Assisted Suicide
Meaghan Nolan
Ms. Furlong
English Gr.22
April 6 2010 A Difficult Choice Imagine yourself trapped in your own useless body life sentenced to a wheelchair or even your bed, fed with large quantities of medication and painkillers. Your body is no longer responding but your mind is. All you have left is your rational thoughts. If you are in that position you only have few options. The first one is to live your life the way it is, but for some people this is not an option. Even though suicide is taboo in our society, it is a reality for the people trapped in this vegetative state. These dark thoughts can’t be obtained without the assistance of someone else. The only problem with this option is that in Canada, it is illegal to participate in any way in an assisted suicide and can send you to jail for a long time. The laws have to change. What is the purpose of having someone suffer his entire life from an incurable illness, or state, if that reasonable person chosen otherwise? Just take the case of Sue Rodriguez who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease and went all the way to the Supreme Court to obtain permission to end her life. The permission was declined based on moral issues. Rodriguez argument was that in effect a healthy able person can attempt to commit suicide and not be charged with a criminal offense while a physically disabled person commits a crime when she asks assistance to perform the same act, this was not equal justice. If this case would have happened in Switzerland, for instance, Sue Rodriguez would not have had to go in front of a judge to obtain permission. Assisted suicide is permitted in that country. Our constitution allows someone to have freedom of choice. This concept should be applied to assisted suicide. One should have control over his life and. If one loses quality of life to a point that death becomes a solution, it should be their
Ms. Furlong
English Gr.22
April 6 2010 A Difficult Choice Imagine yourself trapped in your own useless body life sentenced to a wheelchair or even your bed, fed with large quantities of medication and painkillers. Your body is no longer responding but your mind is. All you have left is your rational thoughts. If you are in that position you only have few options. The first one is to live your life the way it is, but for some people this is not an option. Even though suicide is taboo in our society, it is a reality for the people trapped in this vegetative state. These dark thoughts can’t be obtained without the assistance of someone else. The only problem with this option is that in Canada, it is illegal to participate in any way in an assisted suicide and can send you to jail for a long time. The laws have to change. What is the purpose of having someone suffer his entire life from an incurable illness, or state, if that reasonable person chosen otherwise? Just take the case of Sue Rodriguez who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease and went all the way to the Supreme Court to obtain permission to end her life. The permission was declined based on moral issues. Rodriguez argument was that in effect a healthy able person can attempt to commit suicide and not be charged with a criminal offense while a physically disabled person commits a crime when she asks assistance to perform the same act, this was not equal justice. If this case would have happened in Switzerland, for instance, Sue Rodriguez would not have had to go in front of a judge to obtain permission. Assisted suicide is permitted in that country. Our constitution allows someone to have freedom of choice. This concept should be applied to assisted suicide. One should have control over his life and. If one loses quality of life to a point that death becomes a solution, it should be their