A person’s life and everything that goes along with it is their own responsibility under every circumstance, therefore assisted suicide should be legalized in America. Physicians Assisted Suicide (PAS) is a controversial topic that is on the mind of many people. Physicians Assisted Suicide, in essence, is the ability for an ill patient to be able to decide when they want their life to end and to be put to rest by their doctor. The doctor will either give the patient with a lethal injection or give them a prescription to lethal drugs to take. While there may be other reasons to making this decision, the main motive of patients choosing this path that they no longer want to live while suffering. The ability for a patient to make this decision is currently only legal in five of the fifty American states (Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana and California). Physician Assisted Suicide should be legalized in all fifty states for the purpose of protecting a humans right to decide when they feel they need to let go of a life of suffering and terminal illness, while accepting death with dignity and peace.

There is no mystery as to why this topic is so heated and controversial. Being a matter of life or death, it clearly is something to be taken very seriously. The amount of people it affects or has the potential to affect is more extensive than one may realize. First of all, it could be the individual who is personally who is dealing with very serious suffering and could be benefitted by the option of pursuing of PAS. It could be somebody’s loved one who has to watch them suffer through a terminal illness and having to watch them live their last portion of their life very unhappy. It could also be the doctor who may or may not have the ability to help their patient leave their life with dignity. This being said, whether one has already faced a situation where PAS is relevant or not, it is very possible that everyone could be faced with it at one point or another in their lifetime.  The legalization is so important to address and focus on, as the benefit of it will be so widespread and immediate to people all across the country. 

As citizens of the United States, we are privileged with many protected rights that make being an American so unique. While having so many freedoms, it should be included in the list that a person should have the right to decide when their life is no longer worth living. The pursuit of happiness is part of our guaranteed protected rights and if it is going to make a person happy to be able to die with dignity then they should be able to freely choose to do so. For example, the video “Is Assisted Suicide Okay? Twins Chose Death Over Blindness”, D News presents an instance where two brothers took the route of assisted suicide, as they knew their situation would not let them live happily anymore. These Belgian twins were already deaf and then began losing their eyesight when they decided that they would rather pass than live without being able to neither hear nor see one another. They made the decision that a life without one another was not a life at all, and fortunately Belgium’s law allowed them to both commit assisted suicide. Even though these two were not terminally ill, the choice was theirs and they made what they believed was best for them, which is a choice that only an individual has the power to make in order to truly protect their best interest. Some findings prove that the average patient who choses assisted suicide is “typical patients are older, white, and well-educated. Pain is mostly not reported as the primary motivation. A large portion of patients receiving physician-assisted suicide in Oregon and Washington reported being enrolled in hospice or palliative care, as did patients in Belgium.” (Emanuel 6). In other words, the people that chose to pursue assisted suicide are in situations where it seems practical and a fair way to release them from sadness or suffering from a disease or condition. Whether it be wanting to release oneself from suffering of an illness or a condition that makes one feel like their life is not really their life anymore, we as Americans should be allowed make the choice concerning our fate on our own with dignity without restraint from the law. 

Grant Donovan, in his article “Your Right to Die Healthy, When You Blood Well Feel Like It- and Not a Moment Thereafter”, talks about how it is a persons right that when they feel like they have lived their full life and there is no more happy times left for them, then they reserve their right to go peacefully and without pain. The idea of autonomy, the freedom from external control, is very relevant in this debate as we all have control of what happens to us as independent Americans. Sjöstrand discusses the role that this plays in assisted suicide “According to a second interpretation, inspired by Kantian ethics, being autonomous is unconditionally valuable, which may imply a duty to preserve autonomy.” (Sjöstrand 32). The pursuit of happiness, another right we have as individuals here in the US, for some based on their circumstances may be wanting to die with dignity, choice and pride while escaping whatever situation they will be suffering in life. The legalization of assisted suicide will guarantee all Americans this comfort if they ever come across a situation where they may need it.

Many do not take into consideration that the legalization of PAS does nothing more than give Americans a choice. It does not force, pressure or attempt to convince any individual to chose this route. Some laws are stricter in this sense, such as the law that you cannot drink alcohol if you are under 21 years old. This, and other laws of this nature, either enforce or entirely ban a behavior and has an impact on all citizens at all times. However, legalizing assisted suicide does not affect anybody that does not want to be affected by it. It wont impact day-to-day life or alter how people behave. The only difference that will be made is the new option available to patients and their loved one when placed in that type of situation. This is why I think those who are opposing the legalization should not have a large say in the matter, as they will have the complete and total option to have the legalization not be apart of their life.

