Assited Suicide Essay, Research Paper
?The man who, in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today would have wanted to live had he a week.?(Voltaire) In the U.S. assisted suicide has become all too common. Mr. Jack Kevorkian, otherwise known as Dr. Death, might be the reason for this unethical uprising. Assisted suicide in those who fear they are too old, mentally unstable, or suffering from an incurable illness, doesn?t solve any problems. Suicide isn?t the proper way to deal with anything. Assisted suicide is morally wrong, illegal, and unjustifiable.
Assisted suicide is in my opinion, illegal. I always thought that suicide meant people killed themselves. If that?s the case than wouldn?t assisted suicide be murder? Taking someone else?s life isn?t acceptable in any way or for any reason. Assisted suicide was legalized in Holland. In 1990 in the Netherlands, a total of 11,800 assisted suicides took place. The scary part is that only 5,859 of the patients actually consented. That?s a frightening fact. That fact could be true in the U.S. if assisted suicide was ever legalized. If legalized assisted suicide could turn into mandatory murder.
In addition to being illegal, assisted suicide is also amoral. People like Jack Kevorkian or anyone for that matter shouldn?t encourage causing another humans death. There is no possible way to ever justify taking a life. Anyone, who is religious and knows the Ten Commandments, knows that one of them clearly states ?Thou Shall Not Kill.? Even if you aren?t religious I?m sure you were taught that killing another human being is wrong. Regardless of the reason for wanting to die, helping someone die is still killing them. I was raised to believe that taking a life was wrong and I still hold true to those beliefs.
?The desire for suicide is a strong indication that the physical and emotional suffering of the patient have not been adequately treated.? (23) Assisted suicide is unjustifiable. There is no good reason why someone should want to take his or her life. People who claim they?re in too much pain just haven?t been given the proper pain medication. The same holds true to patients that claim they are suffering grave emotional suffering. Most doctors will tell you that someone who inquires about suicide is just crying out for help. The problem is that there are resources like Jack Kevorkian out there to lead people to believe suicide is the answer, when in all actually all they needed was a chat with a counselor.
Assisted suicide isn?t the answer to anything. Because it?s illegal, morally wrong, and unjustifiable I think assisted suicide is a bad thing. There aren?t any positive things that can come of it. I strongly hope that the U.S. never even considers legalizing it. All sick people need is a good doctor or a good conversation to shed a new light on the subject of life. As for Jack Kevorkian he should have been locked up for murder a long time ago. If his patients aren?t committing suicide themselves than he must be murdering them.