Question

What is physician-assisted suicide? How is it different from self-induced suicide? Do you think that all people should have the right to die, or in other words, should the death with dignity act be a federally-protected law? Explain your answer based on content from the HBO Vice documentary, Right to Die.

Answer 1

Physician assisted suicide also called passive euthanasia is when a person ends his/her life with the help of a physician or a doctor. As the name suggested self induced suicide is when a person tries to end his/her life on their own without someone's assistance.

It is a matter of debate whether people should have right to die. In cases like the ones shown in the HBO documentary "right to die" Most people were terminally ill or had a progressive disease which does not have any cure and they were bound to lose their basic quality of life where they can take care of themselves. Most people were suffering from a lot of pain with no cure and hope for betterment. So in such cases where people lose ability to carry on with their basic daily lives things and become dependent on other people, or go in a vegetative state, in these extreme cases people should have right to die. But like it was said in the documentary, if it becomes a law people who are poor, or going through all kinds of problems in their lives may turn to suicide, which is unnecessary and irrational.

For death with dignity act to be a fedrally protected law it needs to be defined as clearly as possible. It can be made a law for extreme cases where a person is terminally ill, are in vegetative state, where their life is only a suffering for them and their family members. The resources used for the survival of such vegetative state patients can probably be used for a child's welfare of that family when the family is struggling financially. When the life has no value but is rather burdensome and hopeless, people should have right to die. Therefore the law should not be a general law but a specified law which has clear definition of the situations which allows euthanizia.