I am doing a research paper on Physician Assisted Suicide and wanted to know how you felt about this.?

Question

Physician Assisted Suicide is legal in Oregon at the present time. They passed a law in 1997 called the Death with Dignity Act. How do you feel about this?

Answer 1

I think it should be up to the individual to choose when and how to end their own life.

The Oregon law is very limited. It only allow people to choose their own death when they are within the last six months of a terminal illness, as confirmed by two independent physicians, and only when they can make the decision with a clear head.

The US Supreme Court has determined that the law is valid, and that the attempts by Ashcroft (former US Attorney General) to punish the doctors was an improper intrusion of the federal government the state's ability to regulate medical practice.

But the Court has also held that the right to choose your own death is not a fundamental right. And I think that decision is wrongly reached. We live in a society were everyone is entitled to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. And when a person's status of life conflicts with their pursuit of liberty from pain or happiness at ending things, the government should not be the one choosing which is more important.

Answer 2

I am a resident of Oregon and I have been a strong supporter of Death with Dignity since the very beginning. I believe a person suffering from a terminal illness has already suffered enough and has the right to end the pain of this life and move on the the next eternal life, without pain.

Answer 3

The decision to take your own life is your own, but I have a BIG problem with physician-assisted suicide. All doctors and physicians take the Hippocratic oath when they become doctors, and part of that oath includes the words "do no harm." While the person who wants to commit suicide may think there is no harm in getting help from a physician, the problem is bigger than that. When someone dies, it affects their families, their friends, their colleagues, and other loved ones. Those people can be harmed, and there's also the bigger question of whether society can be harmed if life is considered to be a throwaway commodity. Doctors shouldn't be involved in assisted suicide -- if a doctor doesn't have a moral or ethical problem with it, then he/she should turn in his/her license to practice medicine. Can't have it both ways...

Answer 4

Very mixed feelings. While I was brought up to believe life is sacred, I also feel that the quality of life should be considered. The problem with assisted suicide is, where do you draw the line? Watch "Soilent Green." In that, people can "check out" for any, or no, reason. Then, you start getting into euthanasia. Then, population control.. It seems that mankind can never stop at a sensible point and almost always carrys things too far.

Answer 5

I think the law is a good one. It brings transparency to a practice that happens every day in secret.

Also, the immense relief that the terminally ill receive when they have the OPTION of assisted suicide helps them live longer, and some of them are actually able to die naturally.

Without assisted suicide, many people try to kill themselves violently, endanger others, and often fail.

Edit: sarge927, wouldn't "Do No Harm" also prohibit any medical procedure with any harmful side effects?

Answer 6

"Assisted suicide" has been a part of medicine since the stone ages. When a person is in serious pain and has no hope of recovery, then it is the only humane thing to do. Anyone that believes allowing a person to, say, endure a continuous seizure for four days before they die, because God created them as a unique and precious snowflake and no one has the right, has no humanity.

Answer 7

Im all for assisted suicide at the end of life due to terminal illness or severe pain and suffering. Im an advocate for QUALITY of life, not the quantity. I dont want to live 50 yrs on support or in terrible pain. I want to live life and enjoy those around me

Answer 8

I feel that ALL lfe is important but when that life is no longer lived but merely exisiting, if the person wishes, it should be ended. I don't want to be on life support machines...that isn't living. We do it for animals, why not people? We need to be a bit less selfish when it comes to these kind of decisions. Keeping a being alive just cause one doesn't want to let go is not a good reason to keep that being "alive".

Answer 9

It's a slippery slope. There are times when it is the most humane thing to do but how can that be expressed in impersonal legal terms in such a way that it won't be taken advantage of by people who don't want to care for unhealthy relatives anymore?

Answer 10

I feel that is someone has a terminal illness, it should be their decision if they want to end their life before their pain and suffering take over.

Let them have dignity, and control over their lives. I think it should be allowed.