Could you imagine what it would be like to be in excruciating amount of pain knowing you're going to die but having to sit in a bed and just wait? Physician assisted suicide is one of the most controversial topics in the medical field today. America is known as the "land of the free" but however it is illegal in almost every state for you to have an option when terminally ill to die. In America you have a right to vote, to own land, to bare arms and to an education. However, if you are laying in a hospital bed terminally ill in so much pain you are forced to sit their until you pass. There are many views and beliefs on the argument if it should or should not be legalized but there happens to be more reasons as to why it should be legalized. 

Physician assisted suicide is a topic people have strong beliefs on. For the people who feel as to physician assisted suicide shouldn't be legal main reasons are against religious views, it can ruin doctor and patient relationships, pressure people into dying, insurances companies would love it and that doctors make mistakes everyday. The points made as to why it shouldn't be legalized are very apprehensible but all have counteractive statements. However, the arguments for the opposing side have more evidence and support behind them than the other. The main reasons for as to why it people and I feel it should be legalized is the choice should be yours, in the end we all die anyway, allows for families to have closure, there are benefits to it, allows for people to end their life with dignity and how it relieves the fear of dying. Each side claims very valid points but what it really comes down to is, what if it were you laying in that hospital bed. What would you want at that exact moment, its hard to tell because when it comes down to it you don't really know until it happens. 

One of the main reasons as to why people feel it shouldn't be legalized is for religious reasons. It goes against many religions to commit suicide because people view that God gives you life and so God should only be allowed to take it away. Its noted in other religions as well "Research suggest that liberal Protestants, Jews and those with no religious affiliation are generally more supportive of physician assisted suicide." (Burdette, pg.79) It is also stated in many articles that "Suicide would then be "considered as a rejection of God's sovereignty and loving plan". 1 They feel that individuals are all stewards of their own lives, but that suicide should never be an option." (Robison) I've always been a very religious person so I see why this can influence and persons decision on assisted suicide becoming legal.  Nethertheless technically you are not killing yourself and Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins so that all can be forgiven. Honestly it doesn't matter what religion you are and what you believe when you are trapped in a hospital where it hurts to open your eyes, I think god will understand. Assisted physician suicide is not about the "suicide" it is about being able to have the choice when it comes down to a fragile situation. 

However, discussing the term "suicide relates to another prime reasoning as to why people feel it shouldn't be legalized. When people hear the term "suicide" the first thing that comes to people's mind is a negative connotation. People who commit suicide tend to generally have a mental illness. So people tend to think the allowing assisted suicide would allow for people with mental illnesses to use assisted suicide for the wrong purposes. In the Encyclopedia of Bioethics, it discusses the term "suicide" and the issues. It states "Two focal issues concerning suicide are evident in these broader dilemmas. First, should suicide be recognized as a right, and if so, under what conditions? On this first question rest the foundations for various applications of the "right to die," as well as a variety of other issues in high-risk and self-sacrificial behavior." (Battin) It recognizes that America is the land of the free and place were you're allowed to make your own choices, but the choice to end your life is not. I'm not stating the suicide should be legal in any circumstances but there are exceptions to every case. When a person is to the point where they are suffering every time they move then why shouldn't they have the choice to go in peace and be helped. Its comparable in a sense that when you are so tired and never being allowed to go to sleep. The term suicide and physician assisted suicide are two completely different matters and the terms should not effect each other. 

Another widely discussed reason as to why people feel physician assisted suicide should not be legalized is that it would ruin doctor and patient care relationships. People tend to express that if their physician had the option of suicide as a diagnoses they wouldn't work and try as hard to save their patient. If physician assisted suicide were to become legal it wouldn't be your physician's choice, it would be yours and no one would be allowed to force you into the decision. It has been recorded numerous times of patient begging their doctors and nurses for a drug to end it all. Which helps to show that it could aid in the relationship between doctors and patients. A survey was done to see the results of what majority of people felt about the matter. The results concluded "There was disagreement by 58% of the participants, and agreement by only 20% that legalizing euthanasia would cause them to trust their personal physician less." (M. Hall) The article also stated that the remaining votes were neutral. The study reveals that majority of patients would not trust their physicians any less if physician assisted suicide was legal. Physician main goal and the reason they choose their career path is because they want to save as many lives as they can. If there was even a slight possibility of the patient being saved physician assisted suicide would not be an option. 

People tend to feel that physician assisted suicide should not be legal due to pressure it could create on the terminally ill.  Many patients will feel like they're burdening their loved one with having them have to sit in a hospital and wait for them to die and that's why they would ask for it. But your whole life loved ones have wanted what is best for you and that if they are truly your loved ones they would never feel burdened. They would never want to see anyone they love terminally ill and in constant pain and being able to do nothing to help. It would also allow for an opportunity for the patient to be surrounded by all their loved ones while they pass. Their last goodbyes would be surrounded and comforted with everyone they love to make the journey easier and to provide closure for the families. Then if terminally ill patients did not choose physician assisted suicide they would not be a burden. Many people understand how precious life is and the terminally ill patient may not be in significant amounts of pain where they desire death. 

Another reason as to why people like to argue about physician assisted suicide not becoming legal is that doctors make mistakes everyday. There is recorded evidence such as "No 4, reports that medical errors may be the third leading cause of death in the United States at 225,000 deaths per year." (Clair) I'm not arguing that doctors don't make mistakes everyday but with physician assisted suicide its not something doctors can necessarily make a mistake. They have to decide whether or not a terminally ill patient who request physician assisted suicide can not be cured. Doctors go to college for a total of eight years which is to longest amount of time almost any profession requires. When someone's life is it at stake its very serious before getting administered physician assisted suicide drugs the patient should have to be approved by three doctors and three nurses. This would help to avoid the error of giving someone a drug to go peacefully that could still have a chance. It would be hard for three doctors to examine the patience's charts and history and all make the same mistakes. 

