An Easier Way Out
Doctor Kevorkian and other so-called 'death doctors' should be permitted to assist in the premature deaths of the terminally ill. Although many states outlaw assisted suicides, nevertheless, they should by made legal for terminally ill patients. These patients may not want to suffer a long, painful death. The terminally ill will not get well, they might decide to make the decision of ending their life alone if they cannot receive proper help, and assisted suicides may one day be useful in discovering how the human brain works or perhaps find a cure to some fatal diseases.
First, the terminally ill patients will not get better or become cured of the disease they have. According to many medical physicians the expression 'terminally ill' means being in the final stages of a disease that is incurable (Hentoff, p.10). If a person has a despairing disease such as AIDS, that person may not want to live the rest of their short life with all the pain and frustration.
English: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, best known for his ad...
English: Dr. Kevorkian, known advocate for assiste...
Euthanasia machine invented by Dr. Philip Nitschke...Next, the terminally ill might injure their body even more by taking up the decision in their own hands. Offering help in assisted suicides to the fatally ill would prevent anything like this from happening. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals created a law that prohibited physicians from helping their patients die (Lemonick, p.82). Now, patients who are terminally ill and who wish to die might decide to kill themselves in a manner that is less humane than with a lethal injection or dosage of medicine. This new law makes it much harder to get proper help in
attaining an assisted suicide. This clearly would cause many more problems than it would do good.
Last, there are many ways that using terminally ill patients that can benefit science and the medical...