Assisted Suicide Suffering from an illness that is terminal can last weeks, months and even years, or it can take one massive decision on taking yourself away from the pain with assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is when a patient that is terminally ill, and qualifies for the procedure, asks for medication to take their own life to stop the pain. In the United Sates, forty six states do not give the option for assisted suicide, which means there are millions of people suffering from incurable illnesses, waiting to die. Many people try killing themselves on their own, because they are not a citizen of a state that allows assisted suicide. I believe that killing yourself unassisted is worse than killing yourself with provided medication. Assisted suicide should be legal, because it allows suffering people to decide when they want to overcome the pain. Assisted suicide is not like any ordinary suicide. It is a suicide to relieve pain from a patient who only has so long to live. To receive assisted suicide, the patient has to qualify to all of the requirements. Out of the four states that have legalized assisted suicide, three of them involve the same requirements. Oregon was the first state to legalize assisted suicide on November 8, 1994.
“An adult who is capable of making choices, is a resident of Oregon, and has been determined by the attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and who had voluntarily expressed his or her life in the humane and dignified matter” (qtd. in “State”).
Approximately fourteen years later on November 4, 2008, Washington legalized the same procedure with the same requirements, but needing to be a Washington resident instead of an Oregon resident. On December 31, 2009, Montana legalized “Life sustaining treatment for terminally ill patient but does not specifically address physician assisted suicide” (qtd. in “State”). To receive any procedure, the patient would have to be diagnosed by a doctor as terminally ill. The patient would have to make a written request for a lethal prescription or medication. With the request being said, it would need to be signed by two witnesses and the patient would also have to get a second doctors opinion. Vermont is the last state that legalized assisted suicide. The legalization was on May 20, 2013. Just like Oregon and Washington, Vermont requires the person who wants to follow through with the procedure to be eighteen years or older, capable of making health care decisions, and diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months (“State”). These four states all agree to assisted suicide because it helps suffering patients take their life, so that they no longer have to suffer from pain. In eighteen of the United States, states, the majority of votes supported assisted suicide. If there are not many people voting against assisted suicide, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be legal. I believe that assisted suicide should be legalized everywhere. When patients don’t have the option for assisted suicide, they suffer longer. Many patients hate the life they are living because of all the pain they have to go through, just to keep their life. Dr. Jack Kevorkian was sentenced for the crime of murder, consisting of carrying out acts of euthanasia in one-hundred thirty cases. Dr. Kevorkian stated that “dying is not a crime” (qtd. in Fridstein). I assume that the ninety-three year old that was dying from cancer would also agree with Kevorkian’s statement. Jean confessed to Margery Fridstein that she had collected fifty sleeping pills, but was fearful of taking them. “I’ve been saving pills for this, but now I’m afraid that they won’t work” (Fristein). Jean wanted to die and was going to take all the pills, but was worried that if it didn’t work, she would still be in the same pain, if not more. Patients that are terminally ill and know that things are only going to get worse are impatiently waiting to die. Because there are only four states that have legalized assisted suicide, more than half of the patients who have a terminal illness, suffer because they cannot do anything about it. Some people may say that assisted suicide isn’t a good idea, because it could lead to people abusing their privilege, however, to actually receive assisted suicide, they have to follow the requirements and qualify for it. In my opinion, I think patients have their own rights, just like everyone else does. The fourteenth amendment in the Constitution states:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (qtd. in Burton).
This law states that none of the states can implement a law that takes away the privileges of a citizen of taking away their life. In this case, the law would not be taking somebody’s life away from them; it would be the patient taking their own life. The patient wants to deduct their own life, not anyone else’s, so they should be allowed to make the choice on when to take it. Assisted suicide is not a “right or wrong” thing. People have the right to bear arms, freedom of speech, etc. So why can’t we have the right to make a decision on whether or not we want to live? Since everyone has their own rights, some people may believe that other suicide is acceptable for this debate as well, but it’s different. A patient who wants to obliterate their disease has the right to take their life if they’re going to die anyway. Taking your life because you’re depressed or upset wouldn’t be the same because they aren’t terminally ill and they aren’t already in the process of dying. I also think assisted suicide is good idea, because there is proof that it works in Oregon. In Oregon the Death with Dignity Act demonstrates that the aid in dying laws can and do work well (Tucker).
“The Death with Dignity Act allows terminally ill Oregon residents to obtain and use prescriptions from their physicians for self-administered, lethal medications. Under the Act, ending one’s life in accordance with the law does not constitute suicide. However, we use ‘physician-assisted suicide’ because that terminology is used in medical literature to describe ending life through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications prescribed by physician for that purpose. The Death with Dignity Act legalizes Pas (physician assisted suicide), but specifically prohibits euthanasia, where a physician or other person directly administers a medication to end another’s life” (qtd. in Tucker).