One of the last strong arguments people feel as to why physician assisted suicide shouldn't be legal is that insurance companies would love it. Research shows "About 27% of Medicare's annual $327 billion budget goes to care for patients in their final year of life. That's a lot of money, and one poison pill is so much cheaper." (Clair) That statement makes me nauseated that people really are concerned about the money it takes to help another live. Insurance companies would have no say what so ever in a terminally ill patient's decision to choose physician assisted suicide or not.  Insurance companies wouldn't be able to cope with demanding someone to end their life due to finical reasons for their company. If insurances companies did do such a thing they would loose a lot of business and could potentially get charged with murder. Insurance companies will not be taken in accountability in any means when legalizing physician assisted suicide. 

Now to discuss the main reasons as why people and I feel assisted physician suicide should be legalized. One of the prominent reasons is a terminally ill patient is in unsubstantial amounts of pain. When its a patient who has no hope in surviving and is aware that they are going to die soon should have an option. One an example is from Brittany Maynard, a 29-year old with stage 4 Glioblastoma multiforme (a malignant brain tumor). She stated ... 

"There is not a cell in my body that is suicidal or that wants to die. I want to live. I wish there was a cure for my disease but there's not... My glioblastoma is going to kill me, and that's out of my control. I've discussed with many experts how I would die from it, and it's a terrible, terrible way to die. Being able to choose to go with dignity is less terrifying..." (Maynard)

This is a prime example of what physician assisted suicide is all about. Its about helping the terminally ill patients avoid a terribly painful death after they have already suffered enough. It is not forcing all terminally ill patients to choose this method its just offering a choice and a decision. Imagine if that was you lying in a hospital bed terrified of how painful your death is going to be and being able to do nothing about it. It would be like getting captured during a war and tortured until the day they decide to kill you. It could allow for terminally ill patients to be less terrified of death.

Everybody knows in life that you eventually someday you are going to die. Some people are terrified of dying and others feel when their time comes its time. Many people will view physician assisted suicide negatively because of death and will tend to make them less open minded. It was stated in a study that "Since these phenomena have a conservative flavor, one may argue that fear of death makes people more conservative." (Castano, pg.615) Which helps to prove that dealing with death people with deny physician assisted suicide because it petrifies them. But if a doctor is able to predict a very painful death why not let them use the tools and knowledge they have learned to avoid it. Living is the one of the most valuable things in life today and most people know that. By making physician assisted suicide legal it is not taking life for granted it is aiding in the end.

Could you imagine watching the person you care about most in life lay in a hospital bed when they know they're going to die in excruciating pain? Them lying in a hospital bed on their very last days screaming and crying in pain and knowing that their death is going to be the worst part. No one deserves to have to sit their and watch the person they care about most go through that, and no one deserves to be forced to live through that. With doctors being able to control the timing and pain level will put both the families and the terminally ill patient at ease. It lets the patient be surrounded with everyone important to them and lets them die peacefully. It allows for the families and patients to have their final goodbye and closure that is needed. Which is much better instead of the families sitting around the hospital terrified for when the final day of their loved one comes. 

To help be positive about situations that are nearly impossible to be positive about there are benefits that come with physician assisted suicide. I know that when its your loved one dying its hard to care about anything else than their survival.  But with doctors being in control over the death it would help with numerous of things. It been analyzed that "Modern medicine has also gained extraordinary new powers to prolong life. Within the last few decades, medical treatments such as kidney dialysis, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, organ transplantation, respirator support, and provision of food and water by artificial means have become common in hospitals." (Brock) Waiting list for organ transport could gain support for physician assisted suicide helping the terminally ill patient feel that their death isn't useless. It also can aid with creating new jobs for the medical field by creating a positon that deals specially with physician assisted suicide. I know cost isn't valued when its someone life but when the person does pass the families wont have to grieve over a stack high pile of medical bills. Its hard to see that these positive outcomes matter but to a patient who is terminally ill it can make them feel as they have a purpose again. 

When a disease or illness begins to control someone's life it makes them feel like they're not themselves anymore. It leaves them weak with little to energy to act the way they use to be and starts to deaerate them. Being able to have control over the way they die and not letting the disease or illness completely kill you gives the terminally patient dignity again. It lets them feel that sense of control that they have been missing for so long. After people have heard countless stories this evidence has been shown "The percentage of young adults aged 18 to 34 who support doctor-assisted suicide climbed 19 points this year, to 81%. Young adults are now significantly more likely than older U.S. adults to support doctor-assisted suicide." (Dugan) When people especially younger loose control of their body they want a way to gain it back. It restores hope in a terminally patient that they haven't lost themselves completely. 

As you can see each side of the argument proposes valid and understandable points. However, all the sides of why it shouldn't be legal can be counteracted. With legalizing physician assisted suicide it is not forcing anybody to choose it, but simply allowing another option for someone that might. Everyone is allowed to have different opinions and arguments about different situations if they didn't it wouldn't be America. So why can't there be an option for people to choose their right to die? Physician assisted suicide can help numerous amounts of terminally ill patients go peacefully and relieve them from their pain. It can help make the death process a little less scary for everyone and give comfort to families knowing their loved one died in peace. It can help peoples experience of life overall and give them reassurance of a good life. 

