Free essay on physician assisted suicide as an ethical alternative to living a life of suffering

Michele Causse ingested 15g of powdered Nembutal, dissolved in 60ml of normal tap water, ending her life. In Switzerland it’s legal to assist someone in ending their life if it is not done for egotistical reasons. Michele Causse loved life but didn’t want it to lose form; she’s basically saying that although she loves life it’s all downhill from here because of her health. Life is only going to get worse, so she wants to end on her terms instead of slowly deteriorating into a creature that can’t feed itself. She already can’t shop or cook or do a lot of the things she enjoyed in life, so what’s the point in living to lose more of things you loved to do? She has no control of her life anymore. (Nicklinson 2012)
She’s killing herself because her life is losing its meaning. Death is easy, life is difficult. Everything is taken care of, even her death, there’s nothing to worry about, all your worries are gone because you’re going to die. She wonders why people say life is sacred, when we should be able to do with our own lives as we wish, you don’t need to tell people to cherish life, one person choosing death doesn’t equate to the whole world following suit.
Hordes of women didn’t all have abortions when abortions were legalized but they had the choice to do so. What she’s saying is her want for death doesn’t affect her or anyone else’s love for life, she loves life and people will still love life after she’s gone, death is inevitable, why shouldn’t we be able to control it?
Ludwig A. Minelli, Secretary General Dignitas. States; ‘ Even a teenager has a right to die when his girlfriend leaves him’ On the other hand he wouldn’t help him until he explained that things can get better; there are plenty of fish in the sea but this is not the case for someone that is terminally ill. (Gallagher 2012)
Lynn Gilderdale a young woman who was very ill and who wanted to die, enlisted her mother in assisting her suicide, her mother now is on trial for murder. Lynn injected herself with an overdose of morphine and then when it appeared that it didn’t work her mother crushed up some pills and gave them to her to make sure she was dead. Which is where the controversy lies; although Lynn initiated her suicide her mother essentially ended it. Baroness Campbell of Surbiton states that sanctioning assisted suicide is too dangerous and could lead to opening the flood gates for disabled people to be killed, what they’re worried about is that someone can be coerced or feel bullied into it by the standards society sets people. (Gallagher 2012) She thinks it’s as wrong to kill someone with their permission as it is to kill them without. Basically what she’s saying is by trying to prosecute Lynn’s mother Kay for murder they are setting an example as a deterrent to others that assisting in someone’s suicide is wrong but how can it be wrong in England and legitimate in Switzerland? (Andre 2010)
Obviously the idea that it is wrong is just an opinion, so how can you try someone for attempted murder on a difference of opinion? There have been regulations set in place in Britain around assisting suicide and one of them is that the person assisting cannot benefit from the death but in all likelihood it will be a family member enlisted to assist who will more than likely benefit financially so who else could you get to do it? Doctors and strangers can’t do it for liability reasons and you’re family can’t do it for it financial gain, so who does that leave? Debbie Purdy (sufferer of advanced ms) has won a court case in which her husband will not be prosecuted if he takes her to another country to die if her ms worsens. She says that it’s a failure in the democratic process to ignore people’s rights to die. The law is saying it’s ok to take your own life but not ok for someone to assist you if you are not able. Lynn was acquitted and the crown prosecution was heavily criticised for seeking attempted murder. (Gallagher 2012)
In conclusion I do think assisted suicide is justified in a democratic society, as the idea of democracy is that you can decide what happens in your life, i. e. changing government and policy. The idea that this principal should not literally stretch to the nature of actually living and quality of life is absurd because democracy is supposed to be a fair system that allows everyone their own choice.

Bibliography

Andre, C. (2010). Assisted Suicide: A Right or a Wrong? Retrieved from
http://www. scu. edu/ethics/publications/iie/v1n1/suicide. html
Dignitas – la mort sur ordonnance (death on prescription) (2010).
Gallagher, J. (2012) Tony Nicklinson loses High Court right-to-die case. Retrieved from
http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/health-19249680
Kant, Emmanuel. (1804) The metaphysics of ethics. Translated with an introd. and appendix by J. W. Semple (1836)
Nicklinson, T. (2012). Assisted dying debate: Tony Nicklinson in his own words. Retrieved from
http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-18398797
Panorama. (2011). I Helped My Daughter Die.
The Stream: Choosing death (2012) Aljazeera.