Professor Capua

Writing 1010
16, April 2019

Assisted Suicide

With the amount of terminally ill patients we have in the world altogether and all

the illnesses that are incurable there has to be another escape for these people to help

grant terminally ill patients, the right to die with dignity and the ability to end their

intolerable suffering. In years before there was no way to help terminally ill patients,

they suffered until the end of their time. Medicine has changed so much and for so

many years continues to improve. Assisted suicide is on debate for people to choose if

they would like the help and help end suffering before things get even worse for a

terminally ill patient. Terminally ill patient meaning, whose life is not expected to go

beyond 24 months at the maximum. This paper will explain why Assisted Suicide should

be legal in more states and how it can help out the families of the terminally ill patients

mentally, finalically, and physically.

Assisted Suicide also known as Euthanasia is practice of intentionally ending a

life from an incurable disease in order to relieve pain and suffering by taking of lethal

drugs provided by a doctor. First is why does somebody want to get the help to end

their life? Many people feel that they lose control over their life at the end of their lives.

Angela Morrow, RN is a certified hospice and palliative care nurse says “limiting illness

can also make a person feel like they have lost all control of their lives. The body isn’t

doing what it should and there’s no way to stop it.” (PAS). Many people lose themselves
in the terrible end to the loss of their lives. Giving those patients the option to get the

help in ending their lives can change the way they feel tremendously.

Everyone has the right to die. We have the right to do everything we want in our

lives so why can’t we have the right to pick and choose how to die especially when

someone is terminally ill with no cure and no come back. Derek Humphry, founder and

president of the Hemlock Society had a wife that was terminally ill and wanted his help

to end her suffering she asked him to help her die. She said, “It's not relevant. It's me.

It's my body. It's my liberty. It's my life. And it's my death. Let me have control.” He said,

“I would claim that this is the ultimate civil liberty. If we cannot go to our deaths in the

manner of our own choosing, what liberty do we have?” (Derek Humphry). At what point

does another human get to choose when and how you end your life. You choose

everything else in your life why not all the way up until the end.

Many people spend lots of money on hospice care for their terminally ill family

member, “Depending on the type of care that is necessary, the average costs of hospice

care can widely vary anywhere from $140 to as much as $1,000 per day without

insurance. A patient that requires little to no supervision and medication can be near

the $140 a day mark, while a patient that requires constant attention, medication and

equipment maintenance can be close to that $1,000 a day mark. Most hospice care is

going to be between the $140 and $300 per day average.” (Howard Lake St Clare

Hospice). When you go through chemo and treatments to help you get better it costs a

lot of money now once you get very sick and there is no more treatment to help you, do
you continue to spend money and suffer or pay a little more and end it all? Alex

Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition tells “OneNewsNow that assisted

suicide has had savings of up to $138 million a year for the government.” (Alex

Schadenberg).

On a personal note I have one on one been apart a someone's life who was

terminally ill and suffering everyday. One day she was beautiful a strong, wise words,

and always there to help me. She was my second mom what a wonderful women she

was. She was diagnosed with ALS, and everyday was a battle. She was getting

treatment and it helped for a moment. Months in and she wasn’t doing so good she

stopped speaking and couldn't walk. She ended up on hospice care. When the time

came where she was truly suffering we wanted to take a trip down to Oregon to give her

what she asked us to do. When she was still able to talk she said if she got so bad to

where she couldn’t walk and talk and it was only getting worse that she wanted help

from a doctor in ending her life. We all were working together to get money together so

we could take her out to Oregon so she could rest easy. We weren’t fast enough and

she ended up passing away in a hospital on April 7th, 2018. We spent crazy amounts of

money on everything because we couldn’t get the help we needed quick enough,

everyone was to far away. She had to the right to choose how she wanted and we so

desperately tried but couldn't fulfill her wishes.

Many people wish to get the doctors help but since Euthanasia is only legal in 8

places such as; “Oregon, Washington, the District of Columbia, California, Colorado,
Vermont, Hawaii, and Montana.” ( Mark Pattison - Catholic News Service). And soon to

be New Jersey it makes it more difficult for people to go get that help that some people

wish for. Legalizing it in more states would make things cheaper the government can

save up to about $ 138 million in hospice founds. In the end it really comes down to

what that terminally ill patient wants and what the family wants to do as well. Legalizing

euthanasia will grant terminally ill patients, the right to die with dignity and the ability to

end intolerable suffering.

Works Cited
Morrow, Angela. “Why Do People Seek Physician-Assisted Suicide?” Verywell Health.

December 02, 2018 https://www.verywellhealth.com/reasons-for-seeking-physician-

assisted-suicide-113237

Santa Clara University. “Legalizing Euthanasia.” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics,

www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/bioethics/resources/legalizing-euthanasia/. April

14,2019

Luck, Howard. “How Much Does Hospice Care Cost?” What is the Price How Much

Does Hospice Care Cost Comments. 14, April 2019

https://www.howmuchisit.org/hospice-care-cost/

Schadenberg ,Alex “Euthanasia's goals: save money, collect organs”.

OneNewsNow.com. 15, Apirl 2019

https://onenewsnow.com/pro-life/2017/02/06/euthanasias-goals-save-money-collect-

organs

Pattison, Mark. More states are considering legalizing assisted suicide. America

Magazine. 15, April 2019

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/04/17/more-states-are-

considering-legalizing-assisted-suicide