Assisted Suicide

Personal Rights
Jenilynn Thompson-Whitney
PHI: 200 Mind and Machine
Instructor Michelle Loudermilk
March 12. 2011

Personal Rights
The article written by Susan Wolf, Confronting Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: My Father’s Death was an emotional and soul-searching changing of life experience.   I myself would have dealt with the difficult issue the same way that Wolf did before digging deeper into me and searching for more information on the issue of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.   I have come to my own conclusion that I believe that a person should have the right to seize all medical procedures and end their own life, while being kept as comfortable as possible.   I do believe in Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.
Assisted Suicide
Assisted suicide is the common term for actions by which an individual helps another person voluntarily brings about their own death.   “Assistance” may mean providing one with means such as drugs or equipment to end their own lives.   Assisted suicide is legal in three American states: Oregon, Washington and Montana.   Each has their own legal process to escape criminal liability (Assisted Suicide).
Euthanasia
Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide (dying), doctor-assisted dying (suicide), and more loosely termed mercy killing, basically means to take a deliberate action with the express intention of ending a life to relieve intractable (persistent, unstoppable) suffering.   Some interpret euthanasia as the practice of ending a life in a painless manner.   Many disagree with this interpretation, because it needs to include a reference to intractable suffering (Nordquist, 2010).
There are two main characteristics of euthanasia:
        • Voluntary euthanasia is euthanasia conducted with consent.
        • Involuntary euthanasia is conducted without consent.   The decision is made by another person because the patient is incapable of doing so by him/her.
      There are two procedural... [continues]

Read full essay