An assisted suicide is a respected wish from a terminally ill patient. Victims experiencing excruciating pain in hospital beds may decide to end their lives through assistance from physicians or third parties. Supporters of the exercise claim that everybody has a right to choose what to do with their lives as long as they do not harm others. However, like euthanasia, assisted suicide have also led to serious debates by ethicists, physicians and religious men ("Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia", 2012)
Advancements in medical technology have given us more power to save and prolong human lives than the past. Additionally, medicine has provided various means to either cure or reduce suffering from those with serious diseases like cancer. However, even with this advancements, there reaches a point that is beyond the control of human knowledge. It
...is at this point that patients experience immense pain irrespective of administration of strong pain relievers like morphine in their systems. At this stage, it is only death that dispenses the suffering (Kopelman, & Ville, 2002).
Terminally ill patients may opt to die with dignity rather than wait to wear away out of their illnesses. Since most of these diseases have an approximate period (for example one year) that patients can rarely exceed, they can plan on how to spend the remaining time. Ethicists find it more sensible to live five months happily with your family and then end your life peacefully than to live one year more in a hospital bed desperately agonizing. Assisted suicide substitutes a long period of suffering with a less period of a happier life and enhances death with dignity (Kopelman, & Ville, 2002).
Brittany Maynard is
perfect example that expresses the significance of the immediate events on someone who is dying. It would be impossible to discuss assisted suicide without referring to her. Being an advocate of the ‘right to die’ she left a landmark that will always be remembered.
Beautiful and happily married Brittany was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was only 29. However, she was still healthy looking and energetic. She could never have waited for her death; she chose to approach it with her current healthy status and spend her final moments enjoying the beauty of life (Maynard, 2015).
In many cases of terminal illnesses, death is inevitable. The only choice left with the patients is to choose how they want to die. Approaching your death may be the hardest decision to make but entirely affects the quality of life you will have after. Patients who decide to face death with courage make better use of the little time they have left. They take that time to reflect back on their lives and prepare them for what is ahead.
Brittany did research on the side effects of the treatment she was to undergo. Full brain radiations and chemotherapies would make her life miserable. She would lose her beauty and strength, and life would never be appealing anymore. Alternatively, she made the painful decision and took a new course of life. She enjoyed her last moments by visiting and talking to her friends. She bid goodbye to all she could reach and tied up all the loose ends. She was to die on her terms (Maynard, 2015).
In conclusion, I view assisted suicide as a way of managing one’s personal life. When
death is inevitable, it is better to approach in the best way possible. Instead of enduring too much suffering only to die miserable, I find it better to spend the last moments with happiness and companionship of my family members, apologize for any past mistakes and conclude any unfinished business.
No matter how long we live, death awaits us. People will mourn, miss you but they will still move on. . It is, therefore, better to leave sweet memories in the hearts of those you love rather than traumatizing them with images of a miserably sick person on a hospital bed.
- Affirmative Action essays
- Assisted Suicide essays
- Capital Punishment essays
- Censorship essays
- Child Labour essays
- Child Protection essays
- Civil Rights essays
- Corporal Punishment essays
- Death Penalty essays
- Empowerment essays
- Euthanasia essays
- Gay Marriage essays
- Gun Control essays
- Human Trafficking essays
- Police Brutality essays
- Privacy essays
- Sex Trafficking essays
- Speech essays
