Analysing The Role Of Personal Choice In Euthanasia Philosophy Essay

Imagine for a minute that you have cancer with no cure in sight. As the days go by you keep getting worse and worse. You become very uncomfortable and unable to function on a daily basis. You live everyday in pain so unbearable that you can no longer get up out of bed. Life has become meaningless. You just want to end your life, but you can’t, because in Indiana, physician assisted suicide is illegal. You end up dying a very painful death, one that no one should have to go through. Anyone who is terminally ill should have the right to die if they choose to. Everyone should be able to die with dignity and the satisfactory of a painless death.

People who are opposed to physician assisted suicide are most likely uneducated about the subject. They see it as immoral and unethical because society makes it seem that way. However, if people were more educated on the subject they would be surprised to find out that it is actually a persons personal choice. There are many things one must do before being considered for the lethal medication. Physician assisted suicide provides the necessary means for a person to end their life, but the patient themselves have to actually administer the medication to end their own life. A patient can not walk into the doctor’s office and tell them they feel like dying today and have the doctor give them the lethal medication. In Oregon there are guidelines that must be followed first. “A patient must be 18 years old, a resident of Oregon, capable of making healthcare decisions for him/herself, and be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months”(www.Oregon.gov). After those initial guidelines have been approved, it is totally up to the patient if they want to take the medication after it is prescribed. “In March 1998, an Oregon woman dying of breast cancer asked her physician to prescribe a drug that would allow her to end her life-Later that month, she took it and became the first person in the U.S. to commit suicide with the help of a doctor legally”(Robinson). Everyone should have that very right. “Physician assisted suicide is a compassionate option for those who suffer and have reached a clear decision to end their lives peacefully”(Woodward).

We are allowed to choose to give our pets a humane death when they are in their final stages of life, yet we as humans are denied that very same right. It seems as if we respect our pets more then human dignity. Suppose you have a dog whom has been a part of your family for ten years. You love the dog as if it is a part of your family. One morning you awake to the dog whining and in excruciating pain. Immediately you pick the dog up, wrap it in a blanket and fly out of the door. You worst nightmare is unfolding in front of your eyes. You only want what is best for your beloved dog. You arrive at the veterinarian office and take the dog back into the examine room. There are many tests that have to be done before the cause of the pain can be determined. You sit in the waiting room for what seems like forever when finally the veterinarian comes out with the news your were dreading to hear. Your dog has cancer and it has spread throughout its whole body. A flood of emotions rush through your body and you can not contain the way you feel about the diagnosis. It is heartbreaking. You only want what is best for the dog right? If it is going to live a life full of pain, why prolong its life when you know it is going to be uncomfortable? Now, instead of a dog, put a human being in the place of the dog. Does it seem fair that we are able to end that dogs life and not a human being? Absolutely not! The laws need to be changed, so we as human beings have more rights to our own lives. Our government is denying us rights that we should have.

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A recent study done on characteristics and end of life care of 460 DWDA patients who died after ingesting a lethal dose of medication in Oregon during 1998-2009 shows just who, and why people chose to end their lives. According to the chart, “males are more likely then females to ask for the lethal medication.” “The range is age between 75-84.” “Married people and whites are more likely to take the lethal medication.” “The underlying illness is cancer that brings most patients into the physicians office to ask for the lethal medication.” “Most of the people who took the medication were being taken care of by hospice.” “The main concern for the ending of the persons life was losing anatomy.” “Only forty out of four-hundred sixty people had complications after taking the medication, and those were minor.” (www.Oregon.Gov) From that information, we can conclude that the lethal injection is relatively safe. The injection is painless, and takes effect almost immediately after it is taken. The patient will die peacefully and with the dignity they deserve.

As with everything in life, there are both pros and cons to assisted suicide. The cons are very important and beneficial to the patient. “Tremendous pain and suffering of patients can be saved”(Messerli). Of course, taking the lethal medication will end all pain the patient is experiencing. “Patients can die with dignity rather then have the illness reduce then to a shell of their former selves”(Messerli). No one wants to be remembered as that person who was basically a vegetable. “Healthcare costs can be reduced, which would save estates and lower insurance premiums”(Messerli). Lets face it, insurance companies do not want people who are high risk on their policy. “Nurse and doctor time can be feed up to work on savable patients”(Messerli). More patients who do have a chance at life can get the care they truly deserve. “Pain and anguish of the patients family can be lessened, and they can say their final goodbyes”(Messerli). If the patients family knows ahead of time that the patient is going to pass away, there is time to say all those things they want to, while the patient is still able to understand and respond. “Vital organs can be saved, allowing doctors to save the lives of others”(Messerli). That is very rewarding to the patient who is dying, they know they will still live on through someone else and also they are saving another persons life.” Many people commit suicide in a messy, and traumatic way because they do not have the option for assisted suicide, which is another clear cut point in why assisted suicide should be legal.

