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Should Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Be Legalized?

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Should Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Be Legalized?
James Alexander
November 27 2011
PHI-105
Professor Sanejo Leonard

Should Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide be Legalized? Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide should become legal in the United States and all US territories. Though Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are not the same and are separate acts, they both serve the same purpose, which is to follow the desire of a person with terminal illness to end their life without legal consequences. This same right should extend to family members and guardians of people unable to act for themselves. The current legal situation is that the procedures are illegal in most of the United States. There should be a Federal Law allowing euthanasia and assisted suicide to be practiced in all fifty states.

What are euthanasia and assisted suicide and why are they needed? Euthanasia is defined as, “the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit.” (Definitions, n.d.) (What is important is the word "intentional". If you did not mean for the person to die, it is not euthanasia).Assisted suicide has come to mean, when a person gives another person the knowledge, assistance, and method to take their life and knows that they will used for this to cause death. When a medical professional helps another person to end their existence it is known by the title of 'physician assisted suicide. '. (Definitions, n.d.) Euthanasia and assisted suicide are used because the person wishing to die is in unbearable pain, has the right to end their life and the point that a person can not be coerced to remain alive. (Reasons for euthanasia, n.d.)

What is the current law on euthanasia and assisted suicide in the United States? At the present time, euthanasia is allowed in Oregon, Washington State, and Montana. The current laws are as follows: In Montana on September 5, 2008, the Montana District Court ruled that, under the constitution of the state, state citizens have the freedom to receive


References: Euthanasia Definitions.(n.d.) Retrieved November 13, 2011 from http://www.euthanasia.com/definitions.html Reasons for Euthanasia. (n.d.) Retrieved November 13, 2011 from http://www.euthanasia.com/reasonsforeuthanasia.html Assisted Suicide State Laws. (2011) Retrieved from http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/assisted-suicide-state-laws/ Emanuel, E. J. .Fairclough, D. L. .Slutsman, J. & Emanuel, L. L. (2004) Understanding Economic and Other Burdens of Terminal Illness: The Experience of Patients and Their Caregivers. Retrieved from http://www.annals.org/content/132/6/451.1.short ----------------------- 4
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