The power and impact of the ability to chose plays a crucial role in the debate over assisted suicide. While, as stated before, the only way a person will be affected by it is if they chose to be. But, not only that, but even when in the situation where a person is given the option that they believe they want, there is always the possibility that they will not go through with it. This is evident in the example called the Oregon Paradox. The Oregon Paradox is the conclusion that was derived from statistics regarding the DWDA (death with dignity act) in the state of Oregon and the outcome that it produced. To summarize the findings, only 54 of the 88 people who were written prescriptions for lethal medications actually ended up taking the medications. DWDA accounted for only an estimated amount of 19.4 out of 10,000 total deaths. This goes to show that even when given the opportunity and the tools necessary to go through with the act, a lot of people chose not to. The psychological analysis suggest that “It is widely observed that the terminally ill, upon obtaining the lethal medicine, often feel a surge in wellbeing and peace of mind, but also a desire to live longer. This phenomenon is paradoxical since these feelings stem from an ability to end life sooner.” (Lee). It is extremely interesting and very liberating that the act can give people such hope even when they are suffering greatly. This finding and conclusion took the name of “The Oregon Paradox” and is defined as “When terminally-ill people are given the option of legally hastening death, they often feel a sense of greater wellbeing and a desire to live longer.” (Lee). This discovery definitely puts assisted suicide in a new light, as it’s clear to see that assisted suicide is not technically the unarguable end, but can give hope to the patients and their loved ones in this very difficult time.

While looking and analyzing debates on controversial topics such as this one, it is extremely important to consider what causes people to have certain beliefs and take a certain side on an argument. In this particular argument, it is clear that there is a reoccurring notion of religion playing a large role in the stance that people take on the legalization of assisted suicide. The article “We are (not) the master of our body: Elderly Jewish Women’s Attitudes Towards Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide”, Baeke explains how the fact if someone practices religion or not has a consistent impact on their attitude and opinion on assisted suicide. The finding that were actively religious Orthodox women were very rejecting of any and every act that purposely terminates life, as they believe that it is only in God’s hands to give or take a life. On the other hand, women who are mostly irreligious, but still consider themselves to be apart of the Orthodox Jewish community were much more open and willing to support the idea. 

“Among non-Hasidic Orthodox respondents, more openness is found for cultivating a personal opinion which deviates from Jewish law and for the right of self-determination with regard to questions concerning life and death. In this study, these participants occupy an intermediate position.” (Baeke 9).

 In essence, whether a person is religious or not almost always entirely dictates how they feel on the topic.

While it is completely understandable that those who believe a life is for only God to take and that assisted suicide goes against that, assisted suicide legalization is by no means a secular issue. Regardless, one person’s values and religious beliefs should not have an impact on whether another person who is terminally ill and suffering has the ability to decide if they want to die with dignity. As stated before, this law will do nothing more than to give individuals that opportunity to chose their fate. Obviously, if someone’s religious beliefs go against intentionally terminating a life or any other logistics of assisted suicide, then they do not have to ever involve themselves with the act or be impacted by it in anyway. The legalization does not have to be any of religious person’s business or offend them remotely. Each individual has the power to make their own personal choice about their life without intervention from others beliefs or values. 

One group of people that are largely affected but not usually considered in this debate of the legalization of assisted suicide are the physicians themselves. Typically, the only party of interest that is really accounted for when people are arguing a certain side are the patients themselves or their loved ones. People rarely consider the fact that physicians who are either providing their patient with a lethal injection or a prescription of lethal medication are the ones who are purposefully terminating a life. In the article “Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: Can You Even Imagine Teaching Medical Students How to End Their Patients’ Lives?” Bourdreau gets the reader to understand the impact the legalization of this would have on physicians. Specifically, it highlights how difficult it will be to teach current medical students how to end a patient’s life. “I ask readers to imagine the consequences of being required to teach students how to end their patients' lives and urge medical educators to remain cognizant of their responsibility in upholding long-entrenched and foundational professional values.” (Bourdreau). The founding principle of medicinal practice is to help people to feel better, and intentionally ending their life goes against goal entirely.

At first, it is easy to understand why it would be so hard to be the physician having to perform this act on a patient. Knowingly accepting the fact that a patient’s life has ended because of something that you did to them certainly seems like quite the weight to carry upon their shoulders. However, it’s necessary to take into consideration the wants and needs of that particular patient. If the patient willingly chose to die with dignity and end their suffering, then the physician is essentially the one who is helping them. While they are not helping them to keep living, they are still saving them from their suffering which is what the patient willingly wanted to happen to them. Lonny Shavelson, head of the Bay Area End of Life Options Teams with a MD said, 

"We always listen to the patient. We never tell a patient: 'This is what you have to do. You have no choice.' Yet at the moment when their life is ending — when they say, 'I don't want to live in this bed for the next three weeks waiting to die' — it's an odd change in the consent procedure. Suddenly they become wrong and we become right. That does not make sense to me. Dying should not be completely separate from everything else we do in medicine." (Shavelson).

 It is certainly a complicated concept, but when looking at the situation as a whole, the physician is the one who is giving their patient the option that they desire and requested so hypothetically the physician is still helping their patient, even if that means they end their life.

The debate over the legalization of assisted suicide is not one that will simply die off over time. The relevance is not going to go away because every single day there are people who are suffering in their hospital beds who believe it is their time to go, but are left with no option than to painfully await their death. The sense of urgency and desperation is felt by people all over America so we, as people of a democracy, must bring consistently bring this issue to attention. There are already five states in America that took the action to legalize this option and there have been little to no negative repercussions since then. End of life options are not necessarily going to be a huge part in everyone citizen’s life, but for those in which it is they would be much better off being able to control their fate if they chose to. In the interest of everyone who is going through a situation like this, assisted suicide should be legalized immediately to allow everyone to leave life peacefully and with dignity. 
