The sterile smell of antiseptic fills the bleak, white walled room. Imagine that you are sitting next to your 35 year old your sister, a fit, bubbling, lawyer in her prime, absorbing everything you can: the sweet smell of her apple shampoo, her radiant smile, and her crisp green eyes that seem as if they are looking into your soul. Your sister’s bubbling with excitement, going on and on about the great day ahead. But she’s not being released from the hospital. Not getting taken off of the machines that control her. Not getting any further. She is about to willingly end her life of the suffering that lung cancer has exposed her to. She’s ready to take the next step, but you will never be. The idea of “deliberate action taken with the intention of ending a life, in order to relieve persistent suffering” is certainly…show more content… Suicide is defined as “the act of killing yourself, most often as a result of depression or other mental illness“ (American Psychological Association). Suicide accounts for 2% of all deaths in the United States, while euthanasia accounts for 0.39% of all deaths. Suicide isn’t regulated by law, so euthanasia, also, shouldn’t be regulated by law. There is nothing stopping a terminally ill patient from discharging themselves from the hospital and committing suicide on their own terms. Euthanasia provides a safe, contained environment for this same process to occur. Another reason why euthanasia should not be regulated by the government is that the process of euthanasia is not rigidly right or wrong. The laws of governing body strictly outline the boundary between right and wrong, ethical or unethical, legal and illegal. Stealing is wrong and unethical, and, therefore, is illegal. Allowing people freedom of speech is right and ethical, and, therefore, is legal. Euthanasia doesn’t fall into any of these categories and shouldn’t, therefore, be either legal or