One of the arguments against assisted suicide as outlined in balancedpolitics.org, is that patients may give up on medical procedures too soon, and that there is always hope that a procedure or medicine might come along that can cure the illness (Messerli). Perhaps, then, we should require a doctor to be involved in a patient's decision for assisted suicide as a measure to prevent unnecessary death. In that case, however, a physician should be expected to contribute only a medical prognosis to the decision, allowing the patient to decide upon the time and means of his death.
The New England Journal of Medicine states that "more than one-fifth of doctors would be willing to assist patients' suicides if it were legal to do so" (cnn.com). If a patient is terminally ill, what is the point of draining his financial assets and placing further pressure on his family and loved ones? Keeping a patient...
With the absurd 60-year jail sentence of Dr. Jack Kavorkian,
Perhaps the most important idea to consider when thinking about assisted suicide is the creation of an advance directive, that will relieve the family and physicians of the burden of a making a decision to end a patient's life. A patient, whose judgment could be called into question due to pain and medication, would have his decision protected by a legal document that clearly expresses his wishes in the case of terminal pain and illness.
Works Cited
CNN. ww.cnn.com/HEALTH/9804/22/assisted.suicide/index.html. April 22, 1998.
Accessed 08/20/2006.
Hess, Amy. Conservative Politics: U.S.. http://usconservatives.about.com/b/a/236307.htm
Mersserli, Joe balancedpolitics.org/assisted_suicide.html
