Why should assisted suicide be legalized?

Question

I'm looking for several generalized, main reasons...

Answer 1

Assisted suicide should be legalized because first off it's not the goverments choice if the suicidal person wants help. Assisted suicide is asked by the suicidal person, they want help so they can die. I know It sounds bad but that's how the laws are today.

Answer 2

You should google Oregon and Physician Assisted Suicide law. It is the only state where it is legal after being put to a vote. It is a well-thought out law and desired by the majority of Oregon citizens. President Bush's administration tried shutting it down based on their interpretation of the FDA regulations that regulate prescriptions (and therefore prescriptions of drugs used for P/A suicides). It failed and the appellate courts held that their interpretation was a gross deviation from the intent of the federal law and violated state's rights (this from a Republican administration...go figure.)

Anyway...why should it be legalized? Because people have the right to make the determinations of their own lives. While this right is not recognized in Constitution, it is a right provided by state's law. Remember when the same Bush administration attempted to intervene in the Schaivo matter. It didn't work, because the feds have no US Constitutional, Federal law or Federal regulation that provides for government intervention.

The way the law is applied in Oregon (and should be applied anywhere it is legalized) is that the person must be suffering from a terminal disease/illness and must go through a rigorous and mental screenings to ensure that it is to end their suffering based on the disease/injury and not merely because of depression or lack of desire/will to live.

Doctor's who assist believe it is their moral and ethical obligation to assist a patient who no longer desires to suffer from the disease, not just because they have lost will to live.

Despite what you think, Doctor's make calls about life and death all the time, not just in this context. ER docs decide to stop life-saving measures based on Do Not Resuscitate orders signed by the patient prior. They decide on their own to stop. They decide to "pull the plug" on other patients. They decide to stop providing treatment and switch to pain management when treatment would be futile. These are tough decisions made between doctors and their patients/families. We should respect the difficult and painful decisions without interjecting our personal morality to a situation we can't begin to fathom for that patient and his family.

Answer 3

Why and when...that's the question. Why, because this is America...land of the free, home of the brave! We have equality, yet we don't. Everyday is a perfect example of that. In our Constitution we have the right to choose, but it does not specify our right to make the choice for our own bodies. Abortion was not even a thought back then. I think abortion and a right to die are equally valid choices. I know and believe that in my heart, were I to be in a vegetative state, I would want to end my life as the people that love and care about me know it. I have no expectations that anyone would judge MY desires. Legal issues concern me...what if we never told anyone and we have that tragic accident, leaving us without a voice?? I think for the ones that love us, they would do want is best for me and them. That's why I love the Supreme Court, there are always precedents.

Answer 4

I think it depends on the reason's for behind the suicide. If it's a terminally ill patient who has exhausted all other options and makes the informed decision to end their suffering then yes, by all means it should be legal (keep in mind I said INFORMED). If it's just someone who can't deal with the daily stress of life, then no, it should not be legal.

Hope that helps!

Answer 5

I work in a hospital on a unit where we have elderly people who are perfectly compus mentus and rational, sadly their bodies are beyond repair. They lie in a bed, day after day slowing fading away taking weeks and weeks and everynight when I look after them and care for them, they say why do i have to suffer like this, you wouldn't let a dog suffer like this. and they are right.
It's a very rocky ground though and I know you will have several people saying it is completely wrong, I just work with these people every night and i understand their wish to die

Answer 6

this may sound strange to you, but assisted suicide is already legal. sound crazy to you? listen up. my mother had COPD (cronic obstructive pulminary disease). she was literally smothering to death after so many years of smoking 2 to 3 packs of cigs a day. her doctor wanted to give her morphine, which is well known to slow down the respiration. now, why would you give a person who is struggling to breath morphine? to ease them into the next world. check me on this

Answer 7

Of course it shouldn't be. Why do you want anyone to make decisions regarding your life or death or place any sanctions on it? But when you stop and think about it, it's a logical extension of abortion rights. If you can get rid of unwanted children, the next logical step would be old people.

Answer 8

Whose life is it anyway? Who owns your life? You or society? If you own it, you can end it at a time and manner of your choosing. If society owns it, they can make you live against your will, even when it is unbearably painful or so degraded as to be unliveable.

Answer 9

to save the state money in medical fees
to tie up loose ends


how about, because you dont like them, or you want the old cow dead, so you can inherit...

NOT a good idea... if you want it assisted, get a doctor to do it... or its murder by any other name...

Answer 10

JUST LIKE ROE V WADE RIGHT TO DECIDE FOR YOUR OWN SELF WHEN YOU WANT TO GO AND HAVE A PARTY WHILE YOU STILL CAN SAYING GOOD BYE TO ALL AROUND YOU BEFORE YOU GO INTO A VEGETATED STATE BECAUSE OF YOUR PROGNOSIS AND EMINENTLY UNAVOIDABLE DEATH.
DEATH WITH DIGNITY.