Picture a drab gray hospital room, silent except for the steady beeping of the heart monitor. The pale, wane figure on the bed did not want to be there. Expressing the desire to die with dignity, he requested a doctor assisted suicide. Yet the Michigan law made euthanasia illegal; his loved ones could not honor his wishes. His living will was considered invalid and the physician could not even help. The cruel harshness of the disease reduced his dignity to a mere pittance. Michigan should legalize euthanasia because suicide is a personal choice, the current laws can place families and physicians in dire situations, and a large demand exists. Euthanasia exists as a personal decision such as abortion; an unavoidable right. Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein found the right to assisted suicide. Using the Supreme Court s abortion decisions, Rothstein found the constitutional right to assisted suicide (Krauthammer 9A).
The legalization of assisted suicide would apply the greatest to those who are terminally ill, many who rarely ever leave their homes. Far ahead of the United States, the Netherlands permit Euthanasia. Although still a criminal offense in the Netherlands, euthanasia has become more and more common. For the past twenty years Dutch courts have consistently ruled that doctors can avoid prosecution if they follow loose guidelines ( Dutch Parliament allows 3A).
The Essay on Euthanasia-Assisted Suicide
... new term - assisted euthanasia has been introduced. This is when a terminally ill patient is assisted in committing suicide by their ... to die. Secondly, U.S. law forbids intentional homicide. Assisted euthanasia is a form of premeditated murder. The law ... patients a physician "should not intentionally cause death." Assisted euthanasia can never be an ethically acceptable medical practice despite ...
In 1990 alone, Dutch doctors euthanized 2300 people (Sirico 7B).
Although the Michigan government has tried repeatedly to completely obliterate Euthanasia, it still occurs. Medically assisted suicide already is established in the Netherlands Critics point to the steady increase in such choices there .But I am not old and I am not in pain But like any zealot, he [Dr. Kevorkian] refuses to go away. And he will be heard (Cantor 6A).
Euthanasia activists and doctors will not simply disappear. Once Kevorkian heard of the new Michigan law making doctor assisted suicide illegal he said that he would ignore it ( Choosing Death 2-22-93; 21).
Isabel Correa, who swore she would not return to California alive, killed herself. Police thought they had thwarted her suicide attempt on Friday, but Kevorkian helped successfully the next Saturday (Durfee 1A).
The assisted suicide laws that now exist can place families and physicians in legal predicaments. Physicians face dire conditions when patients placed in their care can no longer take care of themselves. Limited in what they can legally do without express family or patient approval, such as a living will, physician s hands are often tied: Even patients who think they know [what they want] often do not. The most common shock is finding out that not deciding is, in fact, deciding: If a family or patient does not refuse a respirator, feeding tube or other life sustaining measure, the doctors cannot and do not withhold it ( Choosing Death 8-26-91; 44).While assisted suicide laws restrict physicians, families also cannot always undertake what they consider the best for their loved ones ( Suicide Rehearsal: I 1B).
What we need are legislative remedies much broader than the laws recognizing living wills that will restore the rights of families and doctors to act in our best interests when we no longer can (Angell 9).
Physicians should make the information and materials needed to commit doctor assisted suicide readily available to those who desire them. terminally ill patients should be able to receive the information, support, personal presence and drugs they need to end their lives (Ostrom 1F).
The Term Paper on Physician Assisted Suicide Patients Death Physicians
... growing support for permitting doctors to aid patients who wish to hasten their death. Physician-assisted suicide focuses the issue on ... this right would allow physician-assisted suicide and protect doctors from prosecution. The case for legalizing physician-assisted suicide rests on two well-known ... probably have to know him well, meet his family, have dinner with him, and know the designs on ...
Trusted by many elderly, physicians ought to hold the legal responsibility to help their patients. Doctors occasionally receive patients who want to end their lives and the doctors want to legally help them ( Kevorkian Offers Suicide,,, 4A).
In some situations when families do make decisions, the authorities pounce on the bereaved with charges of manslaughter. Betram Harper, who recently helped euthanize his wife, wishes he had kept quiet about the entire ordeal. What he thought a routine gathering of information was actually a criminal investigation. Harper merely finished what his wife had tried to do several times that night (DeSimone 1A).
The rights of assisted suicide do not merely apply to the elderly; these laws stretch to the very young also. As Dr. Gregory Messenger was acquitted of manslaughter, sobs of relief rose from family and friends. Messenger argued his parental right to determine the medical treatment of his premature son. Michael Ryan Messenger was 15 weeks premature and only one pound 11 ounces when born. His father admitted to disconnecting him from a respirator shortly after birth (Basheda 1A).
Most importantly, a demand for legalized euthanasia exists. Many terminally ill people have no hope to live and face a grueling, long death. A Seattle man with terminal cancer claims his life has become a living hell (Ostrom 1F).
As I lose the ability to move, to speak, to eat and to breathe, the time will come when life is no longer joyful for me, a time when living ends and dying begins, elaborates Sue Rodriguez, a patient stricken with Lou Gehrig s disease (Ulbrich 5A).
As the they slowly begin to depend on family members and other loved ones, they begin to make decisions concerning their futures. A lot of the sick elderly are unable to live on their own. They do not want to live in a nursing home; nor do they wish to become a burden to relatives (Bruni 15A).
These once independent men and women must suddenly depend on someone else. Many terminally ill turn to those who assist suicides, such as Dr. Jack Kevorkian. As one patient called Richard claims, I do mind dying but I haven t any choice. They explained it all to me, and there wasn t any other decision they could make. My life has come to a point where it can no longer succeed ( Choosing Death 8-26-91; 44).
The Essay on Doctor Assisted Suicide Terminally Ill
D. A. S Murder, death, suffering. All these horrific terms are related to an extremely important and devastating issue. Doctor assisted suicide is a very important subject that many people know little about. We need to finally shut this murdering out of Oregon for good. There are two sides concerning doctor assisted suicide. Those who oppose of measure 51, which would allow euthanasia, and those ...
Knowing they will die, many choose to simply skip dying and progress directly to death (Begley 44).
Rather than face the tortures their illnesses bring, many terminally ill and elderly would prefer their death to have dignity. I d pay somebody to take me out behind the barn and shoot me but this sounds a lot neater, said one octogenarian suffering from Parkinson s disease [on Kevorkian s suicide machines] (Doctor s Suicide Van 46).
Knowing the option of euthanasia exists remains a comforting fact to many. If their doctor diagnosed them with a terminal illness they would like to legally discuss assisted suicide with their physician. The arrest of the famous Dr. Kevorkian upset many. Sobbing among the outraged, Marguerite Tate, 69, still hoped for Kevorkian s help. Tate has Lou Gehrig s disease and will soon lose use of most muscles (Powers 1A).The constitutionality of euthanasia, the travesty of the current laws, and the high demand for assisted suicide command the legalization of euthanasia. One could guaranty that their loved one s wishes would not be overlooked. The respect and dignity the terminally ill achieved in their many decades of living would follow them through their deaths.
