Physician Assisted Suicide

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that physician assisted suicide should be legalized because (1) everyone should have the right to choose how to live as well as how to die, (2) assisted suicide provides an alternative to a painful death and (3) terminally ill patients would be able to die peacefully. The author defines physician assisted suicide as a procedure in which a physician prescribes a lethal dose of a medication to a terminally ill patient, which the patient administers by her or himself without any additional assistance from the physician or any other person. The paper relates that, presently, Oregon is the only state in the United States in which physician assisted suicide is legal; however, California is currently considering whether or not it should legalize physician-assisted suicide as well.

From the Paper:

"The opposing side argues that if physician assisted suicide is legalized then the major role of healing that doctors play in our society would be diminished and replaced by the role of assisting in death. However, this argument is based solely on personal opinion and is not necessarily true. The role of a physician in our society is also to help and comfort the patient. Timothy Lace, a medical student in the Texas University College of Medicine, claims that physician assisted suicide should be legal because it is a doctor's role to relieve suffering."

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