This topic is an interesting topic because it is an unsolved issue for decades that argued on bioethics, legislation, medicine and religions. Some country has enacted law that legally allow physician to perform assisted suicide but opposed by interest groups, such as religious group based on the belief that God, not humans, should make the choices regarding life and death. However some country reject the law that allow physician to perform mercy killing which claimed that the implementation of the law may result a flood of assisted suicide.
This topic is attractive to me as I am going to enroll in medical field in future. Therefore, this issue may at least give me some exposure about the dispute that may arise between the patients and physicians. Hence, I could prepare myself to consider the assisted suicide if I would be asked to perform it.
Assisted suicide is a person's voluntary suicide with help from another individual. Physician-assisted suicide is when doctor provides medication or other means of committing suicide with understanding that a patient may intentionally use them to end his or her own life.
From the counter argument of supporters of assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide should be legalized due to "pain and suffering ought to be eased or prevented wherever possible." This is supported by the verse from Hippocratic Oath that suggests a physician should perform whatever good for the patient. In this argument of assisted suicide, the choice of assistance in ending one's own life must be a fully voluntary and informed decision, not pressured or enforced, and the patient must be facing pain or suffering that cannot otherwise be relieved in any way acceptable to the patient. Therefore, the patient has the opinion that it is better to end his or her life sooner than endure long period of medications and painful death.
After studying other statement that is been made to oppose assisted suicide, it shows physician-assisted suicide sometimes seems no differ from legalized murder. This is because a physician is legally allowed to end one's life. The opponents of assisted suicide are also fear that doctors will become less committed in saving life and that families may response to financial pressure to sustain life of terminal ill patients. If it is very easy for a person to end his or her life, assisted suicide may become a trend in future.
In my opinion, assisted suicide might be legalized but with tight guideline and supervision. This is important to avoid the abuse of the law. People may use the law as short cut to achieve their self interest. The doctor is also not obligated to assist suicide. The doctor must willingly to assist suicide. Some may say that the doctor is unethical to perform mercy killing. However, the question is do physicians should be restricted by law and morality if they could benefit the patients in ways other than just by healing and noncurative pain relief.
