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"It would be contrary to any legal system that purports to protect and enforce a just and social order to legalize the killing which rests on the justification that certain lives lack worth" (Fedden 183). This is simply because justice in society requires a non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory way of identifying who are the subjects of justice. The only way to avoid discrimination, and arbitrariness is to assume that all human beings are entitled to the same human rights. The basic human dignity and worth that is recognized must be seen as being attacked if we allow assisted suicide. This type of killing can not be accommodated in our legal system due to our country's belief in the worth, and dignity of every human being.
Physician assisted suicide undermines the dispositions we require in doctors and is destroying the practice of medicine. Killing is incompatible with the professional duties of a physician, and goes against their oath. A physician has a clear moral obligation to cure and comfort, and no where along the lines of cure and comfort is killing. "Our Constitution isn't a suicide pact. It wasn't written to protect doctors who play executioner." (Shannon 10).
Pain control is morally acceptable. It is tragic that the availability of pain control is not universally recognized by doctors and their patients. Medical experts tell us it is possible to control most pain. Research should be funded to insure the possibility of pain control in all cases. The dissemination of knowledge about pain control to doctors and patients should be facilitated; state and federal lawmakers as well as medical organizations have begun to recognize the need for this.
In my opinion, physician assisted suicide should not be legalized because it is usually a cry for help, from the ill patient. In one study, of the "twenty four percent of terminally ill patients that desired death, all had clinical depression" (Braddock).
