Assisted suicide has been a greatly discussed topic among physicians and Scientifics

because of its ethical implications. To practice assisted suicide means to end with a patients
life by a lethal injection (active euthanasia) or by suspending a medical treatment (passive
euthanasia). The perspective on this topic varies from person to person and the
governments are making efforts on hanging it policies regarding euthanasias legality.
Currently, there are only three countries where euthanasia is legal while it is criminalized in
countries such as Mexico, Estonia, Thailand and in the state of California. This fact leads to
the question of whether more countries should or should not legalize assisted suicide.
The subject of euthanasia represents a controversial issue because of its moral and
ethical implications. Some scholars believe that euthanasia threatens human beings dignity
and right to live whereas some argue that not legalizing euthanasia threatens our intrinsic
right to die. Provided that euthanasia is based on the individuals right of deciding over his
or her life, it can be argued that euthanasia should be legalized in more countries.
Activists supporting euthanasia claim that choosing to die is an intrinsic right and
that each individual should make the decision. Said decision is completely personal and if
euthanasia is not legalized by the State, the patients freedom of choice is being violated. In
2005, the case of Terri Schiavo made great controversy on the topic of assisted suicide.
Terry had suffered a cardiac arrest and could no longer breathe by herself. She was declared
vegetative and had to be fed by a nasogastric tube. According to her husband, Terri had
previously stated that she did not wanted to extend her life with the help of artificial
machines; however Terris parents did not wanted to allow their daughters death. They
argued that Terri could have possibly been conscious even in her vegetative state. The
argument between the two parts led to a lawsuit that lasted for 7 years, in that time lapse
Schiavo was disconnected from the tube in three different occasions and finally the
supreme court of the United States determined that Terris own wish should be respected
(even when it was not written), Terry Schiavo passed away on 31th March, 14 days after
the verdict of the Supreme Court (Novoa, 2007). The prior case clearly illustrates that each
person is entitled to the decision of their own deaths regardless of their loved ones
perspective.
In addition to that, euthanasia would allow terminally ill patients to end with their
suffering and provide a more dignified death. The Declaration of Human Rights states that
every human being has the right not to be forced to suffer; not legalizing assisted suicide is
going against this right. For many terminally ill patients, the pain is unbearable and
sometimes long treatments have different side effects that can even worsen the pain. By
practicing euthanasia to those patients, physicians will be helping to relieve their pain and
accelerating a natural process that in many cases cannot be avoided.
Some physicians claim that assisted suicide should not be legalized because it goes
against Hippocratic Oath. Leon Kass, a professor at the University of Chicago explained:

The prohibition against killing patients... stands as the first promise of self-restraint
sworn to in the Hippocratic Oath, as medicine's primary taboo: 'I will neither give a
deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect'...
In forswearing the giving of poison when asked for it, the Hippocratic physician
rejects the view that the patient's choice for death can make killing him right. For
the physician, at least, human life in living bodies commands respect and
reverence--by its very nature.
Despite being a valid position, we should take into account that respecting human
life also implies to respect the persons right to dispose of their lives whenever they want
to. If the patient consents their death, physicians should be able to assist them without any
legal repercussion. Apart from that, the prior statement does not consider the quality of the
patients life; being dependent of artificial machines or long treatments is not living a
decent life; it only makes the natural process of death longer and crueler and takes away the
patients autonomy.
To conclude, the pros of legalizing euthanasia are clearly distinguishable:
Euthanasia could provide a way to relieve extreme pain and a way of relief when a persons
quality of life is low and deciding whether to continue their lives or not is a matter of
freedom of choice. Physicians should not have legal repercussions for practicing assisted
suicide since this is done with the patients consent and does not constitute a type of
murder. Denying physician-assisted suicide would lead to restrict the patients freedom of
choice.

References
Novoa, Fernando. (2007). La historia de Terri Schiavo. Revista chilena de neuropsiquiatra, 45(3), 232-234. http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S071792272007000300009&lng=es&tlng=es. 10.4067/S0717-92272007000300009.
Kass, Leon R., Neither for Love nor Money: Why Doctors Must Not Kill , Public
Interest, 94 (1989:Winter) p.25