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Because so many other countries in the world look toward the Netherlands and their assisted suicide policies, medical officials there continually review and revise (if necessary) the guidelines to keep stringent watch over physicians and patients. Many other countries that are considering their own assisted suicide laws keep track of what happens in the Netherlands, and alter their own legislation accordingly.
The Netherlands policies are not perfect, but they indicate that a terminally ill patient who wants to die with dignity has the right to do so, and that practices regulating the system can work, and work effectively. Other countries, such as Columbia, have legalized physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, and the Northwest Territories in Australia briefly legalized it, and then banned it again. Many Australians are working to legalize it again.
Here in America, many people believe physician-assisted suicide is a viable option for the terminally ill. A New York Times editorial stated, "Many patients would welcome the option of ending intense and hopeless suffering with the help of a skilled physician who can insure a professional approach'" (Palmer 107), and many American doctors agree. University of Washington doctors Braddock and Tonelli state, "Surveys of individual physicians show that half believe that PAS is ethically justifiable in certain cases. [...] Surveys of physicians in practice show that about 1 in 5 will receive a request for PAS sometime in their career. Somewhere between 5-20% of those requests are eventually honored" (Braddock and Tonelli). Thus, the issue of physician-assisted suicide is never far from the surface in America. Until we take a firm stand on this issue, and allow physicians to aid their terminally ill patients, countless Americans...
However, a rational patient who understands their treatment, their options, and the terminal aspects of their case should be allowed to make their own informed decisions about physician-assisted suicide. While the question was addressed by the Supreme Court in 1997 (Rollin viii), it seems that it will continue to be an important issue in American until it is legalized once and for all. Physician-assisted suicide is a choice. It is not the right choice for everyone, but as the terminally ill patient with terminal and increasingly painful ovarian cancer emotionally stated, "What I wish more than anything in the world is that I could take some kind of pill... And end this" (Rollin 98).
References
Anderson, Robert N., and Betty L. Smith. "Deaths: Leading Causes for 2002." CDC.gov. 2002. 25 March 2005. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr53/nvsr53_17.pdf
Braddock, Clarence H. III, MD, MPH and Mark R. Tonelli, MD, MA. "Physician-assisted Suicide: Ethical Topic in Medicine." University of Washington. Oct. 2001. 25 March 2005. http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/topics/pas.html
Gorsuch, Neil M. "The Right to Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia." Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 23.3 (2000): 599.
Palmer, Larry I. Endings and Beginnings: Law, Medicine, and Society in Assisted Life and Death. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2000.
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