Rapid growth in medicine gives us the ability to save lives, treat and cure illnesses that were once looked upon as fatal, and reduce the suffering of those afflicted with terminal diseases. It gives us the power to extend the lives of the dying, the physically and mentally deteriorating, those whose pain could not be numbed. Or does it just give us the ability to prolong the suffering of the dying?
Three states have laws permitting "Death with Dignity": Oregon (Death with Dignity Act), Vermont (Patient Choice and Control at End of Life Act), and Washington (Death with Dignity Act), which are all still in action today. Though the three have small details in which they differed from each other, they all gave the right to legally end one's life assisted by a physician when terminally ill, permitting the patient to choose the time of their own death.
The act is often referred to as "assisted suicide" or "right to die," and has created a nationwide controversy which has been met with both strong support and vehement opposition. It has been a topic of intense moral debate for many years.
Those who support the legislative legalization of assisted suicide argue that everyone bears a right to choose what they would do with their lives, so long as they are doing no harm to others. Free choice to many means the right to choose when they may die. Many dying patients who are in the final stages of their diseases or nearing death are left in excruciating pain, lying in a hospital, handicapped and weak by their conditions, and no longer able to take care of themselves. They are unable to die in a dignified manner. To those who support Death with Dignity, when the sick and dying seek help and assistance in exercising their rights to die, it is a wish that should be respected.
Those who oppose Death with Dignity argue that society has an obligation to preserve and protect life. Allowing someone to end another person's life would be violating that obligation. If a society truly supports the protection of human life, there would be no such legislation which would help in destroying it. Who is to say that these ill people are of sound enough mind to make such a choice? What if they have been coerced and feel pressured to ask for assistance from inconvenienced family members?
Whether the argument is in favor of or against assisted suicide, the debate continues to spread heatedly throughout the United States and the rest of the world. According to assistedsuicide.org, more than 500 Oregonians have asked for help in easing their pain permanently since the passing of the state's Death with Dignity Act in 1994.
The subject is further evaluated in the 2011 documentary "How to Die in Oregon," which opens up into the personal lives of dying patients who chose to use assisted suicide, sharing emotional tales and stories of their lives and making the decision.
