When thinking of possible research topics for this paper, I knew I wanted to do something in the medical field.  I have always been interested in medicine and hope to become a nurse one day.  This interest led me to look for controversial topics in the medical field.  I came across the Death with Dignity Act in Oregon and when I found out only four or five states in the United States allow physician assisted suicide, I knew I wanted to argue that there should be a national standard for a law as controversial as this.  I started my research with Oregon when I found out it was the first state in the United States to create a law like this.  I looked into the legal aspects of the law and all the restrictions put on patients who can receive the lethal dose prescribed through the Death with Dignity Act.  After learning about the law in detail, I knew I would be able to argue for physician assisted suicide as a valid option for terminally ill patients who qualify for it.  When I came across the story of a young woman who had to move across the country to die in peace because it was illegal in her home state, I knew physician assisted suicide needed to be legal everywhere in the United States.  This is how I came up with the research question of "Why should the rest of the U.S. follow Oregon's lead and legalize the Death with Dignity Act?"

While I am not a stakeholder in this topic, I feel very strongly that everyone deserves to have control over not only how they live, but also how they die.  This topic is difficult because the majority of the people arguing about the morality of it are not stakeholders and will not be affected by the legalization of physician assisted suicide.  Future terminally ill patients wishing to die on their own terms are the biggest group of people that will be affected by this law.  These people are unaware that this will ever happen to them and therefore cannot argue for it because by the time they know they want it, it will be too late.  This is why I think it is so important to fight for these people to have the right to die when and how they want to.  If we do not fight for them, no one will.  While I did come into this project thinking that everyone should have the option to end their life when they find it necessary, my opinion was only strengthened by the research I did, making me believe that I will be able to sway those with other opinions as well.  While it is nearly impossible to write an argumentative essay with absolutely no bias, I will avoid bias by looking into the reasons people have to argue against physician assisted suicide and will find ways to counter these arguments and make compromises to make everyone happy.  

At this point in my research I still do not know more than one argument against physician assisted suicide and hope to find more.  I will use these arguments to make counter arguments and avoid bias.  I also plan to research other countries that have legalized physician assisted suicide and will look at how this legalization has affected them as a country.  I know Switzerland legalized physician assisted suicide well before anywhere in the United States, so it will be good to look at how it affects them in the long run.  I will also look into the court cases involving death with dignity in the U.S. and the reasoning that the court uses to argue for and against the Act.  This will help me find arguments that are less opinionated than some other arguments might be.

My only hope in my argument is to get people opposed to physician assisted suicide to start to think about the idea of death with dignity in a different way.  I just want to make them question their opinions a little.  I know I can not change everyone's opinion, but I think I can at least get them to think about it a little harder than they might at first.  If I can change the mind of just one person, I will consider my paper a success.  I can definitely address all the aspects of this issue in eight to ten pages and think that I will have plenty of room to fully examine both sides of the controversy, including arguments for and against physician assisted suicide.  Some main arguments for physician assisted suicide are arguing that people should have the right to choose how and when they die.  When given less than six months to live, no one wants to just sit around and wait to die.  These patients should not be forced to live their last days in pain not knowing when their time will come.  They deserve to die painlessly and peacefully surrounded by their family and friends in their own home on their own terms as opposed to alone in a hospital room.  The main argument against physician assisted suicide is that it is immoral and inhumane to kill innocent people.  A lot of people also argue that doctors can be wrong and there is no telling how long someone could actually live with the right treatment.  The medical world is always improving and a new procedure could be discovered any day that could save someone who might have already taken their own life.  People also often bring religion into the argument.  For example, many Catholics believe that God is the only one who should have the power or the right to take someone's life.  This is probably the biggest opposition to the law and definitely one of the hardest to oppose.  The hardest part of writing my paper will be arguing against these religious arguments without coming off as insensitive or accidentally hurting anyone's feelings.  
