Physician Assisted Suicide

One state out of fifty has legalized Physician-assisted suicide; PAS is a practice in which the physician helps he patient end his life by providing him/ her with a lethal dose of medication which they give themselves. It is used in terminally ill cases, terminally ill is a situation in which a person will eventually die. This essay will explore the Pro’s and the Con’s of legalizing PAS, and I will discuss my views on this controversial topic.

Physician assisted suicide is a compassionate response to unbearable suffering. It ends the pain of someone who suffered a lot from a sickness. Fifteen years after my grandfather pot into a work accident, he was found under phosphate two days after the accident, all his bones were broken. He couldn’t move. He had to stay on his bed the rest of his life. He was very depressed and hopeless waiting for his day to come. He couldn’t enjoy watching his children and grandchildren growing. He felt inferior. It is no bodies’ fault or decision that he was a victim of a horrible accident, but it is his decision to choose death to end his pain he has faced for several years. Last year, he wanted to end his life; my grandmother and aunts didn’t agree with the idea, but I supported and respected his decision.

In most states suicide is not illegal but aiding in a suicide is a crime. Legalizing physician assisted suicide will void many problems by having rules and laws to follow, to decide people’s end. Dr.Jack Kevorkian, a controversial American medical doctor, assisted in the suicides of people who are terminally ill using a machine that he fixed from garage sales and hardware stores. In the back of his van in Michigan, he assisted suicide of many people who wanted to die. Without any laws or rules Dr. Kevorkian has helped them kill themselves. The problem is not that assisted suicide to those who needed it, those who were terminally ill. He assisted suicide to different people for different reasons. However, IF PAS was legal, and then assisting suicide won’t be a major problem because it will be laws and certain circumstances for someone to decide end his life. People are free to do whatever they want with their lives. They have the right to decide as well as to choose death.

In the religious believes PAS is immoral. It is against the religious tradition of saving human’s lives. PAS is consider a crime, letting die equates to killing. The other concern is the fallibility of profession. Human beings make mistakes all the time. Sometimes it’s hard to decide weather the person is terminally ill or not, for instance if he/she is in a coma, doctors cannot know the patient’s feeling and how much it’s painful. Thus physician assisted suicide is illegal.

Although my religion’s believes are against physician assisted suicide, I personally think PAS should be legal. I’ve seen my grandfather suffering and I felt it might be much better for him if he just dies. He wanted to end his life but he was not allowed because it is againstthe religion.