To Die With Dignity

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that assisted suicide should be a legal option for terminally ill patients in all states, not just Oregon and Washington where there is a "Death with Dignity Act". The paper asserts that the patient should be the one to determine when too much is too much and enough is enough.

From the Paper:

"History has also shown that assisted suicide is a valid medical option. The ancient Romans and Greeks, as early as the fifth century B.C., were known to value voluntary death as opposed to prolonged suffering, and doctors would often give poison to help the patients (Dowbiggin 2). With the spread of Christianity, the number of assisted suicides was greatly decreased. In the early 1900's, in America, mercy-killings were mostly done in secret, but by the 1930's the debate had become a public issue (32). By the 1980's and 90's, the debate had flared up again, in part to the discovery of AIDS and more incurable diseases (xviii). The advancements in technology and medicine are now able to keep terminally ill patients alive much longer than in past decades. The question now is where the line is drawn in what say patients have in their own care."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Death With Dignity Act. 27 Oct. 1997. Oregon Revised Statutes 127.800-995.
• Dowbiggin, Ian. A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement In Modern America. New York: Oxford UP, 2003.
• Girsh, Faye. "How Shall We Die?" Free Inquiry 22.1 (Winter 2002). 26 Nov. 2008 <http:// euthanasia.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=126>.

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