There are also cons to physician assisted suicide. “It violates the Hippocratic Oath”(Messerli). Doctors are not supposed to harm a patient in any way, and giving them a lethal medication to die, is defiantly a way to harm a patient. “Physician assisted suicide could open the floodgates to non-critical patient suicides and other abuse”(Messerli). If it were legal, some people would try to take advantage of it. Certain religions prohibit suicide and the intentional killing of others However, isn’t making someone suffer immoral and unjust? “Doctors and patients may be prompted too soon to give up on recovery much too soon”(Messerli). People can, and do recover from serious illnesses, but the numbers are not impressive enough to make physician assisted suicide illegal. “Doctors are given too much power, and can sometimes be wrong”(Messerli). There is not a one person who has ever been right their whole life. People make mistakes daily. Doctors have enough knowledge to know that a patient is going to die sooner or later, just because they are off by a few months, doesn’t make physician assisted suicide a horrible thing.

In the article titled “Confronting Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: My Father’s Death,” Susan Wolf is faced with her father who is dying, and initially she is opposed to physician assisted suicide, until she has to witness her father die a very painful death right in front of her eyes. In the end she wrote. ” I would not want to bear the burden of having “accelerated” of causing his death by euthanasia or assisted suicide; this is hard enough. My father’s death made me rethink my objections to legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia, but in the end it left me at ease with what I’ve written”(Wolf). This is a perfect example of why people should have the right to die, and the effects it has on family members. It has got to be horrifying to have to sit by and watch a family member die, a slow painful death. This can cause mental and emotional stress on both patient and loved ones.

“A concern among many who are opposed to physician-assisted suicide is that if it were to become legal, some people might feel they have a duty to die in order to avoid becoming a burden either to loved ones or to society”(Woodward) This is valid reasoning, but that reasoning should not be based on that alone. I would feel like it would be more of a burden to continue living in continuous pain and suffering and putting myself a my family though months and sometimes years of torture then to be opposed to it. Why would it be a burden to end a life of someone who is telling you they do not want to live? It would be more abundant to end that persons life, and know that was the right thing to do. You could continue living on knowing you done the right thing and gave your loved one what they wanted. I did an interview with Oliver Newton, a cancer patient currently in hospice care who is dying of leukemia. His main concern was being a burden to his family members. He did not want his family to feel as though they had an obligation to care for him. “I would rather pass away peacefully then live in the pain I have been experiencing since 2008″(Newton). When I asked him how he felt about physician assisted suicide, his reply was “I wish that was an option in Indiana, if it were, I would defiantly take advantage of it”(Newton). This was just one interview I did, and I could tell in this mans eyes that he was done living in the conditions which he is in. It is sad to see someone who feels as though their life is worth terminating. People in Oliver’s case should be granted the right to end his own life under his own terms.

“Medical experts say nearly three of every four people who are facing death experience moderate to severe pain, and that more than half die in pain. Too often, the pain could have been eased–but wasn’t, they say”(Carey). It is a tragic experience to have to go through so much pain in ones final days. It seems so unfair. Is it not enough that they are lying on their death bed? Apparently that isn’t enough. It is inhumane and immoral to let a person suffer such an agonizing death. The odds of dying in pain are too high. There is no way of arguing against physician assisted suicide unless a person is actually put in the shoes for a day of someone who does have a terminal illness. Physician assisted suicide isn’t hurting anyone. If one could just feel their pain for even a minute, people would change their minds about letting that person dye peacefully and painless.

In a book titled “Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide” (For and Against) “Dworkin and Frey argue that physician-assisted suicide is morally permissible and that it ought to be legal for physicians to provide the knowledge or the means, or both, by which a patient can take his or her own life”(Dworkin, Frey and Bok). “They propose that autonomy and relief of suffering are important values and that dying patients have the right to make the process of dying as painless and dignified as possible and to control the time and manner of their death”(Dworkin, Frey and Bok). It should be considered morally permissible for many reasons that too many people can not understand. It should be a patients right to use their freedom of speech and get what they so desperately need. It is unjust that we have to struggle so bad to get a law that we need so desperately. Since everyone would have to go through a screening before even being considered for the drug, it would almost be impossible to get it for no good reason. There are millions of people out there who need it terribly and are in dire need of relief. Anyone should be able to pick the time and manner of their death if they are terminally ill and dying anyway. That should be a right everyone should have. It is a shame that we do not have that.

If someone chooses to die with the help of a physician, they should be allowed to. Physician assisted suicide should be legal in every state, with the same guidelines as Oregon. Everyone deserves to die with dignity. If animals have the right to die with dignity, then a human should be able too. The fact that animals have better rights then us as humans do, seems more immoral then legalizing physician assisted suicide. The pros by far outweigh the cons of legalizing physician assisted suicide. Someone who is opposed to physician assisted suicide needs to walk in the shoes of a person who is terminally ill and dying just so they know exactly what that person is going through. People need to be better educated about the subject and do research on it. Our society is not setting a good example for our future which is scary. A person deserves a lot more rights then what is legal right now. Anyone should legally be able to end their lives if they are terminally ill. They should be able to do so when they choose to with family members crowded around for their last good-bye. It is safe to say that living a dogs life is better then a humans.