Assisted Suicide Arguments Against Euthanasia

1531 Words7 Pages
In recent years, the number of countries legalizing or considering legalizing doctor-assisted suicide continues to increase notably. While some countries have decriminalized the controversial act of assisted suicide, in many places it remains illegal. Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and certain parts of the United States are the only places where, under different terms, doctors are legally allowed to assist patients who qualify and express a desire, to end their life due to medical reasons. Though globally the idea of assisted suicide is becoming less taboo, few countries have taken steps to decriminalize it. For various reasons, such as culture and religion, many view assisted suicide as unethical because they believe that no one has…show more content…
The article addressed arguments against assisted suicide and provided counterarguments to support patients’ choice of whether or not a patient decided to continue life. The article starts off by mentioning that nowadays, governments tend to allow citizens further liberty and autonomy, and in that, citizens should have the right to decide whether or not to continue their life. Secondly, the article mentions that assisted dying continues to become legal in an exceeding amount of countries, or is progressing to becoming increasingly legal in countries. Afterwards, it introduces the first argument against assisted dying, that ending a life is wrong, in the view of some cultures, human life is sacred. It follows this argument up with another which suggests that allowing doctors to assist dying will lead to cumulative malpractice. At this point, the author brings up the argument that liberty and autonomy are origins of human dignity and, therefore, it is a persons’ right to elect when to die if continuing their life meant prolonged suffering. The next opposing argument brought up is that if assisted suicide remained illegal, doctors who exploited the system could be prosecuted as they should. The article points out that this an unethical and unworkable option to ensure that the system is not misused by doctors. It brings forth two…show more content…
When people are going to live the rest of their life in pain, they will not be living a life that they prefer, and should they decide, they should be allowed to have a say in when their life ends. Additionally, regulations should be put in place to ensure that only certain patients are eligible, and once a patient is considered eligible, there is a process to ensure that it is the right decision for them. Families should be able to have loved-ones die peacefully instead of them taking matters into their own hands without informing one. Doctors, if they are trying to do what their patients choose for their life, should not be charged for following patient orders. Furthermore, patients should not be obliged to uproot their lives in order to die in a peaceful manner, as was shown in the article, where a patient is forced to move to a different state. Another example is “suicide tourism” in Switzerland, where patients who wish to end their life are forced to travel to Switzerland and end their life peacefully away from family and home. If a person is suffering and does not wish to continue living their life, it is a considerable injustice to not allow them to end their lives if they decide that they no longer want to continue living. Nonetheless, before someone is allowed to decide to end their life, they should go through counselling in order to ensure that

More about Assisted Suicide Arguments Against Euthanasia

Open Document