This law has been tested and shown that it does work in the state of Oregon. Since this act has not been tested in any other states, people may believe that this act will not work in any state but Oregon. The way I see it is, if assisted suicide has no evidence of risk to patients and works in one state, then it will work just as well in other states (Tucker). I think that assisted suicide is a good thing to legalize because it helps the suffering people get relief. Assisted suicide isn’t hurting anyone; it is only helping the ones that are already in pain. Legalizing assisted suicide could lead to solving an illegal problem that is already happening. Supporters of assisted suicide cite the many doctors who have already confessed to giving terminally ill patients with chrome pain enough morphine to kill them. People believe that if it’s legalized, it will then become abused. Liberations argue that legalization would be very far from abuse, it would lead to proper regulation and supervision of the procedure because doctors and patients would no longer have to practice assisted suicide secretly (Forman 57). “Unauthorized suicide already occurs. Legalizing assisted suicide will only lead to better regulation and reduce abuse of the process” (100). The right to die can be looked at in three different ways, the right to be allowed to die, which would be a right of noninterference and would happen when one was asked to be left alone and permitted to die a natural death; the right to kill oneself, which would be to take one’s own life free from interference by others (unassisted suicide); or it can mean the right to be killed by another at one’s request. The third right is the one that needs to be invoked to make a case for legalizing assisted suicide, because people have the right to die and even the right to kill themselves (Wennburg 180). What we don’t have is the right to be killed. However, matters are different when a person simply requests to be permitted to die. Suppose a person asks to be permitted to die, but they ignore the patients request and make the patient go through a lifesaving operation. This would be against the patients’ rights, because operating against a patients will is a violation of their moral rights (Wennburg 182). So why shouldn’t assisted suicide be legalized, when you legally have the right to die? If you have the right to die and the ability to make your own decisions on when and how you die, then you should be able to have assisted suicide, as long as you are eligible and qualify for the procedure. Many states believe that assisted suicide and euthanasia are the same, which is why they don’t want to legalize assisted suicide. The difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide lies in how the action is performed. Euthanasia is when physician administers the lethal medication himself. Assisted suicide is when the patient administers the lethal medication recommended by the physician (Diaconescue). I do not agree with euthanasia, because I believe that the patient should have to ask for the medication on their own after it was recommended by the physician. I don’t think the doctor should be allowed to prescribe the medication, without the patients consent. Assisted suicide is something I do agree with, because of how strict the requirements are. It is not possible for a person to ask for assisted suicide and get it when they don’t have anything wrong with them. To actually receive it, you have to truly follow the qualifications and be eligible for it. With that being said, no person can fake an illness so they can die. There has to be proof in your illness and the fact that you have six months to live. Many people agree that there is danger in legalizing assisted suicide. They point out that the health care in the United States is expensive. For people who have trouble paying for health care, assisted suicide might be the only way to avoid painful and undignified death. This could make them feel that it is their duty to die (Forman 92). However, I believe continuing treatment on a patient who only has so long to live is wasting money. The money would not be wasted if that is what the patient was wanting, but if they wanted to die, it would just be useless. There is no point spending money to keep someone alive, when all they wanted to do was die. I believe that since the fourteenth amendment in the constitution states that we, as people have our own rights, the Death with Dignity Act has already legalized assisted suicide in some states, and the fact that people who are suffering are begging for the medication, that we should allow the procedure to those who are in need. Everyone is allowed to make their own choices, which is why they should be allowed to choose when they die. When you are terminally ill it can take years before the pain people suffer through stops or it could take a few minutes of them deciding whether or not they want the medication for assisted suicide. Only four states in the United States have legalized assisted suicide, which means the other forty six states have tons of patients suffering from illnesses. I believe that all fifty states should legalize assisted suicide because the medication allows suffering patients to overcome their pain with no harm or risks. I believe that assisted suicide would lead to happier people, because less people will be suffering. They will be able to make their own decision on when to die, so they aren’t pressured of suffering with no choice.

Work Cited
Burton, William. “Fourteenth Amendment.” Burton’s Legal Thesaurus, 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 22 Feb 2016.
Diaconescu, Amelia Mihaela. “Euthanasia.” Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 4.2 (2012): 474+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 March 2016.
Fridstein, Margery. “It Is Merciful to Help a Terminally Ill Person Die.” Assisted Suicide. Ed. Noel Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Current Controversies. Rpt. From “Lessons in Dying: What is Wrong with Giving Up When Our Bodies Give Out?” Denver Post 28 Nov. 2010. Opposing viewpoints in context. Web. 23 Feb 2016
Forman, Lillian. Assisted Suicide. Edina, Minn.: ABDO Pub. Co., 2008. Print.
“State-by-State Guide to Physician-Assisted Suicide” ProCon.org. 17 Apr. 2014. Web. 2 March 2016.
Tucker, Kathryn L. “Assisted Suicide Works Well in Oregon.” Assisted Suicide. Ed. Noel Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Current Controversies. Rpt. From “In the laboratory of the States: The Progress of Glucksberg’s Invitation to States to Address End-of-life Choice.” Michigan Law Review 106.8 (June 2009): 1593-1611. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 March 2016.
Wennberg, Robert N. Terminal Choices: euthanasia, suicide, and the right to die. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.; 1989. Print.