Questions concerning the right to end one’s life have long generated storms of controversy. These questions, involving intensely personal views on issues no less profound than the meaning of life and liberty, are unlikely to disappear any time soon. The conservative nature of the medical profession, and the organized opposition of the “right to life” movement, along with disagreement among disabilities rights organizations, perpetuate the controversy. The heat from the debate in turn only intensifies the difficult choices people with end-stage AIDS, and their loved ones, may face when life is overwhelmed by irreversible illness and unrelenting pain. In this essay I am going to discuss what I have learned about assisted suicide, give my opinion on the issue, and back it up with a few approaches I have learned. When we speak of assisted suicide, there are several definitions to describe it. First of all there is Physician-Assisted suicide. This means that a qualified medical practitioner in fulfilling the wishes of a competent, terminally ill patient to end his/her own life, usually by means of lethal injections. Next there is Euthanasia. This is the act of mercifully ending the life of a hopelessly suffering patient. The difference between the two: during euthanasia, when death itself occurs, it’s carried out by the doctor; in doctor assisted suicides, the patient fulfills the final step of terminating his/her own life. One of the most well known practitioners of Assisted suicide would be Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He uses the method of lethal injection, in which the patient releases the solution into the body. Although assisted suicide is not a common practice in the United States, I have found one place in which it is almost an everyday practice. Switzerland uses a program called EXIT. EXIT is a program in which requests for assisted suicide are processed. The cases are reviewed on an individual basis and are thoroug...
