Tiffany and I agreed that the theme of this week’s blog would be human life issues. So, to continue along that line of thinking, here is our post on “Doctor-Assisted Suicide.”
Tiffany’s Stance: When we see people in pain, we all feel a sense of sympathy and want to help them. So what are we supposed to do when their pain is unbearable and there is nothing the doctors can do about it?
Although hospital situations are all unique, I believe, in certain instances, people deserve the right to decide when it is time to end their life. Now, a physically healthy person hospitalized for depression should not be given this right. They should be given psychiatric help instead.
The instances I am talking about are when a person is very close to death and there is no longer any hope of recovery; times when the medicines are simply prolonging death. People in these situations should not be forced against their will to live through the pain. As long as they fully understand what they are asking for, they should be able to determine what they want to do with their life.
Ryan’s Stance: Many of you probably guessed my position on this issue as soon as you read the title of this post. However, permit me the privilege of making my case anyway. My view and reasoning in regards to this issue is much the same as it was for my case against the death penalty: every human being has a fundamental right to life and dignity, and a suicide, no matter how you phrase it, violates a person’s dignity.
We’ve all been told since who knows what age that “it’s your life and you can do what you want.” To a large degree, this statement is true- you can learn what you want, travel where you want, get body piercings/art the way you want, live where you want, and work where you want (provided, of course, that you are capable of doing such things and that they are permitted by law). However, it’s not your job to decide when you want to end your life. That is a natural process that is in God’s hands. (And yes, I “must” use religious conviction in this post, because that is where I draw morality from.) However, if someone is involved in a nearly-fatal accident and has furnished health care providers and/or family members with DNR (“Do Not Resuscitate”) orders, those are fine. It’s morally acceptable for a person to consciously choose that in the event of an accident or similar problem, he or she would not like to live in a vegetative state on a respirator for the rest of his or her natural life. But no matter how you phrase it- “mercy killing,” “doctor-assisted suicide,” or any other similar term- is morally unacceptable. When I say a person has fundamental dignity, it means that a person has value and worth as a living human being until natural death. A person who hurries death with drugs so as to end the suffering of illness is committing suicide and any doctor who helps is violating the life of his or her “patient.” This of course is not to say that palliative medications are also prohibited. On the contrary, I would encourage the use of palliative medications until a person’s natural death. And I should also say that it is possible to find meaning in pain and suffering. But pain does not “end” a person’s dignity, nor does it remove the person’s life from God’s hands.
Many people will never know how they actually feel about this issue until they are put into the situation, whether it is over a loved one’s life or possibly their own. But at this time in you life, how do you feel about assisted suicide? Should hospital patients had the choice to take their own life or should they be forced to let nature take its course? Is “doctor-assisted suicide” morally acceptable? Is it an inevitable consequence of modern society? Is it indicative of a type of “social/psychological illness”?
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8 comments:
I do believe that hospital patients do have the right to take their own lives and, in the event that the patient is unable, I believe the family has the responsibility to do with the life whatever it sees fit. I for one would not want to be left in a vegitative state for weeks and weeks while my family mournfully sits by my side. In my opinion, this a kind of torture for them.
I do think that "doctor-assisted suicide" is morally acceptable. If one is ready to put themselves in a situation like that, that person obviously feels that they are out of options and the only logical thing to do is to turn off the machines. Nobody wants to suffer or see the ones they love suffer when they know very well that the end of their life is near. From a religious viewpoint, one could see it morally acceptable because the person sees their life as eternal in heaven. It's simply in the choices a person makes, but still, I wouldn't want to make this decision.
I am against doctor assisted suicide because it is the taking of a life, and to me it does not matter what type of condition a life is in. Taking a hospitial patient off of life-saving machines is much different from assisted suicide though. Not using modern machines and medicine is not assisted suicide because it allows the person to die when they naturally would, where as assisted suicide ends the patient's life immediately. I feel like some of the previous posts and comments have confused these two methods (or I might have just misread them).
I truly do not have a strong opinion on this issue. I believe that it is true that it is very hard to take a stance unless one is put into the situation. Morally, I can see how it is wrong. One should die through "nature's course". It is possible that one could make a miraculous recovery even when it seems impossible. There would be less of these recoveries if "doctor-assisted suicide" was legal. Also, someone may not be able to make the most well-though out decision when they are suffering. At one moment they may want the doctor to end his or her life, the next he or she might want to live. With that said, I also see why people might think this is acceptable. If the person makes a well-thought out decision to choose this method of death due to his or her suffering, it is the person's own life. This would be a very difficult decision and I can understand each side of the issue.
I am going to go with Ryan on this one. "doctor-assisted suicide" does just not sit well with me. I'm not a deeply religious person but i do believe that only God can choose when people die. The best we can do is make them comfortable, which is easy enough. Now i do agree that if the person has a DNR after a near-fatal accident and is in a vegetative state then it is time to let that person die. Do you remember that one lady who had been kept "alive" for almost 17 years or something? It was a big controversy because her husband wanted to let her go, but her family didnt? That poor woman had been in a vegetative state from 1990 until i believe 2003 or 2004 ish. She had been in this state from my birth! That's ridiculous! The family was only prolonging their sadness! So i essentially agree with Ryan
Ryan took the words right out of my mouth. Life is no mortal's choice. The same logic resounds in every one of my answers to questions surrounding the sacred issue of life. Abortion, euthanasia, stem-cell research, cloning, "doctor-assisted suicide" - for me, it all comes back to the simple idea, as stated in Ryan's blog, that life is not in my hands; it's in God's hands. He is the only giver of life; who am I to mess with taking it away or tampering with it's intricate building blocks?
P.S. I was also happy to see that Ryan openly used his religious beliefs as backing for his argument. In issues such as this I hate to hear my friends dance around the facts, trying not to sound too radically religious. It's okay to take ownership of your faith and defend your beliefs. Way to be be up front about your "religious conviction," Ryan.
Thanks Sam!
I don't know where I stand on this issue. I know that if I was in a lot of pain and there was no chance for me to survive; I would just lay in a bed in excruciating pain for several weeks until I die; I would want to die as soon as possible. I would probably try to commit suicide. However if it was a loved one in that same situation I know I would be completely against it. I would want them to hold on and fight through it, to be with them for as long as possible and because they might possibly survive.
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