As far as my personal opinion goes, I’m not positive on exactly where I stand on the issues of suicide or assisted suicide. I don’t know if I think that it is our place as humans to decide when to end a life, even if it is our own. But then again, it’s not up to us to legislate morality either. However, legalizing assisted suicide does have its sticky wickets that we would have to deal with later. I’m sure you can tell that I’m still kind of going back and forth even as I write this post, but I promise that I’ll eventually get to a point if you hang in there with me.
Regardless of where I personally stand on this issue (I’m not entirely sure where that is anyway), there are a number of important things that need to be taken into consideration. The first thing that comes to my mind is the potential slippery slope that could come into effect if assisted suicide was legalized. What would the procedure be? What kind of opportunities would making this option legal open up to people with the wrong intent? I guess the ultimate question is whether legalizing assisted suicide would do more harm than good. And no one can completely answer that question.
The other major point within this issue is whether assisted suicide is necessary. Many of those who are against assisted suicide in cases of terminal illness urge patients to instead stop their treatments, take painkillers, and allow themselves to die naturally. Since I’ve never been close to anyone who had a terminal illness, I have no idea how or if this works. Then on the other hand, in many cases, it could save a family their much-needed money if their terminally ill family member wanted to use the option of assisted suicide so they could die peacefully and relieve their family of financial and emotional strain.
Another major thing to think about is the Hippocratic oath. I’ve never read the oath in full, but I do know when discussing this issue, that the primary section of this document up for debate is the affirmations that doctors make to “never do harm to anyone.” The way I see it, this phrase can be used to support either side of the debate depending on interpretation. “Harm” could be interpreted as purposefully killing someone (even if they asked you to do so) or it could be interpreted as continuing to keep someone alive against his or her wishes. It all depends on the kind of approach is taken, although I’ll admit the second interpretation is a bit of a stretch for even me.
As I said before, I don’t know exactly how I feel about the morality of assisted suicide, but I don’t believe it should be legalized or banned based on anyone’s opinions on the issue. That being said, there are legitimate facts and concerns that back each side of this issue; however, if I were to vote on the issue today, I would favor the option to legalize assisted suicide. Overall, I believe that this option would do the greatest amount of good for the most people. Taking precaution against any foreseeable foul play that could arise, terminally ill patients should have the option to choose if they want to peacefully end their lives to avoid any further mental, physical, or financial suffering.
Kelsey will be back tomorrow to wrap up the discussion of this week's topic. Thanks again for reading!
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