Physician-assisted suicide is an issue that have been lively debated. There is still no consensus, as to whether terminally ill individuals should have the right to ask for physician-assisted suicide. There are five states in the United States of America, where physician-assisted suicide is legal. These states are California, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Montana. In the latter state, the option of the physician-assisted suicide is obtained via court decision ("Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts - CNN.com", 2016, n.p.).
The ethics of the physician-assisted suicide is being questioned nowadays. There are certain arguments in favor of physician-assisted suicide, as well as arguments against it. Some people think that the decisions about the death, such as its timing and manner, are personal. The advocates of physician-assisted suicide also speak much about justice. They say that it is a legal right of terminally ill patients to refuse treatment. To treat all patients equitably, it is necessary to allow them the physician-assisted suicide (Starks, Dudzinski, & White, 2016, n.p.). There are other arguments for the physician-assisted suicide, which seem to have sense. However, I personally am against the physician-assisted suicide.
Being a religious person, I strongly believe that the God gives us lives and it is his decision to decide when it is the right time to take these lives back. Moreover, if a person suffers a lot in the live on the Earth, then he/she is given the possibility to live a better life in Abraham bosom. Person’s life is a sanctity. One should appreciate it and value every second of it. Physician-assisted suicide is morally wrong as it diminishing this sanctity, and allows the thing that has been historically prohibited. Moreover, physicians would make mistake in the diagnosis or prognosis, and if physician-assisted suicide is legal, such mistake can be fatal for a patient.
References
Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts - CNN.com. (2016). CNN. Retrieved 21 June 2016, from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/physician-assisted-suicide-fast-facts/
Starks, H., Dudzinski, D., & White, N. (2016). Physician Aid-in-Dying: Ethical Topic in Medicine. Depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 21 June 2016, from https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pad.html
