Susan Wolf Assisted Suicide Summary

Abstract Susan Wolf, in writing about her own father's death, is facing a difficult and emotional issue that challenges her to consider her views on assisted suicide (Wolf, 2008). Assisted suicide is the common term for actions by which an individual helps another person voluntarily brings about his or her own death. "Assistance" may mean providing one with the means to end one's own life. In the article, “Confronting Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia”, by Susan Wolf, Susan shares the difficult and painful death of her father. A history of a reference to assisted suicide was in The Hippocratic Oath, written in the fourth century B.C. over the centuries, with our Western laws and society deriving from Christianity the Ten Commandments, it was generally considered that assisted suicide was murder, and so against the law. Over the past few decades, with more global contact, changes of beliefs, what were once strong …show more content…
Susan has fond memories of him as a good provider and a father. At age seventy-eight he is suffering from cancer. He made sure that he got the best possible treatment for his disease. Even Susan’s father was strong he came to a conclusion that no amount of treatment was going to cure him. He decided to stop all the medical treatments, and wanted to “speed up” his death as quickly as possible to avoid any more suffering for himself and his family. This point Susan was aware of her father’s wishes and was struggling to keep him comfortable. As time came for her father to pass Susan assures him that she understood his decision and took all steps to insure that he knew he was loved and will always be loved. Having to make the choice to assist someone in taking their own life sooner to ease the pain and suffering they are dealing with, is not something that can be taken lightly. Susan’s father’s physical health was declining and it was affecting his mental capacity as