Essay on Phenomenon of the Physician-Assisted Suicide

Physician-assisted suicide has become a common phenomenon in most parts of the world today. It is not a surprise to hear a nurse narrate an ordeal of how they helped a patient die under their watch. The rise in assisted suicide is major because chronic illnesses have been on the increase without proper procedures of control. It is saddening to see people go through lots of pain because of diseases that the physicians do not understand. Worst still is the economic impact attached to the management of such conditions. It is for these reasons that most people prefer mercy assisted suicide otherwise known mercy killing. This section looks deeply into the sides of physician-assisted killing through the lens of its legal aspect and religious grounds.

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The most pricking question to the conscience of is whether assisted suicide is right or wrong. In my honest opinion, I would say it is excellent and should be encouraged. The world is currently challenged by the rapid rise in chronic infections. Infections whose cure no one knows up to date. The governments of the world have invested so much money so as to try to find the cure for these diseases without any success. The only option left is to look for means of managing these conditions. The process of managing the conditions is usually so costly to the extent that it rips family all the investments and savings they might have accumulated over time. The families are left destitute by the time their bread winner dies from these diseases. Watching such prominent family member suffer and finally leave their family destitute is a saddening situation that triggers the use of assisted suicide.

The other reason for the use of assisted suicide is the pain that patients go through. The pain sometimes gets so unbearable that the only wish of the sick is to have their lives ended. Even the persons acting as caregivers gets tired of watching the suffering due to the trauma associated with viewing the patients suffer. Mercy killing saves family members from watching the disturbing scene of suffering family members.

On the other hand, assisted assignation is against the Christian beliefs and has moral implications. According to the Bible in the book of Genesis, God is the creator of everything on earth, both living and dead. Since humans are His creation, He has the sole power of giving and taking lives at His free will. This is a duty that has never been delegated to any person, and so people should avoid taking lives of their fellows even if they are about to die. On the contrary, the act of assisting someone to die is always disturbing to the conscience of any reasonable person. The aftermath of doing so is always traumatizing and regrettable thus no one should engage into such.

After watching the movie, A Death of One's Own, I firmly believe that the patients were justified by their actions. Sleeping on their death beds was creating a more sober situation even as their wealth and peace of their families diminish with each ticking second. Being helped to die, though would cause pain to the relatives, looked like the best way out from their status quo. The decision seems harsh, but these were tough times that beckoned for desperate measures. In my imagination, I would close my eyes and do as they wish without giving a second thought to the consequences of such actions.

References

Procon.org. (2015, October 5). State-by-State Guide to Physician Assisted Suicide. Retrieved from http://euthanasia.procon.org

Krasemann, K. & Thiroux, J. (2015). Ethics: Theory and Practice, Eleventh Edition. Pearson Education.