Proponents of the proposal call it “an avenue by which a terminally ill person can end their lives in a dignified manner.” Opponents term the proposal as “committing suicide with a doctor’s help.” Nonetheless, by any term or distinction that the act is called, the end result is that the person will commit suicide and in the context of the issue, persons who are terminally ill with no possibility of recovery can end their lives without having to experience the pain that their condition commonly entails. The caveat is that the person who requests for this must first be established by a doctor as competent and having sound mind. In addition, the patient must have been assessed by the doctors as having six weeks or less to live.
The center of the debate is centered on the right of the person to take their own lives. There are cases wherein patients opt to refuse any life sustaining resources to help them extend their life spans. But knowing that continuing their life will entail more pain and suffering on their part, these will resort to other modes to “end their suffering.” Withal, the question here is whether people have a right to take their own lives. The position proffered here is that “death with dignity” allows a patient to die sans the pain and suffering.
Asking to legally take one’s own life stands on the premise that nothing can be done, that medical science has stopped in finding ways to alleviate their situation. In addition, being given the right to take one’s own life mandates that the “commodity” to be taken actually belongs to the person. Hence, the position here is that whether it is termed as “physician assisted suicide” or “death with dignity,” it assumes that life is something that is given by one and can be taken by another. Lastly, there is a certainty that pain and suffering will occur; there is no certainty that pain and suffering will automatically come. In this light, the position taken here is that it is opposed (Bogdan, 2016).
References
Bogdan, J (2016) “Both sides bring painful stories to end-of-life stories” Retrieved 27 June 2016 from <http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20160323/NEWS/160329643/?Start=1
