As Americans citizens, we are truly so lucky to have as many personal liberties as we do. Rights that often are taken for granted such as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, freedom of speech, right to access to equal schooling and education and so much more. Because of all the freedoms and liberties that we as a nation possess, it is safe to say that we are independent when it comes to decisions made about ourselves and our bodies. When it comes to decisions such as having an abortion, or having surgery to fix a broken bone, or even speaking up at Board of Education meeting about an injustice that person’s child is facing at school, none of these people have to ask permission to do any of these things. As citizens of the United States we have a right to do these things and they exercise those rights in situations where we need to help better themselves or the people around us. Now, why don’t we have the right when it comes to choosing our own deaths? 

This is what the Death with Dignity Act allows for giving people the right to choose to die. The Death with Dignity Act allows people the right to physician assisted suicide, which the BBC defines as, … “any act that intentionally helps another person kill themselves, for example by providing them with the means to do so, most commonly by prescribing a lethal medication” (Lewis). Having the right to physician assisted suicide is something that many people have been fighting to have for the past twenty years. Now while many can never imagine wanting to end their own lives, there so many out there who would go to great lengths to be able to have this right, some as far as moving to another state where physician assisted suicide is legal. Now it is important to understand that this essay will only be the beginning of the argument, as it would be impossible to explain this entire argument in one essay alone. Therefore, this argument will mainly focus on Death with Dignity for terminally ill patients.  For these patients, their bodies are being ravaged by their disease, and choosing to end their own life is the only thing they can control. We should not take away this right for these terminally ill patients and should therefore should legalize the Death with Dignity Act. 

The Death with Dignity Act was first legalized in Oregon in 1997. Since then it has become legal in California, Washington, Vermont, Colorado, and District of Columbia. Also, while there is no law prohibiting physician assisted suicide, there are no law legalizing it either, so currently the line is blurred on this issue and lawmakers are continuing to clarify this. According to assistedsuicide.org, physician assisted suicide is also legal in Switzerland, Colombia, The Netherlands, Beligum, Luxemberg, Quebec, Canada, England and Wales. While this may not seem like a large number countries and states the acceptance of this issue has made so many major strides in acceptance in comparison to where it was 20 years ago.

While this debate has been going on for decades, it is more important than ever that this discuss get brought to the attention of lawmakers and politicians on our nation. This issue has been a been a political taboo for years, however in recent years we as a nation have been closer than ever to get the Death with Dignity Act legalized not only on a state-level, but also on a national level. Per a Gallup Poll conducted in 2015,sixty-eight percent of American people believe that it should be legal for doctors to assist terminally ill patients in committing suicide (Brenoff). Although most Americans, the highest number our nation has ever seen, are in favor of legalizing the Death with Dignity Act, in today’s political climate the legalization of this bill is in more danger than ever. Since Donald Trump came into office, he appointed Judge Neil Gorsuch to become a Supreme Court Justice. Gorsuch, is openly against legalizing the Death with Dignity Act. He will be the swing vote in the court, once instated in the supreme court, making his vote all that more valuable. Because of this it is more important than ever to prove how much of a positive impact the Death with Dignity Act would have on our nation to our supreme court and lawmakers alike. 

One of the biggest reasons people are wary of assisted suicide is the idea that it will make suicide socially acceptable, and make more people likely to do it.  People fear that assisted suicide will take the place of medical care when it comes to terminally ill patients. However, this is not the case. According to USA Today, “In Oregon, the number of suicides has been small — a total of 859 in 17 years. Last year, there were 105 physician-assisted suicides out of a total of 34,160 deaths in the state” (The Editorial Board 1). Ever since it became legal close to 18 years ago, deaths by assisted suicide have remained extremely low in numbers. Just because the Act has been legalized, it has in no way changed all the minds of the terminally ill. It is understandable that not all terminally ill patients would choose to end their lives on their own terms and that is okay. Physician assisted suicide is not the best option for everyone and that is the beauty of it. Those who are terminal ill can make their own decision when it comes to the terms of their own death and that is the way it is meant to be. However, the first step in coming to terms with how you would spend the end of your life, you need to be able to have the choice in choosing your own plan for end of life care.  

Another common reason people are against legalizing the Death with Dignity Act is because by the doctors are taking on these cases and knowingly giving a patient the means to end their own life, is not right on a moral level. One person who shares this view is none other than Supreme Court Justice-elect Gorsuch. In his novel, The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, Gorsuch states, “…premised on the idea that all human beings are intrinsically valuable and the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong” (5). To Gorsuch and many others, it will always be wrong to take another person’s life no matter what the reasoning behind the act may be. To these people when doctors when prescribe these lethal medications, they don’t view it has putting someone one out of their misery, but instead as murder.

However, people who believe in this way fail to realize the full scope of the issue. How could it be wrong to end a person’s life if it is their wish? It is understood that taking the life of a person who does not give their permission to do so is morally wrong. However, these patients are asking their doctors for the mercy of being able to choose the terms in which they die. 

Yes, these doctors are prescribing life ending medicine, but by doing so they are alleviating their patients from an extreme amount of pain. The only way people can have a better understanding of the issue is to change our perspective on it. Many look at the Death with Dignity Act as ending a person’s life, but often we forget that the real essence of this bill is allowing these terminally ill patients to have a choice to end their suffering. 

