The "Right to Die" Debate

Physician-assisted euthanasia is defined by in the ACLU Amicus Brief Vacco v. Quill (a landmark court case on the subject) as, "the right of a competent, terminally ill patient to avoid excruciating pain and embrace a timely and dignified death..." This practice should be legalized in the United States because individuals have the right to decide if they want to endure an agonizing and slow death. Opponents to the practice argue that it is illegal because there are so many opportunities for the system to be abused or that an ill-informed doctor could kill someone who has a definite possibility to be cured of their illness. There are also obvious religious concerns as the Abrahamic religions explicitly forbid suicide and your medical status has no bearing on whether or not you’re allowed to commit a mortal sin.

The primary reason for the legalization of physician-assisted euthanasia is because it allows people to avoid suffering, but there are also ethical concerns for doctors. Physicians take the Hippocratic Oath in which they promise to “do no harm” which would seem to conflict with the practice of administering lethal drugs to your patients. But are doctors not doing more harm by allowing their patients to suffer? I argue that they are certainly doing more harm by forcing a terminally ill patient to suffer.

There is also the issue of involuntary euthanasia. Many opponents argue that the legalization of voluntary euthanasia would lead to the euthanasia of people who could not or would not give consent, such as those with mental disabilities and patients in prolonged comas. This is obviously unethical and would never be allowed in recognized circles of medicine nor would it ever be legalized. However, laws concerning physician-assisted euthanasia should be very carefully written so as to avoid abuse of the system.

In short, physician-assisted euthanasia should be legalized, but only in very specific cases. Namely, when there is no hope of a cure or recovery and living will be very painful or a patient is in a coma or some other situation that is explicitly mentioned in their living will.