Chad Starkey Jolene Mendel English 102 October 25, 2020 The Right to Die Dying, for most Americans, has become far more complicated than it once was. A century ago, most people died at the home of...

Chad Starkey
Jolene Mendel
English 102
October 25, 2020
The Right to Die
Dying, for most Americans, has become far more complicated than it once was. A century ago, most people died at the home of either old age or illnesses that medicine could do little to cure. Today, technology has created choices for dying patients and their families, raising basic human dignity questions and playing God. Most people die in medical facilities or institutions where a trained medical staff makes a valiant effort to keep patients alive until there is no reasonable recovery chance. For many people, that's exactly what they want: a no-holds-ba
ed effort to fight off death as long as possible. For others facing terminal illness, the fear of pain, and the realization that there is no cure, there may come the point where the fight no longer seems worth it. At some point, should the terminally ill be able to say they have had enough? Should a sick person be able to die at the very moment they choose legally? An even bigger debate is, should a physician assist the patient in making sure they die painlessly? A Gallup poll conducted in May of 2004 showed that most Americans say suicide is morally wrong, but half say physician-assisted suicide is morally acceptable. The right to die is not just a religious issue. 70 percent of people who never attend church think it is morally ok to have a physician-assisted suicide. 33 percent of weekly churchgoers also agree that physician-assisted suicide should be legal. Men are more likely than women to find the practice morally acceptable but by a minimal margin 59 percent to 47 percent. In 1906 the first euthanasia bill was drafted in Ohio but failed to become law. Thirty-two years later, the Euthanasia Society of America was founded in New York. It was later renamed the Society of the Right to Die in 1974. In 1976 the New Jersey Supreme Court allowed Karen Ann Quinlan's parents disconnect her respirator, but Quinlan, who suffered
ain damage after ingesting alcohol and tranquilizers at a party in 1975, lived without the respirator until 1985. One of the most famous names associated with this physician-assisted suicide, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was sentenced on April 13, 1999 to a 10 to a 25-year prison term in Michigan for the 2nd degree murder of Thomas Youk, who was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease whom he assisted in suicide. Before his sentence, Dr. Kevorkian had helped 120 other people die. Most people remember seeing Te
i Schiavo in the news. Te
i had a severe
ain injury for 14 years. Her husband wanted to remove feeding tubes and let her die, while her other family members wanted to keep her in the hospital with the extreme medical measure that was keeping her alive. Who has the right to make that decision? Should her husband have had the right to say she is ready to die? Is that equivalent to him playing God? Or is the hospital and doctors who are keeping the machines on playing God by keeping her alive? Without these extreme measures, she would die. Oregon in 1997 became the first and only state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, this law was a result of voters approving 1994 Death with Dignity Act by referendum. Some of the arguments of those who favor legalizing physician-assisted suicide is as followed: The Mercy Argument states that the immense pain and the indignity of prolonged suffering cannot be ignored. The Patient's Right to Self-determination. Patient empowerment has been a trend for more than twenty-five years. "It's my life, my pain. Why can't I get the treatment I want?" The Economics Argument, which notes that the cost of keeping people alive is exceedingly high. Who's footing the bill for the
ten thousand people being sustained in a persistent vegetative state? Are we wasting precious resources when an already used up life is prolonged unnecessarily? Reality runs like this: let us face it; people are already doing it. This argues that the need for legalized physician-assisted suicide is self-evident. While those who argue against the subject of physician-assisted
suicide argue the following: Medical doctors are not trained, psychiatrists. Many, if not most, people have wished they could die rather than facing some difficult circumstances in their lives. Doctors who are given authority to grant this wish may not always recognize that the real problem is a treatable depression rather than the need to fulfill a patient's death wish. Just as people have a right to life, they have a right to die. Death is one of the few things we all will have in common. People of all kinds take their own lives every day. If physician-assisted suicide became legal, doctors could help these ill individuals to end their lives in a means that may make it possible for others who want to live to benefit. Organ donation would save so many lives because the donors or patient of physician-assisted suicide could be done in a hospital where the person's organs could be harvested and given to someone whose illness is curable. There is a proven fact that medical doctors are not all trained psychiatrists. Many people in today's society wish they could die rather than face some difficult circumstances such as incurable illness in their lives. While society openly debates abortion and women's rights, the right to die is not nearly as popular. People deserve to have full control of their lives, and it is a subject worth confronting.
Annotated bibliography
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mj XXXXXXXXXXThe right to die is between a patient
and their docto
Johnson, L. Syd M. "The Right to Die in the Minimally Conscious State." Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 37, no. 3, BMJ Publishing Group, Mar. 2011, pp. 175–78, doi:10.1136/jme XXXXXXXXXXThe right to die is between a patient and their docto
Math, Suresh, and Santosh Chaturvedi. "Euthanasia: Right to Life Vs Right to Die." The Indian Journal of Medical Research, vol. 136, no. 6, Medknow Publications, Dec. 2012, pp. 899–902. The right to die is between a patient
and their docto
Watt, Bob. "TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON AND A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE UNDER THE HEAVEN – A TIME TO BE BORN AND A TIME TO DIE. NATURAL LAW, EMOTION AND THE RIGHT TO DIE." Denning Law Journal, vol. 24, no. 1, Wm. W. Gaunt and Sons Inc, Nov. 2012, pp. 89–115, doi:10.5750/dlj.v24i1.393. The right to die is between a patient and their docto
Gallup (July 13, XXXXXXXXXXPublic Grapples With, Legality, Morality of
Euthanasia. December 18, 2009
http:
www.gallup.com/search/default.aspx?q=euthanasia&s=&p =1
Wikipedia (October XXXXXXXXXXKaren Ann Quinlan. December 18, 2009
http:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Ann_Quinlan
Wikipedia (December 16, XXXXXXXXXXTe
i Schiavo case. December 18,
2009 http:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te
i_Schiavo_case