Right To Die Movement

Death is inevitable, it is something all living creatures must endure on this side of eternity. There is a multitude who will not be able to determine or choose when that time happens, life circumstances are usually out of the controlling grips of humanity. Despite that truth, as of 2015 there are five states in the U.S.A. where terminally ill persons eighteen or older with no more than six months to live are allowed to take their life with the assistance of a physician. California, Montana, Vermont, Washington, and Oregon, have all legalized the practice of physician assisted suicide (USA Today, PAS Dignity 2015). The act is generally committed by way of a prescribed lethal dose of medications intended to speed up the process of the patient 's

Currently in the United States only five out of the fifty states have legalized assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is the help from a physician for a patient to end their life because they have a terminal illness. Many people believe that euthanasia should be illegal across the board, however, people who have terminal illnesses should have a right to be in charge of how to end their life. Many people do not want their family to see them at their lowest, and they do not want to see their selves at their lowest either, therefore, giving a person a right to end their life peacefully, should be an individual’s choice. When someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness it is devastating going through the long and grueling process of death, for the family and the patient both.

Physician-assisted suicide is a very controversial topic in today’s society. Physician-assisted suicide is defined as an action performed by the physician at the request of the patient to end the patient’s life with certain medical procedures. The legalization of physician-assisted suicide should not be passed in the United States because it is not morally acceptable in the society, leads to misunderstanding of a physician’s duty and increases mental suffering of both patient’s family and doctor. Physician-assisted suicide should not be legalized since the action itself is not justified morally. It is never morally acceptable for the society to give up on its people’s lives.

The right to die: Cons Many people with a mental disorder feel it is unfair to make assisted suicide a right to only the fatally ill. They feel it is their right to have a way out if their disorder worsens. Mental disorders can affect your mood, behavior and ability to make sound decision in times of an episode. In the Netherlands assisted suicide became legal in 2002.

The Right to Die 1) Introduction a) Thesis statement: Physician assisted suicide offers patients a choice of getting out of their pain and misery, presents a way to help those who are already dead mentally because of how much a disease has taken over them, proves to be a great option in many states its legal in, and puts the family at ease knowing their love one is out of pain. i) The use of physician assisted death is used in many different countries and some states. ii) Many people who chose this option are fighting a terminal illness.

In this paper, I will explain Dennis Plaisted’s argument that physician assisted suicide should not be legalized on the basis of autonomy in the case that the state does not value the lives of the terminally ill if they allow the legislation to be enacted. I argue that his argument is unsound because the government does care about its people and wants to allow the terminally ill to have an alternative to suffering. First, I will explain the basis of physician assisted suicide and summarize a few of Plaisted’s arguments against it. Then, I will argue that his claim is unsound since the state is sympathetic enough to allow an alternative treatment to incurable illnesses, and that Plaisted’s theory fails in that for the legislation to work, they

“Be smart, be strong, live honorably and with dignity, and just hold on” (Fray). Physician assisted suicide or better known as Death with Dignity isn’t your everyday topic or thought, but for the terminally ill it’s a constant want. The Death with Dignity isn’t something that all people or religions are in favor of and nor is the act passed in all states in the United States. Only three states in the U.S. today, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington offer their residents the option to have aid in dying as long as all the requirements are met. Death with Dignity doesn’t effect just the terminally ill person, but as well as family and friends around them creating many conflicting thoughts when opinion if Death with Dignity is truly moral and a choice

Is there a way to decide who gets to live and who doesn’t? Can we encourage one person’s want to die, but look down upon the others? Do we even have a right do die when we choose? What if it wasn’t our time to go and we just threw our lives away because in that moment we were lost?

Why has dignity become the defining and unifying aspect of the right to die debates? Whether “Dying with dignity” is defined as having a meaningful death or as a death without undue suffering or loss of autonomy (as proposed by the right to die movement), “dying with dignity” is now synonymous with having “a good death.” Dignity represents a taken for granted ideal of both sides of the debate, with an assumption that all human beings desire to die with dignity. Many right to die advocates argue for more relative and contingent definitions and understandings of dignity. In current terms, dignity is subjective and may depend on how the person views their mental and physical being.

Aid in dying is no more a suicide than other forms of hastening death, and the California End of Life Option Act clearly states that actions taken within that act are not a suicide or assisted suicide. And such language has been rejected by the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the American Medical Women’s Association and the American Medical Student Association, among others. These are dying patients.