Assisted Suicides: A Personal Choice

When is the pain and suffering of an individual enough for that individual to want to have someone help them in ending their lives? Ethically speaking assisted suicides sits on the fence, it is one of those issues that don’t have a wrong or right it lies in the eye of the beholder. Should the patient be able to have autonomy in a case of assisted suicides or are they mentally compromised from the pain to be able to make a decision about something as precious as human life. Over the years people like Dr. Jack Kevorkian and the state of Oregon have stood for what they believe in, challenged the norm, and offered another look at what people are calling “Death-Doctors”. Historically assisted suicides or a view on suicides have been around for as long as mankind has recorded history. The old and the New Testament talks about it (suicide) and states, "Hundreds of Jews killed themselves at Masada in order to avoid being captured by Roman legions."(Duncan) also in the number of times that the Bible mentions suicides only one of them is in a favorable light. “With the exception of Samson, none of the eight who died by suicide are presented as heroes.” (Duncan) To further understand the issue of assisted suicides we must explore the pros and cons, look at the existing state laws, discuss the sanctity of life, the types of Doctor-patient relationship it takes for assisted suicides to happen, and the potential for abuse.

In the late nineties “Dr. Death” was on everyone’s lips, Jack Kevorkian assisted over one hundred people with ending their lives because they were in such pain and misery that death was the only viable option. This wasn’t what put Dr. Kevorkian behind bars, on November 22, 1998 CBS televised an active euthanasia performed by the Doctor. Before this point the patients had administered the drugs by pressing a button on the machine that he dubbed “mercitron” but in this aired death Dr. Kevorkian pressed the button which ended the life of Thomas Youk, “this incited the district attorney to bring murder charges against him, claiming that Kevorkian single-handedly caused the death.” (Wikipedia) Dr. Kevorkian believed that “dying is not a crime” and was a huge advacate for making assisted suicides legal in the United States. In a recent interview with MSNBC Dr. Kevorkian was quoted saying, “that if he were granted parole, he would not resume directly helping people die and would restrict himself to campaigning to have the law changed.” (Wikipedia) The people in Oregon in 1997 passed a referendum to legalize assisted suicides and it remains the only state in the union where assisted suicides are legal to perform, barring that you don’t use a controlled substance. This is due to the fact that using an over-dose of pain medication (controlled substances) is federally illegal but “In Oregon, it is barbiturates (sleeping pills) and not pain medication that are being prescribed for the purpose of assisted suicides.” (Stevens)

Life is near and dear to every one of us. That is why Wesley J. Smith and the Church are against assisted suicides. In an article by Smith he states, “The latest Gallup poll, which measured Americans' views on "morally acceptable" and "morally wrong" conduct, indicates that support for assisted suicide is ebbing.” (Smith) but why is the attitude of the nation changing? After the bill passed in Oregon in 1997 it seemed that every state would have a bill on the docket for legalizing assisted suicide but after it was made legal everything calmed down and only a few deaths have happened since then. Smith believes, “the most important factor in the public's shift away from assisted suicide has been the removal of religion as the primary flashpoint of the debate.” It seems that if it were made legal throughout the United States then perhaps it wouldn’t be such a hotbed of activity. I can liken it to a theory I have about guns in the U.S., in all the other countries of the world the murder rate isn’t as high as it is in the United States. I believe this is because there are not as strict of laws behind guns so the crime rate is lessened because there isn’t that compulsion to do something that you aren’t suppose to. In the same light assisted suicide cases dropped or stayed the same when the bill was passed in Oregon. The church stands behind the sanctity of life and that when it is time to die that is your natural prescribed time to die according to God. But when doctors help to assist in suicides by prescribing medication this upsets