Last year, January 17, 2007 - the US Supreme Court passed a law allowing doctors in the state of Oregon to assist, help il patients to die. Justices voted 6 - 3 back on the law, which the doctors were stated they have assited at least 208 suicides in the past. The other states may pass this law like Oregon's, which is the only state who passed this law. Many wondered how the Chief Justice would vote. People expected him to oppose the law because he was a Roman Catholic which would cleary violate his moral values. Yet, some believed he would approve this law because of a state has the right to govern its own rights and laws. Oregon passed this law on 1997 state referendum. "Under the Death with Dignity Act, a patient must have less than six months to live, must be deemed by two doctors as mentally fit to make the decision, and must present one written and two oral demands over a certain period" (Article).
Although, the law might violate the majority of the people's ethics, if one is suffering in so much pain that it is undurable and plus - when one knows that they have no chance of recovering but just suffer under those painful, cruel, vain circumtances of illness, I believe they should have the right to decide for their own death. Yes, it might violate our moral values, yet just letting those patients suffer such pain is immoral and inhumane. Doctors should be able to help the patients out by letting them go. In this case, its helping the patients from servere pain. However, under certain limits, this law should be performed and it should be passed in other states as well.
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4 comments:
I don't agree. Sometimes, a doctor is wrong in their prognosis. Sometimes the patient who should die within 6 months actually lives for a few years. Doctors don't have all the answers, so they should not be allowed to "legally kill" a person or assist in a suicide. Plus, the family members will have immense guilt for the rest of their lives because they let one of their loved ones kill themselves.
i don't agree that doctors should help their patients if they want to commit suicide. this is morally unethical and should not be acceptable. another thing is that when doctors predict how long a person has to live, the greater majority of the time, they are wrong and the patients usually end up living a lot longer.
I think that doctors should assist in suicide in only extreme cases. If both the doctor and the patient believes that the pain is absolutely unbearable it is reasonable that the doctor should help stop the pain. However, this should not be something a doctor does occasionally. This should be a rare occasion and the family too should agree. I believe that there should be certain requirements that a doctor must see to even consider aiding in ending a life, however, if not the doctor must do everything in his or her power to save the patient.
The decision of doctors assisting suicdide should be determinated by the patient themselves. It is one's own life, and should not be decided upon others. If the person is sure that there is no possible hope for themselves, they should make the decision of doing so. As I've stated repeatedly, it is one's own life.
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