Should Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Be Legalized

James Alexander November 27 2011 PHI-105 Professor Sanejo Leonard Should Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide be Legalized? Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide should become legal in the United States and all US territories. Though Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are not the same and are separate acts, they both serve the same purpose, which is to follow the desire of a person with terminal illness to end their life without legal consequences. This same right should extend to family members and guardians of people unable to act for themselves. The current legal situation is that the procedures are illegal in most of the United States. There should be a Federal Law allowing euthanasia and assisted suicide to be practiced in all fifty states.†¦show more content†¦In Oregon, the â€Å"Oregon Death with Dignity Act† has changed the crime of assisted suicide into a medical treatment if it is provided by a physician. The State of Washington also has a Death with Dignity Act (Assisted Suicide State Laws, 2011). However the laws in the rest of the United States state that euthanasia and assisted suicide is illegal. Since the Supreme Court has upheld the law in Oregon and the laws of Montana and Washington are similar, the laws of other states can be enacted to allow for the use of euthanasia as a medical procedure supervised by a physician. What is the effect of the current law on people desiring euthanasia and assisted suicide and their families ? With the high cost of medical care the financial burden on the sick and comatose and their families is great. A study on the burdens of terminal illness state that people had to take second jobs or a loan or mortgage to finance the expensive health care. Emotional stress is high with the stress of funding health care, and with caregivers more likely to have depressive symptoms themselves (Understanding Economic and Other Burdens of Terminal Illness, 2004). Add to this the threat of imprisonment and heavy fines on persons involved with euthanasiaShow MoreRelatedEuthanasia And Assisted Suicide Should Be Legalized Essay1221 Words   |  5 Pages The Oxford English Dictionary states that euthanasia is a gentle and easy death (Oxford English Dictionary). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, active euthanasia is the ending of a terminally ill person s life by direct intervention, such as administering a lethal dose of painkilling drug (Oxford English Dictionary). While passive euthanasia according to the Oxford English Dictionary is the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining medical treatment in the knowledge that the personRead MoreEuthanasia/Physician Assisted Suicide Should Not be Legalized1343 Words   |  6 Pagesof euthanasia, he felt he had no other choice. Knowing his family would disagree, he decided to ask for his doctors’ advice. The doctor knowing he would receive a cash bonus and be financially better off if he did not provide patient care advised the modest man to be euthanized. He took his doctors advice and there was nothing that would change his mind from what he thought would be the be st thing for his family. 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Meanwhile, voluntary active euthanasia is when a physician takes an active role in the act of killing the patient. There is often debate on whether or not any of these actions should be legalized in all states. Physician assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, California, Montana, Vermont, and Washington. Voluntary active euthanasia is illegalRead MoreThe Debate About Euthanasia And Euthanasia1631 Words   |  7 PagesThe debates about euthanasia date all the way back to the 12th century. During this time, Christian values increased the public’s opinion against euthanasia. The church taught its followers that euthanasia not only injured individual people and their communities, but also violated God’s authority over l ife. This idea spread far and wide throughout the public until the 18th century when the renaissance and reformation writers attacked the church and its teachings. 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