Physician Assisted Suicide: Should It Be Legalized?.
Over the years, most of what I have known about assisted suicide has come from what the media presented. After scanning a few articles and books in hopes of obtaining creditable sources, I found myself intrigued at what I did not know about assisted suicide. First of all, I did not know the term for assisted suicide is called euthanasia. Second, I did not know there were several different forms of euthanasia. Third, I wasn't really aware of what the laws are regarding this hotly debated topic. Through reviewing some of the history of this topic and being exposed to the different viewpoints and laws about euthanasia, my stance has changed. To legalize assisted suicide would give more control to the physician who accepts the responsibility and less control to the patient who is requesting death; therefore, society must not legalize physician assisted suicide. .
According to Webster's New Twentieth Century Unabridged Dictionary, euthanasia is an act or method of causing death painlessly, so as to end suffering. Even with this definition, I found more lies beneath. The many sides to euthanasia extend far beyond "for or against---mercy or murder." Tom L. Beauchamp, Professor of Philosophy at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics wrote an article entitled "Euthanasia" for Encarta (the online encyclopedia), describing the different forms of euthanasia as follows:.
a) active euthanasia is painlessly putting individuals to death for merciful.
reasons, as when a doctor administers a lethal dose of medication to a patient;.
b) passive euthanasia involves not doing something to prevent death, as when.
doctors refrain from using an artificial respirator to keep alive a terminally ill.
patient;.
c) voluntary euthanasia, a person asks to die (by either active or passive.
euthanasia);.
d) nonvoluntary euthanasia refers to ending the life of a person who is not.