Assisted Suicide- Diajah Williams

There are many arguments within the medical field. One that has caused major uproar since the fourth century, B.C is the assisted suicide debate.  Assisted suicide is the practice of helping someone else kill themselves by prescribing them with a prescription. Suicide is physician- assisted, meaning suicide with the aid of a doctor.

While there are many debates written about the subject, few actually support the practice. One that I read in particular is about the potential for abuse if legalization occurs. The authors argue hat the elderly, those frightened by illness and the depressed of all ages would be potential victims of such a practice. The authors continue to discuss cases that have relied attention as illustrative of these abuses. The link to the article is below.

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The authors of this article are almost completely correct in what they are arguing against. A major point mentioned that doesn't support the authors argument is the potential for the depressed of all ages to be possible victims. This claim opens up a huge opportunity for the counter argument. The two major components of the assisted suicide laws are that the patient must be terminally ill within six months and the lethal doses must be prescribed by a doctor. If the depressed patient has depression and a terminally ill, is the patient in a sound, knowing state allowing him/ her to make the decision to end their life? This is a debate that the authors would most likely lose due to the fact that there are several different types of depression with a number of symptoms that may or may not contribute to mind stability.

Other than the arguments mentioned in the article, there are several many others that are for and against the assisted suicide practice. Here are a few via Nhs.uk: 


Pro Assisted Suicide

• ethical argument – that people should have freedom of choice, including the right to control their own body and life (as long as they do not abuse any other person’s rights), and that the state should not create laws that prevent people being able to choose when and how they die 
• pragmatic argument – that euthanasia, particularly passive euthanasia, is allegedly already a widespread practice, just not one that people are willing to admit to, so it is better to regulate euthanasia properly 

Against Assisted Suicide

• religious argument – that these practices can never be justified for religious reasons; for example, many people believe that only God has the right to end a human life 
• ‘slippery slope’ argument – this is based on the concern that legalising euthanasia could lead to significant unintended changes in our healthcare system and society at large that we would later come to regret 
• medical ethics argument – that asking doctors, nurses or any other healthcare professional to carry out euthanasia or assist in a suicide would be a violation of fundamental medical ethics 
• alternative argument – that there is no reason for a person to suffer either mentally or physically because effective end of life treatments are available; therefore, euthanasia is not a valid treatment option, but represents a failure on the part of the doctor involved in a person’s care

"Euthanasia and assisted suicide - Arguments." NHS choices. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Euthanasiaandassistedsuicide/Pages/Arguments.aspx>.

Pickert, Kate. "A Brief History of Assisted Suicide." Time. N.p., 3 Mar. 2009. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1882684,00.html>.

Hendin, H., and G. Klerman. "Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Dangers of Legalization." The American Journal of Psychiatry 150.1 (1993): 143-5. ProQuest. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.