3. An older argument in favor of assisted suicide that has been recently resurfaced with the implementation of a national health care bill could be termed the "economics argument" which states that the costs of keeping people alive who are going to die anyway is exceedingly high, higher than the benefit that the money and energy to maintain life bring. Life prolonged unnecessarily is costly to society and that money and those resources are being wasted and could be used more productively.
4. In essence, the final common argument us used in a number of legal and ethical situations and pretty much states that assisted suicide is already being performed in many hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes by physicians and nurses. It makes sense to formally legalize it so people will not have to sneak around, jeopardize their careers, and hide what is a practical solution to a difficult dilemma. In this manner assisted suicide cases could be monitored and formally reviewed if need be. As it stands there is no formal monitoring of these cases and such a situation is left open for misuse.
Essentially,...
& Billings J.A. (1994). Patient requests to hasten death. Evaluation and management in terminal care. Archives of Internal Medicine, 154, 2039 -- 2047.
Gomez, C.F. (1991). Regulating death: Euthanasia and the case of the Netherlands. New York: Maxwell McMillan.
Kane, L. (2010). Doctors struggle with tougher-than-ever dilemmas: Other ethical issues. Medscape Today News, http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/731485_7, accessed 5-21- 2011.
Meier, D.E., Emmons, C.A., Wallenstein, S., Quill, T., Morrison, R.S., & Cassel, C.K. (1998). A national survey of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 338, 1193 -- 1201.
Moreno, J.D. (1995). Arguing euthanasia: The controversy over mercy killing, assisted suicide, and "the right to die." New York: Touchtone.
Weir, R.F. (1997). Physician-assisted suicide. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
