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American Suicide Story: Your Right to Die

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American Suicide Story: Your Right to Die
Matthew Gregorie
Pima Medical Institute

American Suicide Story: Your Right to Die The year was 1776, the United States was on the brink of war with England and in an unwavering effort to be free from the tyranny of King George III, America’s fore-fathers drafted forth a Declaration of Independence. Included in this declaration was a line that still resonates in the hearts and minds of free thinking men and women: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal[->0], that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (US, 1776)”. Even during this simpler time, America’s ancestors realized the value and importance of an individual’s right to make decisions regarding their own fate. Flash forward to present day and these words still hold an incredibly strong value, possibly none greater than when discussing the terminally ill and the right to physician assisted suicide. While there are some who feel that people should not be in control of their own destiny, if the pursuit of happiness means that a person with an incurable sickness chooses they no longer wish to be alive, then they as human beings should be able to make that choice for themselves. Thankfully for them, there is a place in the United States that will consider and allow a person the right to die peacefully with the assistance of a doctor. Oregon, whom on November 8th, 1994, under the Death with Dignity Act, became the first state to legalize doctor assisted suicide by allowing competent, terminally ill adult patients, with a diagnosis of six months or less to live, to obtain prescription drugs that would accelerate their death (Stevens, 2006). This radical new law was immediately challenged by naysayers claiming that in certain cases,

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