On Thursday, April 14, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced a law to legalize physician-assisted suicide for Canadians with serious medical conditions. This law would allow people with terminal illnesses to be able to commit suicide with medication given to them by doctors or to have a doctor or family member assist them with their death. This law has already been passed in Quebec, and the chance that it will be passed in all of Canada is very high.
Physician-assisted suicide is creating a big debate across the world. Places such as Switzerland, England, and even some states, such as Washington and California, allow physician-assisted suicide. But in most places, it is illegal.
There are many reasons why people don’t accept physician-assisted suicide. The first reason and the most obvious is that it’s murder. It is knowingly giving a person a way to kill themselves or doing it for them. Religiously and morally, this is not OK.
Another reason why people are against it is because there are some cases where terminally ill patients do, in fact, get better. There are these "miracle cases" where a person gets one last round of chemo, and their cancer disappears. Or a person gets into a new medical trial that gives them another five years. Why should a doctor kill a person when there is still a chance for a "miracle"?
What about the question of who gets to choose if the patient will live or die? What if the patient is depressed—are they in the right mind to choose to end their life? What about what the doctor thinks or the patient's family? Is it something that doctors should push, or is it something that the patient must come up with on their own? The questions are endless, and the more you think about it, the more complicated it gets.
So as you can see, there are many reasons why physician-assisted suicide should be banned. But what about in this scenario: A person is in the final stages of Huntington’s disease. They know what is coming—the inability to move or speak, to go to the bathroom on their own or to even smile. They won’t be able to remember who they or their loved ones are, and they won’t even be able to breathe on their own.
This person's last days will not be comfortable, but painful, and it will be hard for not only the patient but for everyone close to them. Should we force this patient to go through that? Is it our right to tell this dying person that they are not allowed to save themselves and their loved ones from the suffering that is about to come? Why do we get to choose their fate?
Yes, there are so many reasons why physician-assisted suicide should not be allowed, but there is one reason why it should be: It is their life. Why do we get to choose how these people get to live and how they get to spend their final days? Of course, there should be many laws and precautions in order to make sure that when a person agrees to kill him or herself it is for the right reason, but it should still be their choice. Why should we get to determine if these people are going to live a life of torture and pain? What gives us the right to take away the last thing in their life that they have control over? When did they lose their right to control their own body?
The details may be confusing, but the idea is simple. These people will die a painful death, and we should not be able to force them to go through that. It is their body, their pain, and their life. Therefore, it should be their choice.
