Should Physician-assisted suicide be legal Essay

Should Physician-assisted suicide be legal - Essay Example The issue of legalisation of physician-assisted suicide at national and international levels has for a long time continued to trigger debate among people in the society and has resulted in diverse perspectives: while in some countries physician-assisted suicide is legal, in others, there is a great struggle between various groups to legalise it and allow people to carry it out when need arises. Those who support and those who oppose the legalisation of physician-assisted suicide argue on their justifications not only according to their thinking but also with consideration of the ethical perspectives (Lachman, 2010). Legalisation of physician-assisted suicide is not a simple decision to make because it involves contradicting perspectives against and for considering the effects it has on the lives of the affected individuals. The rights that people have prevent them from killing others even with any justification and support from any organisation as far as the choice and authorisation are not from the affected individual. ... In this respect, no person has the right to terminate the life of another person because the right to live does not offer any provision for a special case in which a person has to end the life of another. The right to live does not imply in any way the duty of any medical practitioner to induce suicide to a patient in whatever condition he or she may be, but rather the duty to protect life (Jeffrey, 2009). According to some proponents of legalising physician-assisted suicide, it would lessen the pain of the affected as well as their family members so that they contain it with ease. In this way, legalising physician-assisted suicide will allow suffering people to make consultations with the family members before they take the action and before parting because they will be able to set time for it. This would allow them to reduce the negative implications of the suffering individual and come up with a solution that will have benefits for the suffering and those ones who relate to them ( Lachman, 2010). Some people who support legalisation of physician-assisted suicide argue that individuals that are suffering have their own choices and they can decide to die with dignity rather than suffer from pain until death, which may take long to happen. This means that a person has a choice to make on the way he or she can end his life in circumstances that place him or her in a condition of suffering and without comfort, with minimal chances of surviving. As such, the suffering will need their right of choice to end his or her life be respected by the government bodies or other organisations which may have an opinion about the suicide (Jeffrey, 2009). Legalising physician-assisted suicide will help the patients with a terminal illness