Manager

Brandon Belansky

Mrs.Kruizenga-muro

English 101

28 September 2006

TITLE

A considerable size of the United States supports physician assisted suicide because they feel as a democratic country, and a free individual, we have the right to decide our own fate. However, those who oppose physician assisted suicide argue that it is god's task to decide when our time is done and it is morally wrong to interfere. When a person takes it upon themselves to decide whether they should live or not, they are playing god. Physician-assisted suicide is unethical and should continue to be illegal.

Physician assisted suicide is defined as doctors assisting terminally ill patients in taking their own life. The patient receives a lethal dosage of drugs that painlessly cause death. Furthermore, a family member, physician, or friend, assists in the request for help with the suicide because the patient cannot complete the task themselves. There are three types of assisted suicide. Voluntary euthanasia occurs with the fully-informed request of a competent adult patient. Involuntary euthanasia occurs over the objection of a patient. Non voluntary euthanasia occurs without the fully-informed consent and fully-informed request of a competent adult patient. Moreover, a common word used to describe these acts is known as "mercy killing". The person who commits the act usually determines that the victim is suffering and needs to be eased of the pain by death. However, this doesn't make the act moral because they have taken it upon themselves to play god.

If euthanasia/physician assisted suicide were legalized, it should be admitted that there might be some abuses of virtually every social practice. There is no absolute guarantee against that. But we do not normally think that a social practice should be precluded simply because it might sometimes be abused. The crucial issue is whether the evil of the abuses would be so great as to outweigh the benefit of the