The Pros and Cons of Physician-Assisted Suicide
Introduction
Physician aid in dying has always been a controversial subject that raises issues that centrally focus on the role of physicians.
Physician aid in dying occurs when a physician provides their patient with the necessary means or information, which facilitates the patient’s choice to end their life. The activity goes by other terms such as physician-assisted suicide, doctor-prescribed death, the right to die, or physician-assisted death.
In the United States, physician aid in dying has been carefully distinguished from Euthanasia. Euthanasia, which is also called mercy killing, refers to the act of doctors giving lethal medication to an incurably suffering patient. Euthanasia can be voluntary and involuntary.
While Euthanasia is illegal in the United States, physician aid in dying was legalized in Oregon two decades ago when the nation performed its first act of allowing a patient to die as per their will. Afterward, California, Vermont, Washington State, and Washington D.C. have legalized physician-assisted suicides.
The legalization of physician-assisted suicide has led to continuous debates, where some states argue against it while others support it.
The controversy of physician-assisted suicide arose in the 1990s when Doctor Kevorkian, a doctor in Oregon, helped over 130 people suffering from terminal illnesses take their own lives.
This essay will critically examine the reasons why some people support physician-assisted suicide while others are against it.
