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 painlesslyending the life of a person for the reason of mercy. It is sometimes referred to as mercykilling. Americans are hearing more and more horror stories of the elderly tragicallykilling his or her spouse in order to avoid painful and horrible deaths. It is sad andamazing the extreme measures one has to go through to accomplish his or her death.More and more Americans are speaking out and fighting for the right to die. Thishowever goes against all morals and ethical codes, for a physician’s role is to sustain life,not take it away. Although euthanasia and assisted suicide is not morally and ethicallyaccepted, it should be an individual issue for those who face imminent death becausedeath should be a personal choice, because death should be without unnecessary pain andsuffering, and because most importantly death should be peaceful. Granted, euthanasiaand physician-assisted suicide seem to threaten the traditional medical values. Allphysicians take the Hippocratic Oath upon receiving their degree. This oath states thosephysicians are to prolong life and minimize suffering. In an article written by JohnGlasson he argues: Physician-assisted suicide presents one of the greatest contemporarychallenges to the medical profession’s ethical responsibilities. Proposed as a meanstoward more humane care of the dying, assisted suicide threatens the very core of themedical profession’s ethical integrity. (91) Physicians have a moral and ethicalresponsibility to sustain life. They are in no position to render aid in a person’s death.Groups argue that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide goes against everything theybelieve in. Although physicians lose patients to death everyday, it is not due to the factthat they aided in their death, but could no l...
