Although Assisted suicide is a very controversial issue, in my opinion, it should be allowed for all terminally ill patients. First of all, assisted suicide should be allow to all terminally ill patients because they are just waiting for the day of death with extreme pain. Death is a compassionate way to relieve unbearable suffering no matter how long patients can live. In a survey two-thirds of the patients are desire to euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide for their agony. (Emanuel, 1996.) All ill terminally patients are having intractable pain, fatigue and breathlessness as symptoms through the last moment of their lives.
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For example, one patient, 68-year-old Karl Stansell, has terminal throat cancer. He has received chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and is being fed through a feeding tube. His doctors have told him he has less than six months to live as the cancer spreads through his body. Stansell said, "Eventually I will be unable to swallow anything and will die in agony." He has the fear of future suffering and have to deal with intractable pain until he dies. Secondly, assisted suicide should be allowed for all terminally ill patients and their families. Not only patients suffering from the pain, but also their families suffer from emotional and financial burden. Caring for a terminally ill person is difficult for many families; end-of-life care can produce exhaustion for caregivers, and families can experience panic, distress, and financial strain. The patients of terminal ill wish to end of their lives without being a burden to caregivers, and don't want to give them a great deal of pain. According to survey, "Sixty-three percent of the 27 people whose suicides were legally assisted under Oregon law in 2000 said, they did so because they feared being a burden to family, friends, and other caregivers." (Copyright 2001 National Right To Life Committee, Inc.)
In another instance a survey in Washington State, where assisted suicide is illegal, most patients requested assisted suicide because they were concerned about being a burden. ( Back, 1996.) A lot of ill patients worry about their familiesбп mental pain in spite of their own. Thirdly, assisted suicide should be allowed to terminally ill patients because every individual has a right to end his or her life. People ought to have the right to control their own lives especially to patients who lives a life filled with pain and suffering. People may be kept alive, rely to life support, or to have a major surgery, but they have the right to choose to live with extreme pain or the freedom to let it go. (The Economist, U.S. Cover Story, 1997.) If it is acceptable for a doctor to "unplug" a patient from life support to allow him or her to die, then it is equally acceptable for him to help his patient end their lives. (The Economist, U.S. Cover Story, 1997.) In addition, the choices at the end of life should not be between living in pain and suicide. "At the high level of generality, the act of euthanasia becomes a constitutional right because it gives people the right to choose their own existence." (Canavan, 1995.) In all fairness, those who don't have that option should be allowed to choose death. To sum up, terminally ill patients do have the right to choose assisted to relieve their pain and their familyбпs burden.
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