There have been numerous debates concerning the issue of assisted suicide for the terminally ill patients in the United States. This debate goes back and forth raising the controversies of whether the terminally ill patient has a right to be assisted by their doctors to die. Many people find the issues of assisted suicide challenging because of moral and religious beliefs they subscribe to that in most case do not support this concept of Euthanasia. Most of these people are more compassionate and respect the needs and wants of terminally ill patients.
The term euthanasia is perceived negatively in American society with its opponents viewing it as an act of murder. However, in the real sense, the patients suffering from terminal illness have the right to end their lives with assisted suicide to get out of severe pain they are going through in their life. Patients have a right to choose what is best for them, and therefore those suffering from terminal illness should be given the right to Euthanasia so that they can end the severe pain they are experiencing.
Meaning of Euthanasia
Euthanasia is the act of terminating the life of the terminally sick patients with the aim of relieving them from severe pain. For a person to undergo Euthanasia he or she must be suffering from an incurable condition, and the decision to end life can be made by the patient, the family members, the physicians, or in some cases by the court. In the USA assisted suicide can only be carried out in the states where it is legal, and the patient should provide proof that he or she is a resident of that state.
Euthanasia can be active where the patient is given a lethal drug or passive where the doctors stop providing the necessary services that are needed to keep a person alive. Patients may request for assisted suicide due to severe pain, dislike of being dependent, feeling a burden, fear of loss of dignity and control, and depression.
Reasons why the Right to Assisted Suicide should be embraced
Advancement in medical technology has brought about sophisticated instruments that play an instrumental role in prolonging the life of human beings. However, in some instances, using such tools like respirators to keep a patient in a vegetative state causes more suffering to the patient and even his or her family. The purpose of medicine is to lessen the pain and suffering that a patient is going through in his or her life. For patients with the terminal illness that no medicine can cure, using these medical technologies to prolong their life only subjects them to more pain.
According to Cotton (363) in cases such as terminal illness where there is no cure, Euthanasia should be allowed. Terminally ill individuals should be allowed freedom to euthanasia which will help them end the suffering they are going through in their life. This right to death via assisted suicide is necessary because it is in the best interest of the patient. Terminally ill patients should be entitled to the right to physician-assisted suicide since it will enable them to end a life well-lived without going through the unnecessary pain as well as the cost.
The freedom to assisted suicide for the terminally ill should not be denied because these patients could use this liberty to pursue their happiness. Also, since all human beings are entitled to the right to make choices in their lives assisted suicide should be seen as a way of pursuing death with dignity which is in the best interest of the patient as by doing this he or she avoids being subjected to unnecessary suffering.
The terminal illness may lead to unbearable suffering to both the patient and the family members. Keeping the dying patients in the hospital is costly, and according to Dworkin (187), the cost ranges from $ 2000 to $ 10000 per month in the United States. This cost is too high for most people, and only a few can afford, and competent terminally ill patients may want to save their families from the financial burden they will have to carry by keeping them alive and opt for assisted suicide. By legalizing euthanasia, the patient's family can be saved from expenses that will come along with keeping the patient pointlessly alive in a vegetative state in the hospital.
Legalization of euthanasia in patients with the terminal illness will provide an opportunity for individuals with organ failure to lead a normal life again as it will encourage organ donation. Individuals with organ failure waiting for an organ transplant can benefit from the organs of the terminally ill patients who may opt for physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia, therefore, is essential and should be provided as an option for these patients because it not only protects them from severe pain by granting them the right to a dignified death but also a right to life for those individuals in need of organ transplant (Lewy 127).
Arguments against Assisted Suicide
The act of physicians assisting the terminally ill patients in ending their lives is supported by many people who view it as respecting their freedom to make choices in their lives. However, the opponents of Euthanasia argue that providing the right to death with dignity is against the Gods will and goes against the right to life.
Most of these patients request for assisted suicide because of depression, and others could be suffering from mental disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorders and therefore should not be given this right but instead given psychiatric help. This group of people claims that legalization of euthanasia would lead the doctor to lose the initiative to provide proper care for the terminally ill people and commitment for the health providers to save lives as well as encourage the elimination of individuals with incurable diseases from the society.
Similarly, allowing euthanasia will expose the already vulnerable patients to pressure to end their life from selfish relatives who seek personal benefits like inheriting the patient's properties (Math and Chaturvedi). Furthermore, allowing physician-assisted suicide gives the doctors a lot of power, and this may lead to the misuse of euthanasia where people will use it to cover up for murder. The opponents argue that God gives life and allowing Euthanasia will reduce the respect that the society has for the sanctity of life, and this will mean that some lives are not worthy of living.
Similarly, encouraging assisted suicide for people with the terminal illness will imply that euthanasia has become the medication for this kind of diseases and hence will discourage the continuous search for new drugs and treatments to cure the terminal illness. The opposing group maintains that effective palliative care should provide creative and compassionate care for the sick and therefore this makes euthanasia unnecessary.
Conclusion
The right to assisted suicide must be given to individuals with the terminal illness so that they can choose to end their lives in a humane and dignified way that would end their suffering. All citizens have a right to make choices that are in their best interest and patients with the terminal illness should not be denied the liberty to choose what will make them happy by ending the suffering they are going through in their lives. This illness not only brings misery to the patient but also to the family members who have to bear the burden of the high cost of medication.
Therefore, giving the patients the right to physician-assisted suicide relieves the families from the financial burden that would have resulted by continuing to keep a dying patient in the hospital. Similarly, legalization of euthanasia will not only give the patients suffering from terminal illness liberty to seek euthanasia but also provides a right to life for the individuals in need of organ transplant. Therefore, I support legalization of assisted suicide for patients suffering from incurable conditions because despite the argument by the opponents, the benefits prove it is in their best interest and therefore necessary.
Work Cited
Cotton, Paul. “Medicine’s Position Is Both Pivotal and Precarious in Assisted Suicide Debate." The Journal of the American Association 1 Feb. 1995: 363-64.
Dworkin, Ronald. Life’s Dominion. New York: Knopf, 1993. 78-170
Lewy G. Assisted suicide in the US and Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc; 2011.
Math S and Chaturvedi. Euthanasia: Right to life vs. right to die. National Institutes of Health. Indian Journal of Medical Research. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612319/. 2012
