WHY PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE SHOULD NOT BE LEGALIZED

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“They say that pain cannot always be controlled by drugs, and that helping patients to end their suffering through death should be legal” . This raises the question of assisted suicide. If it is not legal today why are proponents working so hard to change a commonly understood “no-no”? The debate has been ongoing since the early 1970’s as we have undergone a fundamental shift from a paternalistic tradition in which families depended solely on their chosen doctor for treatment, being devoid of understanding, believing the doctors recommendation to be the coarse of action. Today’s patients generally are more informed of their medical situation, therefore they bring their involvement in their treatment under public scrutiny. Patients choosing physician-assisted suicide have their cases brought into public eye as we, the public, question their morals and understanding of the decision the patient and their physician are making. “PAS raises very different questions of law and public policy. It also plays on very different human emotions, which shape our response to the legal frameworks of the [issue]”

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“While PAS  involves the permission of the terminally ill to prevent suffering, it is feared that it could evolve into voluntary euthanasia” . There is no end to the questioning of ethics and the definition of rights regarding PAS but with so much evidence of a downward spiral proponents must be challenged. With the issues and opposition Physician-assisted suicide faces, it should not be legalized because it devalues human life, violates the moral standards we believe, and demolishes the doctor-patient relationship.