Introduction
Death, a journey all must embark on where none can ever turn back and this is a part of life that no one wants to deal with let alone deal with when it comes to a dying relative. However, there has been a lot of talk recently about physician assisted suicide when it comes to a dying relative and some physicians feel it is their obligatory duty to relieve that dying person of any pain that they might be experiencing. Some people feel that it is easier to do this to spare the dying of their pain depending on the amount of time that they have been dealing with it. It can be argued that mercy killing a dying relative is the ultimate way to send them to the next life in peace, but there is so much wrong with that and doing it is much worse. This debate has raised a question, should physician assisted suicide be made more readily available. The answer, no it should not. Golden (1999) noted that physician assisted suicide of the disabled is not just wrong, but it is against the law (Golden, 1999, pg.1).
Thesis
A reason why physician assisted suicide should never be made legal or available is because of the fact that death is scary enough, for those who are afraid of what awaits on the other side, rushing them to die is not the way to comfort them before saying goodbye. Death is a zone where people do not know what awaits them on the other side and as most well know, the unknown is frightening which makes a dying person’s transition to death that much more difficult to accept. Another problem with physician assisted suicides is that some physicians think that they are doing the family a favor by unplugging the life support from the dying, but the truth is that unless that family gives the doctor consent to do so then it is illegal. It is a known fact that people should die the way that they see fit, there is no written law that states that a dying person has to die by physician no matter how sick that person is. There are some doctors who are a little too eager about pulling the plug on that dying person, giving them that satisfaction is not an option!
Body
A secondary reason why physician-assisted suicide should never be available in the United States is because of will and testament issues, some families usually do not have time to stop in and get the arrangements ready for the dying person’s final requests. People are busy and have families as well as jobs that they work where time to see people is non-existent, this can cause problems for families because the dying person’s last wish could be a change to their last will in testament. Physicians assisted suicide robs family and their dying the opportunity to finalize things before their dying dies. Heimburger (2003) noted that physician assisted suicide is something that should never exist, it not only robs family of time with their dying relatives but it devalues that dying person’s life which is wrong on all counts (Heimburger, 2003, pg.1). It can be argued that a person who is in constant pain and who do not want to die from the disease should have that choice, and it should be their choice alone. Besides, just about every pain caused by a disease is definitely treatable and that pain should always be relieved with the best medicines in the entire hospital. There is never a demand for dying people to die by physician assisted suicide because dignity is not the issue, being able to die the way a person wants to is the issue. It can be said that those who desire a physician assisted suicide has a reason why and it is usually a very loud cry for help, and those kinds of people should be talked down from that because it is not the ideal way to die especially if that dying person has family that they want to see. It is not fair for a physician to perform a physician assisted suicide because what the physician does not know is that there are serious legal implications involving such an action, plus the damage to the family is critical and irreversible; it is not for a doctor to decide when a person dies or when they should start their preparations toward death. Dying people cry out in pain all day long, but they should still be given the opportunity to die by their own hand and not by the physician who feels that alleviating a person’s life is the best way to alleviate them of their pain.
The overall reason why physician assisted suicide should never be made available is because it is morally wrong overall. A physician’s job is to make their patients comfortable as long as they are within the confines of the hospital or medical center, the hypocritical oath of a doctor is do no harm. When a physician introduces assisted suicide as a choice for families with dying relatives, their loyalty to their hypocritical oath goes up in flames. It is not a physician’s place to recommend that the family say goodbye to their dying relative even if the relative is not ready to die yet, their wishes should be honored no matter how ill they are and it should never be questioned or challenged. Lee (2012) noted that every human life is precious and whether or not people die today or tomorrow, people should die the way people want to and when they want to. Recommendations about either one is not an option nor should it ever be one (Lee, 2012, pg.1). It is a known fact that some people in very bad health and near death try their best to stay alive for reasons that everyone else do not need to know, they are probably waiting for their birthday to roll around again before they die. Case in point, a 77-year-old woman is dying of cancer, and she requested a D.R. (Do Resuscitate). The thing of it is that the 77-year-old woman is trying to stay alive as long as she can because her 19-year-old granddaughter is playing the violin on television and it is going to be a televised event, she does not want to miss it. Her reason to keep hanging on is because seeing her granddaughter play the violin will give her peace, and she is happy about that. The doctor is just waiting for her to die so the room can open up, the doctor does not care about the woman at all; it is just a job to him. Coincidentally, there are other scenarios just like this one because there are physicians out there that treat their job like a job where they do not have to feel obligated to morally care about their patients. Any physician who do not care about their patients should not even be doctors, it is morally wrong to do physician assisted suicide because the dying has rights that should not be ignored or trampled on.
Conclusion
References
Lee, P. (2012, December 14). Say No to Physician Assisted Suicide. Retrieved October 22, 2014, from http://www.cato-unbound.org/2012/12/14/patrick-lee/say-no-physician-assisted-suicide
Golden, M. (1999, January 1). Why Assisted Suicide Must Not Be Legalized. Retrieved October 22, 2014, from http://dredf.org/assisted_suicide/assistedsuicide.html
Heimburger, D. (2003, January 1). Physician-Assisted Death Should Remain Illegal: A Debate. Retrieved October 22, 2014, from http://bmei.org/jbem/volume8/num3/heimburger_physician-assisted_death_should_remain_illegal.php
