Assisted Suicide

"Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - The Holy Bible

To pop the poison pill or not - that is the question. Life sometimes sucks under the best of circumstances, but what if days are spent in a hospital bed slowly suffocating to death as cancer eats away the body or perhaps Alzheimer's slowly takes away the past and every familiar face. Fear of the pain and the suffering, fear of a quality of life, which is horrible, maybe there is no point in delaying the inevitable. Suicide is traditionally understood as the act of taking one's own life. Participation in assisted suicide entails making a means of suicide (e.g., providing pills or a weapon) available to a patient with knowledge of the patient's intention. Although society is divided on the subject of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia , debate has intensified in the U.S. over the question of whether terminally ill people should have the legal right to obtain a doctor's help in ending their lives.

Physician-assisted suicide is among the most highly controversial bioethical issues in recent history. Every reasonable person prefers that no patient ever contemplate suicide (with or without assistance) and recent advancements in pain management have reduced the number of persons seeking such assistance. However, there are some patients who experience terrible suffering that can't be relieved through pain medication and seek relief. Peter Rogatz, author of "The Virtues of Physician-Assisted Suicide" states, "PAS isn't about physicians becoming killers. It's about patients whose suffering can't be relieved, and about not turning away from them when they ask for help." Decisions about assisted-suicides are complicated in that they take place in hospitals or under the supervision of health care workers. In these situations workers are guided by the Hippocratic oath, which advocates respect for all human life. The justifiability of suicide intervention in such situations rests on which moral consideration is weightier: autonomy or respect for life. Given the unique duties of health care workers, respect for life outweighs the principle of autonomy. "Once legalized, physician-assisted suicide would become routine. Over time doctors would become comfortable having PAS as an option. Comfort would make us want to extend the option to others who, in societies view, are suffering and leading purposeless lives." A quote from Ezekiel Emanuel from the article "Whose Right to Die." Rogatz's, who supports assisted suicide and euthanasia believes, withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, for example; disconnecting a ventilator at a patients request, is accepted by society, yet this requires a more definitive act by a physician than prescribing a medication that a patient has requested and is free to take as he or she sees fit. Should the later be perceived as doing harm when the former is not? It is the author's opinion legalizing physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia would open a whole new chapter of arguments. Once voluntary assisted suicide and euthanasia became a common procedure, society would look to it for deformed children, the mentally ill, the incompetent and others who are suffering or who we perceive are suffering. One thing both authors agreed upon was the fact that, providing the terminally ill with compassionate care is hard work. It requires monitoring and adjusting pain medications, the thankless task of cleaning people who cannot control their bladders and bowels. It may require agonizing talks with family members about what to do next. Ending a patient's life by injection, with the added solace that it will be quick and painless, is much easier than constant care. Ezekiel Emanuel writes "Most of the patients interested in physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia will not be suffering horrific pain. Depression, hopelessness and psychological distress are the primary factors motivating the great majority." The usual approach to people who try to end their lives for reasons of depression and distress is psychiatric intervention - not giving

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