Tamarra Malone

English 101: Rhetoric

Mr. Newman
1 December 2014
Doctor Assisted Suicide

There is always an argument when it comes to what is and isnt ethical for a doctor. For
instance physician assisted suicide has is its own supporters and doubters. Even though most
patients who decide that physician assisted suicide is the best path for them have a deadly disease
and they have little time left, there are still people who feel that doctor assisted suicide violates
the morals and ethics that are supposed to be instilled in every doctor. I believe that a person
should be able to choose whether or not they want to live the rest of their lives with their life
threatening disease or they want to die a peaceful death. Experts also believe that assisted suicide
is dangerous because it may make people without a life threating disease think it is okay to take
part in doctor assisted suicide. Other pessimist believe that a doctor should honor the doctor oath
and try to heal every patient to the best of their ability. Supporters of the idea believe that a very
sick person deserves the right to die peacefully and with dignity. The supporters also think that a
person who is nearing the end of life should not have to finish their lives is agony. Although
many doctors agree that physician assisted suicide is not a practical way to die, there are still
countless doctors that disagree with this notion.
A patient should be able to decide if they want relieve themselves of their pain and
suffering and Oregon believes that same thing. Thaddeus Mason Pope is the director of the
Health Law Institute at Hamline University, and a legal commentator and blogger on end-of-life

medical issues. He discusses the Oregon Death with Dignity Act and how it can work sensibly
and fairly. More than 1,100 people have obtained life-ending prescriptions, and about 750 used
them. Most were dying of cancer. And most feared a loss of autonomy, dignity and decreasing
ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable (Pope). This means that the people
who actually took the prescriptions were no longer enjoying life, they could not complete daily
tasks on their own and they did not want to be remembered as the person who died of some
disease. Pope also says that although there is a Death with Dignity Act there are many
safeguards which only allow participation by distinct categories of the patients. Only patients
who are 18 or older who have had two physicians determine that they have no more than six
months to live, this ensures that the patient really is dying and do not have a possibility of getting
better. He allows people to realize that the death with dignity act is a concrete and beneficial law
to have.
In addition, deciding whether or not it is time to let a loved one go is hard but its even
harder not knowing when they are going to go, but with doctor assisted suicide families can
release their loved ones from pain and suffering at the right time. Anita Freeman watched her
sister die of stage four cancer and now she volunteers for Compassion and Choices. Freeman
witnessed her sister die in agony as the stage four cancer spread through her body. Her sister
simply wanted soothing care because it was the only way she was comfortable, her greatest fear
was to die in pain. Freeman says Elizabeth asked her doctor to help her go to sleep so she could
die peacefully Elizabeths doctor could not commit doctor assisted suicide because it was
illegal in California. He advised Anita Freeman and her sister on the legal option in every state to
pursue her wish of a peaceful and painless death. He said that she could freely stop eating and
drinking. Freeman believes that many doctors tell their patients how to legally commit suicide so

that they can die on their own terms. I wholeheartedly endorse Freemans idea that if assisted
suicide was a choice for people with terminal diseases they would not have to go to desperate
measures.
Doctors sometimes rely on their medical ethics to support their stance on assisted suicide.
Doctors will sometime pay more attention to the length of life rather than the quality of life. This
habit may not be the best way to think when it comes to value and worth of someones life.
Psychologist John M. Grohol is the founder of Psych Central, a mental health website and a
founding board member of the society of Participatory Medicine says When doctors equate
healing with quantity of life, they ignore the quality of life. If suffering is intolerable it is
inhumane not to end it. In other words, Grohol is saying that doctors are doing patients a
disservice by letting them live through unbearable pain. At the end of life, when medicine
cannot help a person live any longer or stop a terminal disease, it seems in keeping with a
physicians ethics to help an individual maintain their dignity and choose the date of their own
death.(Grohol). Grohol insists a person should not have to put up with such agonizing pain that
is not going to lead them to a happy and healthy life. Life should not be about how long a person
lived but how well their lives were and how happy they were during their life.
On the other hand there are people who think that physician assisted suicide is unethical
and is dangerous. Ira Byock is a professor at Dartmouths Geisel School of medicine, is chief
office of the institute for human caring of providence Health and Services and the author of
Dying Well and The Best Care Possible. Byock says When doctor-induced death becomes
accepted response to the suffering of dying people, logical extensions grease a slippery slope.
Byock is saying that if physician assisted suicide is made legal is will take a turn for the worst
and it will not a have a positive outcome. I agree that there may be some problems with

physician assisted suicide in the beginning but doesnt all new medicine findings have their
issues.
Understanding that physician assisted suicide is not a normal way to die and also
understanding that not everyone will come to terms with physician assisted suicide is important
because I need to look at both ends of the spectrum and see why the opposition is opposing.

Works Cited

Byock, Ira. Doctor Assisted Suicide is Unethical and Dangerous. New York Times: Room for
Debate. New York Times Company, 6.Oct.2014. Web.16.Oct.2014.
Freeman, Anita. Everyone Deserves to Die With Dignity New York Times: Room for Debate.
New York Times Company, 7.Oct.2014. Web.16.Oct.2014.
Grohol John. Denying Someone a Peaceful Death Can Be Unethical New York Times: Room
for Debate. New York Times Company, 7.Oct.2014. Web.16.Oct.2014.
Pope, Thaddeus. Oregon Shows that Assisted Suicide Can Work Sensibly and Fair.
New York Time: Room for Debate. New York Times Company, 7.Oct.2014. Web. 16.
Nov. 2014.