Euthanasia Essay -- mercy killing physician assisted suicide

Euthanasia The right to die with dignity, euthanasia and physician assisted suicide is a very sensitive issue debated in this country today. Euthanasia is the act of painlessly ending the life of a person for the reason of mercy. It is sometimes referred to as mercy killing. Americans are hearing more and more horror stories of the elderly tragically killing his or her spouse in order to avoid painful and horrible deaths. It is sad and amazing the extreme measure one had to go through to accomplish his or her death. More and more Americans are speaking out and fighting for the right to die. This however goes against all morals and ethical codes, for a physician’s role to sustain life, not take it away. Although euthanasia and assisted suicide is not morally and ethically accepted, it should be an individual issue for those who face imminent death because death should be a personal choice, because death should be without unnecessary pain and suffering, and because most importantly death should be peaceful. Granted, euthanasia and physician suicide assisted seem to threaten the traditional medical values. All physicians take the Hippocratic Oath upon receiving their degree. This oath states those physicians are to prolong life and minimize suffering. In an article written by John Glasson he argues: Physician assisted suicide presents one of the greatest contemporary challenges to the medical profession’s ethical responsibilities. Proposed as a means toward more humane care of the dying, assisted suicide threatens the very core of the medical profession’s ethical integrity (Glasson 91). Physicians have a moral and ethical responsibility to sustain life. They are in no position to render aid in a person’s death... ... die with dignity. Works Cited Dority, Barbara. â€Å"The Ultimate Civil Liberty.† Humanist. July/Aug. 1998: 16-20. Sirs Researcher. CD-ROM. SIRS Mandrin Spring 1999. Sirs 1998 Death and Dying, volume 5, article 14. Glasson, John. â€Å"Report of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American Medical Association.† Issues in Law & Medicine. Summer 1994: 91-97. Sirs Researcher. CD-ROM. SIRS Mandrin Springs 1999. Sirs 1994 Death and Dying, volume 4, article 50. Kamisar, Yale. â€Å"The Future of Physician-Assisted Suicide.† Minnesota Law Review. July 1998: 48-53. Sirs Researcher. CD-ROM. SIRS Mandrin Springs 1999. Puchalski, Christina M. â€Å"Life Before Death: Facing Death with True Dignity.† World & I. July 1998: 34-39. Strasburg, Jenny. â€Å"Last Rights: Speaking the Language of Death.† Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN). Scipps-Howard News Service.