play a huge role in prolonging the lives of those who are ill. Many people believe that patients should be able to decide whether they want to live or die, and can do so through assisted suicide. Assisted suicide allows the doctor to give his patient lethal drugs to end his life. People against legalizing assisted suicide believe that it goes against the purpose of medicine. Assisted suicide is currently legal in Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, and Vermont. Some other places, including Quebec, the Netherlands, and Colombia, allow assisted death. Assisted suicide should not be legal because it goes against what hospitals and doctors stand for. Assisted suicide should be illegal because it breaks the Hippocratic Oath that most doctors are required to take. In the Hippocratic Oath, it states that "I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan (Haerens)”. Physicians have used the Hippocratic Oath for around 2,400 years, and there is no reason for them to stop now. “The act is inherently against a physician's ‘do no harm’ principle. How can I teach medical students about healing when I have to prepare them as euthanizers, (Sathya)?” A doctor’s job is to do whatever he can to make the patient well again. His job is

They also state that it should be legalized because patients have the right to decide their own future. The doctor should not refuse a patient his rights; therefore, people who are for assisted suicide believe it is ethical because it is by the patient’s will. If a patient requests death, the doctor has no right to deny their will. People who agree with assisted suicide also claim that life does not depend on quantity, but quality. Even though this way of thinking seems rational, there are serious drawbacks that come with