2008 Woodie Awards
Should assisted suicide be legal? No
Life is a gift, death is too absolute
Alysia Conover freshman from Liberty, Ill.
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: Opinion
Physician-assisted suicide is when patients request a doctor to give them a lethal dose of medication in order to assist them in ending their lives. In most instances, the patient has been given a short period to live either from a terminal disease or other medical circumstances.
I think this practice is extremely atrocious and it should be made illegal. It is unethical to assist someone in ending their life, especially since the sole mission of physicians is to preserve life.
I believe life should be treasured; we shouldn't put humans down like animals.
One of the biggest arguments against physician assisted suicide is if we legalize it, there would be room for abuse.
For example, people on Medicare or other assisted healthcare corporations, may be pushed to take such an option so that they aren't creating expensive hospital bills. People who are given the option of physician-assisted suicide may be pushed into this option for reasons other than their own will.
Family members may influence their decisions and push them into a decision they don't want.
People who find out they are going to die, or who are in pain and want to die, are packed full of emotions that affect their ability to think clearly.
As history has shown, people are imperfect and make mistakes, but suicide is one you can't take back.
Where do you draw the line? How do you decide which ones are mentally capable to make those decisions?
I don't think physicians are able to make that decision. Anyone who knows they are going to die isn't going to be in the right state of mind to make a serious decision like that, and I don't believe others should be able to make this decision for them.
Another important point to think about is: What if the doctor's diagnosis was wrong? In a case like that, extra time may save a person's life. For people that have a terminal disease, what if a cure is found?
The extra weeks they may have had could have been all that was needed for them to live a healthy and full life.
To give up on someone when there may even be a sliver of a chance they could survive is just inhumane. Giving someone else the power to end your life seems like a form of murder in my eyes.
With all these unanswered questions, how can we justify something like physician-assisted suicide? There are so many unknown things still in the medical field, so how can we give up on people?
To me, physician-assisted suicide is like giving up on someone. I believe medical personnel should try to save lives instead of end them.
If we start with physician-assisted suicide, where do we stop?
I think this practice is extremely atrocious and it should be made illegal. It is unethical to assist someone in ending their life, especially since the sole mission of physicians is to preserve life.
I believe life should be treasured; we shouldn't put humans down like animals.
One of the biggest arguments against physician assisted suicide is if we legalize it, there would be room for abuse.
For example, people on Medicare or other assisted healthcare corporations, may be pushed to take such an option so that they aren't creating expensive hospital bills. People who are given the option of physician-assisted suicide may be pushed into this option for reasons other than their own will.
Family members may influence their decisions and push them into a decision they don't want.
People who find out they are going to die, or who are in pain and want to die, are packed full of emotions that affect their ability to think clearly.
As history has shown, people are imperfect and make mistakes, but suicide is one you can't take back.
Where do you draw the line? How do you decide which ones are mentally capable to make those decisions?
I don't think physicians are able to make that decision. Anyone who knows they are going to die isn't going to be in the right state of mind to make a serious decision like that, and I don't believe others should be able to make this decision for them.
Another important point to think about is: What if the doctor's diagnosis was wrong? In a case like that, extra time may save a person's life. For people that have a terminal disease, what if a cure is found?
The extra weeks they may have had could have been all that was needed for them to live a healthy and full life.
To give up on someone when there may even be a sliver of a chance they could survive is just inhumane. Giving someone else the power to end your life seems like a form of murder in my eyes.
With all these unanswered questions, how can we justify something like physician-assisted suicide? There are so many unknown things still in the medical field, so how can we give up on people?
To me, physician-assisted suicide is like giving up on someone. I believe medical personnel should try to save lives instead of end them.
If we start with physician-assisted suicide, where do we stop?
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Steve
posted 10/02/08 @ 3:43 PM CST
Ultimately you are taking a authoritarian view that life belongs to the government rather than the individual and that people shouldn't have the freedom to make their own decisions about their own lives. (Continued…)
Erika Pimentel
posted 10/06/08 @ 12:52 PM CST
This is such a complex subject to discuss. When taking all matters into consideration. I am doing a research paper on assisted suicide and have come across so many different points of views on the matter. (Continued…)
DeRosa
posted 11/06/08 @ 2:13 PM CST
The people who are suffering have evey right to have a doctor help them end there suffering. Sure there is room for abuse but what law is not abused in some wAy you tell me that!!! Lets say a person is tremly ill and only has 5 months to live. (Continued…)
peeka booooo
posted 11/07/08 @ 4:43 PM CST
tired and yeah, the flu but loving it
Post a Comment