Physician- Assisted Suicide Essay -- Essays Papers

Physician- Assisted Suicide What can be more personal than the decision to end one's life in its final, painful days? Physician-assisted suicide is a justifiable suicide; â€Å"self-deliverance† and a person's liberty should not be taken away. On September 15, 2001 my negative attitude toward physician-assisted suicide changed drastically. My mother's parents are deeply in love and unfortunately have become very sick. My grandma was just diagnosed with Lou Gherig's disease one year before her death. My grandpa was always depressed because my grandma was in so much pain and was miserable. She was such a loving person and my mom was upset. When my grandma researched her illness, Lou Gherig's disease she realized that she would eventually be like a vegetable. Crying softly she looked up at our whole family and said, "Please I want to have PAS as soon as I get to "that" point in my illness. I love you all so much and don't want you to watch me die like that or spend a lot of money for som ething that cannot be helped." My grandpa loved her more than anyone can love a person and visited her in the hospital everyday. She was to "that" point in her life now and he was scared. Physician-assisted suicide is a justifiable self-deliverance because it helps those in pain avoid dying miserably. No person wants to live in pain or die in pain and PAS gives patients the mercy of dying painlessly. According to Kim, PAS allows patients a speedy death in peace and dignity (170). The author asserts that for many patients the pain they endure is too much to bear. Forcing people to suffer is immoral (Kim 171). No person that is terminally ill should want to suffer or allow their family members to watch them suffer. ... ...ainlessly than suffer. Physician-assisted suicide is a justifiable "self deliverance" because it helps those in pain avoid dying miserably. Works Cited Hawkins, Gail N., ed. Physician- Assisted Suicide. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. 11-35. Kim, Clara S. Pros and Cons: Social Policy Debates of Our Time. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. 165- 182. Manning, Michael. Euthanasia and Physician- Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring? New York: Paulist Press, 1998. 26-44. Sommerville, Margaret. Death Talk: The Case Against Euthanasia and Physician- Assisted Suicide. Quebec: McGill- Queen’s University Press, 2001. 205-217. Willke, J.C. Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: Past and Present. Cincinnati: Hayes Publishing, 1998. 1-16. Gittleman, D.K. "Euthanasia and Physician-assisted Suicide." Southern Medical Journal. Vol. 92. 1999.