Rilee Brazda

Ms. Snyder

English 2

12 October 2018

Assisted Suicide… Is it Moral?

Assisted suicide degrades society because it devalues life, shows that lives of the old, terminally ill, and disabled are worthless or a waste of resources, and it pressures patients to think taking their own life is the best and only way out. When it comes to life or death it shouldn’t be an easy choice, yet society makes death seem like the “easy way out”. Debates about moral issues like this are always accompanied by multiple points of view. Some say we should “have the freedom to die”, their “health care costs could be reduced”, their pain and suffering demolished, and their family and friends don’t have to watch them suffer. Chuck Palahniuk stated, “You have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be.” On top of this, it saves resources for others who need them. Others declare that life has importance and even the elderly and ill could live fulfilling lives. G.K. Chesterton had once proclaimed, “Think of all those ages through which men have had the courage to die, and then remember that we have actually fallen to talking about having the courage to live”. There will be suffering regardless, but the choice on how to handle it is what sparks this debate. 

Suicide and murder are condemned by religions, the law, and most communities. How can both suddenly be acceptable when they have been outlawed for centuries? Assisted suicide, instead of just being suicide alone, is practically a combination of murder. Harun Yahya says, “Euthanasia is no different from the act of suicide or premeditated murder. Regardless of the health or mental status of the individual requesting euthanasia, making the decision for it means ending a person’s life.” Today people are faced with a moral dilemma, and “The choice is a lot more difficult because with euthanasia, the life wants to be taken. So you can’t say, ‘Poor fetus, nobody asked the fetus.’ It’s, “‘Poor old guy, somebody asked him and he said, please do it’” (Nigel Cameron). Through assisted suicide, the disabled and ill are pressured to believe that they don’t have value and would be better off dead.

There are two different types of assisted suicide– euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia is the act of a doctor voluntarily taking someone’s life, most commonly by giving a patient a lethal drug.  Physician-assisted suicide is when a doctor or physician only provides the means for death, often by giving a deadly prescription or taking away things crucial to the patient living, like life support or artificial feeding. “Patients who are being kept alive by technology and want to end their lives already have a recognized constitutional right to stop any and all medical interventions, from respirators to antibiotics. They do not need physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia” (Ezekiel Emanuel). In other words, physician-assisted suicide lets the patient do the job themselves instead of the doctor doing it for them. Both are intended to be used to put those suffering, dying, or people with worsening conditions out of their pain. Jack Kevorkian, an American euthanasia proponent, had shared, “My aim in helping the patient was not to cause death. My aim was to end suffering”. Like Kevorkian, many others feel this way.

Why would a doctor let patients kill themselves if it’d be so much easier and less painful to just give them an injection? The reason for this is that assisted suicide goes against the Hippocratic Oath, also known as the Physician’s Creed, which doctors promise to follow throughout their career. In summary, through this creeddoctors vow to save, prolong, and improve life, not to end it, even if that means the patient has to suffer. “Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia have been profound ethical issues confronting doctors since the birth of Western medicine, more than 2,000 years ago” (Ezekiel Emanuel). If they’re put in a position where the patient is seeking death and ending their life is legal as long as their condition can’t be improved, then, in essence, physician-assisted suicide allows the doctor to indirectly kill. It gives the patient the choice when to end their own lives and leaves the doctor out of the situation as best as it can.

Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia are still murder and suicide, regardless if they’re intended to help. Stella Young had brought to attention that, “The killing of a disabled person is not ‘compassionate’. It is not ‘euthanasia’. It is murder”. Assisted suicide still includes someone taking the life of another and because the patients want their life to be taken, it becomes a suicide as well. Arguments defending euthanasia and assisted suicide often include that it takes away the pain of incurable diseases and illnesses, helps rid of the difficulty of paying for medical costs and insurance, saves the time of the doctors and nurses, and again saves resources for other patients (life.org). It takes away stress from families and friends when having to watch their loved one suffer and allows them to ‘say goodbye in a quick and painless way’. Brian Johnston states, “In addition to their own emotional needs, it is the family and friends, more than anyone else, who will influence the mood and mindset of the patient. They may, even unwittingly, reinforce negative thoughts and attitudes”. So, even though the family and friends are suffering, they could, in return, make the patient suffer more by having negative thoughts and attitudes around him or her. They say having the choice of how we die is a “basic human freedom” and if an individual’s quality of life is terrible, then they should have the right to stop their suffering. In other words, it’s a good reason for murder and suicide. It takes away the lives of those who are going to die anyways. 

