When deciding what topic to conduct my research on I tried to stay away from extremely sensitive fields; such as abortion, and also ones that I viewed as being "over-debated" such as the legalization of marijuana. I first came across a few articles online regarding terminally-ill patients and what they must endure during their last few moments alive. Some of these things include pro-longed suffering, extremely high medical bills, and continuous heart ache by loved ones. With so many negative outcomes surrounding terminal illness I was left wondering what is being done to prevent or at least minimize the damage caused. After much research I was astonished to only find one course of action used as a way of minimizing such negative repercussions; Euthanasia, but yet only legal and readily available to citizens residing in only a select handful of our fifty states. When conducting my research for the ILP assignments my broad interest of terminally-ill patients was narrowed down and directed more specifically towards the legalization and utilization of the euthanasia process through this community of afflicted people.

I am inclined to explaining my thought process and reasoning towards why I think euthanasia should become legal within all fifty states because I feel that for those patients enduring a terminal illness this seems like the most beneficial and simple process to avoid suffering and financial burden. Personally I do not directly have any relationship to the topic of euthanasia specifically, but do have a personal experience regarding terminal illness and the distraught that surrounds it. When I was younger my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease; an illness that basically deteriorates one's brain overtime causing a loss in memory, overall causing the brain to forget how to function their organs and shutting the body down. Throughout my entire life I was able to experience the aftermath of a terminal illness first hand. My family was always in pain and worrying about her well-being and if that itself wasn't enough bills kept pilling up, leaving my grandfather with a huge financial burden on his shoulders. Money should be the last of someone's concern when worrying about the life of a loved one.

I consider myself to be a stakeholder in this topic due to my passionate stance of without legalizing the practice of euthanasia here in the United States, millions of patients and their families will go through much pain and burden when it all could have easily been avoided all together. I have not directly experienced the hardship of requesting euthanasia for a family member, but experiencing a family member suffer through a terminal illness and be able to reflect on some steps that could have been taken to minimize pain and cost if only the practice of euthanasia was readily available.

The research question "Why Euthanasia Should Be Legalized in the United States" relates to my personal values because it shows how I dig deeper not just to state my opinion but to be able to back it up with viable facts and reasoning to further promote my stance. Coming into this project I didn't have a prior opinion on a topic I thought was relevant to write about so I was left to formulate my own opinion on the subject right then and there. After reading about this practice that could relieve the stress and pain being endured by millions, I was left unable to produce any type of reasoning to why terminally ill patients are being kept away from this treatment and why so many people felt strong enough on the matter to retract our natural rights as United States Citizens. That being said, I believe that because I am arguing for an opinion formed by factual no-bias resources I will be able to eliminate any type of personal bias that can not be back up by fact or statistical data. The argument that is being made is not to overpower one idea over the other, but to appreciate both sides of the argument and weigh out the pros and cons brought from either parties. The one thing that I don't know about my topic and am interested in finding out more about it is what does the future hold for euthanasia? I have read countless articles about past experiences and stories of euthanasia in todays society but have yet to come across any information pertaining to what will become of this practice in the future. I want to find out the predictions of what positive factors could come about if Euthanasia became legal within the States. 

Overall I hope my argument allows the idea of such a controversial practice to become legal within the United States of America, but at least I want my audience to gain knowledge on the topic so one can better understand the reasoning backing it. With the abundance of information pertaining to the practice and implementation of euthanasia I see no problem in producing an 8-10 page paper regarding the issue. Within the sources I've found there has been repetitive agreement that legalizing euthanasia would relive much pain and stress endured by patients and relatives, but along with that many repetitive counter arguments such as its potential abuse and its confliction with religious moralities. I might want to go even further into my research question and specify not just why euthanasia should become legal but what continues to prevent it from being implemented? This question falls on the scale of controversy due to how debated the topic is.
