Even though assisted suicide is relatively new to our society, it dates back centuries. Assisted suicide is the suicide of a patient suffering from an incurable disease, affected by the taking of lethal drugs prescribed by a doctor. In the past, in other countries and undercover in the U.S. some take the means of Euthanasia to end their life, done directly by the doctor injecting the killing medication. Supporters of assisted suicide today, believe The Declaration of Independence approves due to the message of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Assisted suicide should be accepted throughout the United States because of the patient’s dignity, the financial burden, and the excruciating pain.
In the United States, there are three states that currently have a death with dignity law. The Death with Dignity National Center states “These laws allow mentally competent, terminally-ill adult state residents to voluntarily request and receive a prescription medication to hasten their death. This is one of many end-of-life care options available in Oregon, Washington, and Vermont”(Defend Dignity. Take Action.). In Oregon, the law was signed in 1997, in Washington their law was passed in 2008 and implemented in 2009. In 2013, Vermont became the third state to pass a death with dignity law. In Montana, there is no death with dignity law, but in December of 2009, Montana 's Supreme Court ruled there isn’t any state law prohibiting a physician from carrying out a terminally ill patient’s wish to die. The reason patients choose assisted suicide vary from person to person. The biggest deciding factor for assisted suicide is to die with dignity, to not let cancer, tumors, etc. …show more content…
be their cause of death. Most recently was the outbreak with Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old with less than 6 months to live due to brain cancer. Maynard moved from Alamo, California to Oregon to receive barbiturates to die with her dignity. Maynard wrote to New York Times “It has given me a sense of peace during a tumultuous time that otherwise would be dominated by fear, uncertainty and pain” (Slotnik). Assisted suicide makes the patients diagnosed with terminal illnesses feel as though they have control of their lives again, rather than the illness killing them at any given point in time. Patients also feel comfort in not being a burden on family and friends, but also saving them the financial burden. As bills continue to stack up patients become worried as to how it’s going to be payed and feel a burden to the toll loved ones are taking emotionally and financially. According to TIME’s statistics, a study done with results received before January 22, 2014 forty-three percent of those that choose assisted suicide was due to the financial and emotional burden on family, friends, and caregivers. Heather Newton, a graduate from Georgetown University Law stated, “In some cases, having the right to die might allow patients to make more informed choices about their health care. A patient might choose to postpone suicide in favor of alternative treatment options comforted by the knowledge that, if the pain becomes too unbearable, suicide would be an ultimate option to escape their suffering” (Counterpoint: The Right to Assisted Suicide). Patients dying from incurable diseases may spend weeks, months, or years in the hospital draining their savings and insurance benefits with no sign of a turnaround. This choice would not only put ease on the patient but also the friends and family, they’d be able to exit the world knowing they left nothing but good things behind. Some medications just aren 't able to take the pain away, causing patients to want to die. Not having the choice of assisted suicide even leads some people to make the choice to take their life …show more content…
Knowing a tumor or cancer is quickly killing them leads patients to assisted suicide by fighting back and not letting it kill them. Do we have an obligation to have assisted suicide due to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Life can be taken as preserving it (against assisted suicide) or helping someone take the pain away (for assisted suicide). This is the reason why it is important to show your government by voting and making your voice on the subject known. With the support of more residents in states assisted suicide could be more widespread and legal in more
In the United States, there are three states that currently have a death with dignity law. The Death with Dignity National Center states “These laws allow mentally competent, terminally-ill adult state residents to voluntarily request and receive a prescription medication to hasten their death. This is one of many end-of-life care options available in Oregon, Washington, and Vermont”(Defend Dignity. Take Action.). In Oregon, the law was signed in 1997, in Washington their law was passed in 2008 and implemented in 2009. In 2013, Vermont became the third state to pass a death with dignity law. In Montana, there is no death with dignity law, but in December of 2009, Montana 's Supreme Court ruled there isn’t any state law prohibiting a physician from carrying out a terminally ill patient’s wish to die. The reason patients choose assisted suicide vary from person to person. The biggest deciding factor for assisted suicide is to die with dignity, to not let cancer, tumors, etc. …show more content…
be their cause of death. Most recently was the outbreak with Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old with less than 6 months to live due to brain cancer. Maynard moved from Alamo, California to Oregon to receive barbiturates to die with her dignity. Maynard wrote to New York Times “It has given me a sense of peace during a tumultuous time that otherwise would be dominated by fear, uncertainty and pain” (Slotnik). Assisted suicide makes the patients diagnosed with terminal illnesses feel as though they have control of their lives again, rather than the illness killing them at any given point in time. Patients also feel comfort in not being a burden on family and friends, but also saving them the financial burden. As bills continue to stack up patients become worried as to how it’s going to be payed and feel a burden to the toll loved ones are taking emotionally and financially. According to TIME’s statistics, a study done with results received before January 22, 2014 forty-three percent of those that choose assisted suicide was due to the financial and emotional burden on family, friends, and caregivers. Heather Newton, a graduate from Georgetown University Law stated, “In some cases, having the right to die might allow patients to make more informed choices about their health care. A patient might choose to postpone suicide in favor of alternative treatment options comforted by the knowledge that, if the pain becomes too unbearable, suicide would be an ultimate option to escape their suffering” (Counterpoint: The Right to Assisted Suicide). Patients dying from incurable diseases may spend weeks, months, or years in the hospital draining their savings and insurance benefits with no sign of a turnaround. This choice would not only put ease on the patient but also the friends and family, they’d be able to exit the world knowing they left nothing but good things behind. Some medications just aren 't able to take the pain away, causing patients to want to die. Not having the choice of assisted suicide even leads some people to make the choice to take their life …show more content…
Knowing a tumor or cancer is quickly killing them leads patients to assisted suicide by fighting back and not letting it kill them. Do we have an obligation to have assisted suicide due to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Life can be taken as preserving it (against assisted suicide) or helping someone take the pain away (for assisted suicide). This is the reason why it is important to show your government by voting and making your voice on the subject known. With the support of more residents in states assisted suicide could be more widespread and legal in more