What could possibly be wrong with this? Firstly, everyone dies. Most deaths happen without knowledge of the exact time or reason, so why does this mean those who are suffering have the right to know the exact time and cause of their own death? Does this mean that people with mental illnesses or depression have the right to commit suicide, as well? Secondly, if assisted suicide is available and used for anyone and everyone disabled or ill, then medications would lose their purpose of prolonging and improving life. If everyone who needed these medications were killed to simply save resources, then there would end up being little to no need for the medications anyway. Adding to this, “Of all the arguments against voluntary euthanasia, the most influential is the ‘slippery slope’: once we allow doctors to kill patients, we will not be able to limit the killing to those who want to die.” (Peter Singer). If euthanasia becomes an “everyday thing”, patients will start to think that they have no other choice, even if they do want to live.

Families and friends will have to watch their loved one suffer for a time, even if they are later euthanized. They’ll have to know the fact that their loved one wanted to die. “We must be willing to accept the bitter truth that, in the end, we may have to become a burden to those who love us. But it is necessary that we face this also. The full acceptance of our abjection and uselessness is the virtue that can make us and others rich in the grace of God. It takes heroic charity and humility to let others sustain us when we are absolutely incapable of sustaining ourselves. We cannot suffer well unless we see Christ everywhere, both in suffering and in the charity of those who come to the aid of our affliction” (Thomas Merton). Without suffering, we wouldn’t see the good in our lives nearly as easily. Even though it’s painful, it teaches us and has a purpose. “The pain and suffering that comes to us has a purpose in our lives– it is trying to teach us something. We should look for its lesson” (Peace Pilgrim).

Euthanasia may eliminate suffering on earth, but what about what happens after death? Religion plays a large role in the debate against assisted suicide. “As believers, how can we fail to see that abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are a terrible rejection of God’s gift of life and love? And as believers, how can we fail to feel the duty to surround the sick and those in distress with the warmth of our affection and the support that will help them always to embrace life?” (Pope John Paul II). Life is a gift from God. Everything we go through is all part of His plan for us and all of it has purpose. Suffering is a side effect of sin, yet through it God strengthens us. He uses those who fought through it as inspirations to those in the very depths of it. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (English Standard Version). Suicide is a form of murder, meaning it both breaks the sixth commandment and dishonors God. No one is worthless, especially in God’s eyes.

“Far from definitively resolving the assisted suicide issue, the court’s decisions seem to assure that the debate over assisted suicide and euthanasia is not yet over– and may have only begun” (Neil Gorsuch). Assisted suicide is legal in a few states, such as Oregon and Hawaii, but, for the most part, it’s illegal in America. Even this doesn’t stop the debate over if assisted suicide is morally acceptable. Does this mean that there is no hope in solving this issue? Well, yes and no. Yes because assisted suicide can still be and sometimes is done illegally, though it often comes with harsh punishment. No because educating people about why assisted suicide is wrong and overall banning it could prevent our nation from legalizing a genocide of the ill. The disabled, sick, and old still have a chance to live fulfilling lives. Medication should be used to improve their lives and to take away pain instead of completely erasing it. Though they may be physically weak and in need of help, they carry and share knowledge and experiences that inspire others to fight through their own struggles. It is by no means easy to fight through cancer, the downfalls of old age, or diseases, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try.

Works Cited

“Assisted Suicide Quotes (10 Quotes).” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/assisted-suicide.

“Ethics – Euthanasia: Anti-Euthanasia Arguments.” BBC, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/against/against_1.shtml.

“Euthanasia Quotes.” BrainyQuote, Xplore, www.brainyquote.com/topics/euthanasia.

Issitt, Micah, and Heather Newton. “Counterpoint: Assisted Suicide Is a Civil Right.” Points of View Reference Centre. Points of View Reference Centre, web.a.ebscohost.com/pov/commanddetail?vid=3&sid=23b71001-2481-449f-8ec5-d794b468aefc%40sdc-v-sessmgr03. Accessed 30 Sept. 2016

Lee, M., and Alexander Stingl. “Assisted Suicide: An Overview.” Points of View Reference Center, 30 Sept. 2016, web.a.ebscohost.com/pov/detail/detailvid=2&sid=aac6e497-2748-4e2c-a6a6-077f98d2fc2d%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#AN=22829171&db=pwh. Accessed 8 Oct. 2018.

“Medical Ethics.” Euthanasia and Medical Ethics | The Life Resources Charitable Trust, www.life.org.nz/euthanasia/euthanasiamedicalkeyissues/medical-ethics/.

“Pros and Cons of Assisted Suicide.” The Week UK, The Week UK, www.theweek.co.uk/politics/25333/pros-and-cons-assisted-suicide.

“Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments – Euthanasia – ProCon.org.” Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?, euthanasia.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000126.

“TOP 20 ASSISTED SUICIDE QUOTES.” A-Z Quotes, www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/assisted-suicide.html.

“Why Assisted Suicide Is Wrong.” TFP Student Action, www.tfpstudentaction.org/blog/10-reasons-to-ban-assisted-suicide.