We live in a society where we have so many personal liberties when it comes to our own bodies, rights such as the right to choose, the right to refuse treatment, as well as the right to turn off life support. Given we have so many rights to protect how we want our bodies treated while we are alive as well as after we are dead, shouldn’t people have the right to choose when and how their life ends? It is a bit hypocritical that in our nation a person has the right to not accept life saving treatment (Ex. Turning off life support), yet are denying the right to end their life on their own terms. By signing a DNR, or the paper work to allow you to be taken off of life support you are actually choosing to end your life. The only difference between this and assisted suicide is that in assisted suicide you are not only choosing to end your life, you are able to choose the exact day and time of your death, while you will never be able to know if you will find yourself in the situation where you are in a coma. The only reason why being taken off of life support is not as controversial in the legal system as physician assisted suicide is because law makers were able to find a constitutional right for patients to refuse treatment and or care, however were not able to find one to support physician assisted suicide (Taraska).

 To qualify under the Death with Dignity Act for physician assisted suicide you must be terminal ill (Lewis). The people who qualify under the bill are the patients who have experienced an immense amount of suffering at the hands of their disease. Per a study conducted by the New England Medical Journal that looked at physicians’ experiences with the bill in Oregon, a state in which physician assisted suicide is legal, it states, 

“At the time of the request for assistance with suicide, 32 percent of the patients (45 of 141) were receiving hospice services, 59 percent (84 of 143) were confined to a bed or chair for more than half their waking hours, and 76 percent (108 of 142) had an estimated life expectancy of less than six months. In 41 percent of cases (58 of 140), the request was associated with an acute deterioration in the patient's medical condition” (New England Medical Journal).

These patients battle illness and treatment that rip their bodies apart all  to no avail, as there is no way to cure their disease. Often, in their final days these patients either face extricating pain, or are taking such high quantities of pain killers that they are either unconscious or in a state delirium. Their diseases tear them down into a shadow of the person they used to be. How is this fair to these patients? There are some patients who are okay with dying in this way, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, there are people in this world who do not want the last memories of them being half conscious in a hospital bed. They do not want their disease to get the best of them. In short, they want to die on their own terms. While many would like to think of this exercise of choosing to end their life as an “easy out” (CNA Blogs), instead it is the person choosing to stand up to their illness.

 By denying these patients the right to end their lives the government is forcing them to prolong their suffering. Forcing people to live with these terminal illnesses is as Charles Selsberg would say, “… a cruelty we wouldn’t tolerate for a pet” (The Editorial Board). What is sad is that Charles Selsberg is right. Whenever, a pet becomes terminally ill typically what owners do is euthanize them to “put them out of their misery”. Pets owners even do this without asking permission of the animals to see if it is what they want; they do it because they feel it is right for them. However, as American citizens we see nothing wrong with this, but when a terminally ill person says that they no longer want to suffer and want to end his own life that is when people start to think it is morally wrong. 

Not legalizing physician assisted suicide will unfortunately not stop the terminally ill from taking their own lives.  One example of this unfortunate circumstance was that of a man name Naggie who suffered from ALS. At the time the Death with Dignity bill was not legalized and Naggie did not want to become a victim of his disease.  Since he was not able to obtain the means necessary to end his own life legally with the help of his physician, he instead chose to overdose on sleeping pills he had been prescribed a long time ago. Instead of being able to spend his last moments surrounded by his family, he had to end his own life alone in fear that if his family knew about his plans they would become accessories to murder (Pastine). No one should ever have to spend their last moments in this way. More than anything the Death with Dignity Bill provides a safeguard for people who choose end their lives to be protected by the law and allows for them to be surrounded by their loved ones at their final moments. 

Legalizing physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill is only the beginning. Once our nation allows it to be legal for the terminally ill, it will open the debate to figure out where we can draw the line when it comes to who can meet the criteria for physician assisted suicide. Teresea Yao asks the question “Can We Limit A Right To Physician-Assisted Suicide?” If we allow for the terminal ill to be able to end their own lives, what stops any other person from doing the same, within reason of course? No matter if they are terminally ill or not, if a person no longer wants to live they should not be forced to do so. Everyone has the right to make their own choice when it comes to their own life and forcing someone to live who obviously does not want to is selfish. It takes a selfless person to understand that while you would miss the person who decides to end their life, you know it is what is best for them as a person. It’s hard to ever put yourself in the situation where suicide could be seen as the “best option” for a person, so let me give an example to help picture the situation. Imagine a person who has suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts for as long as they can remember. They have tried everything the can, therapies, medications, even going as far as electric shock therapy, however nothing has worked. At one point they did want to better, however, since nothing has helped get better they want to end their suffering and end their life. In a situation like is it far to deny a person this right? If they have tried all they can and still do not want to live how can me justify forcing them to?

The Death with Dignity Act has so many positive attributes and it ought to become legal within our country. Our nation should not be allowed to take away a person’s right to safely end their own life. In a nation where we have so many rights and privileges that protect our body and self while we are alive as well as after we have passed it is only fair that we have the right to choose how our life ends as well. 
