PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE

Assisted suicide is the idea of helping patients to end their lives at that point when living is deemed pointless. Patients often choose this path as a result of continuous pain and slim chances of being cured. Assisted suicide is legal in about five states in the United States. The first state to legalise assisted suicide was Oregon.

Legalization of assisted suicide has met with much opposition from various levels. First, religious persons argue from the view that life is holy and only God, who gives of life, should take it away. Doctors on the other side argue that administering assisted suicide is an insult to the industry. It is founded on the idea that the supreme mission of doctors is to preserve life. Other people argue that if legalised, assisted suicide would be abused and may be used to conceal murder cases.

Assisted suicide should be legalised on different grounds. First, patients often get to a point at which death is sure. They are left in so much pain that they are desperate to die. At this point, the law should allow for the patient to be permitted an earlier death.

Second, terminally ill patients are often put in machines that only serve to keep them vegetative. These devices only help to hold the life a little longer but at this point the patient may not be conscious at any point. Patients who have reached this point eventually leave their families with lots of medical fees to foot. At this point, patients should be allowed to die a peaceful death.

In summing-up, terminally ill victims should be granted the right to their own deaths. This will assist in ending unnecessary suffering on the patient. It also saves families of terminally ill patients from paying for unnecessary medication.