PHI 208 Week 5 Assignment

Assisted death

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Assisted death

Assisted death has been an issue of controversy for a long time as people cannot seem to agree on whether it should be legalized or not. While some countries have legalized assisted death for some individuals, in other countries it remains illegal. Assisted death is where a person, usually a physician, helps another person, a patient, to commit suicide. Two main reasons fuel the debate around assisted death: respect and morality. While those in support of it lean on the side of respecting a person's wishes, those against it feel that it is morally wrong (Jansen et al, 2019). The specific question being addressed here is: should assisted death be an option for individuals with poor health conditions?

Article in support of assisted death as an option for individuals with poor health conditions

This is an article that appeared on the opinion section of CNN on the 28th of July 2018. . The article was written by Robert Klitzman and is titled "the terminally ill should be allowed to die". According to the author, these patients usually want to avoid unnecessary suffering upon realizing that they are dying and should be allowed to do that (Klitzman, 2018). The premises that the author uses to support this argument are:

Premise 1: Assisted death prevents unnecessary suffering and allows patients to die with dignity.

Premise 2: Death is not a failure but part of an ongoing process.

Premise 3: Sometimes treatment does not give a person a life worth living (Klitzman, 2018).

Conclusion: Assisted death should be allowed for patients with poor health conditions because sometimes treatment does not result in a life worth living and death should not be seen as a failure but as part of an ongoing process. Assisted suicide also allows the patient to die with dignity by preventing unnecessary suffering (Klitzman, 2018).

Evaluation

The author is a medical practitioner who uses support from various sources including his experiences to support the premises of his main argument. He narrates the story of his father who suffered from leukemia and despite the doctors doing all they could to keep him alive, he died anyway. He also gives an example of a famous Australian scientist who opted for assisted death upon realizing that his health was deteriorating and that he could no longer enjoy death. Relating to his experiences, the author agrees that it is usually not easy for doctors to give assisted suicide but sometimes life is not worth the immeasurable suffering.

This reasoning by the author strongly supports the conclusion of this article. It shows that assisted death saves patients from unnecessary suffering if they are going to die anyway. It also shows that it is not only important to keep a person alive but to give them a life worth living. It makes us understand that assisted death is not failure but a question of the value of life. While this article provides strong support for the conclusion, the fact that it lacks information from credible sources and that it is an opinion affects its credibility.

Article against assisted death as an option for people with poor health conditions

This is an article that appeared in the opinion section of the "USA Today" Newspaper on the 2nd of June 2018. The article was written by Daniel Payne and is titled "Assisted suicide is not about autonomy. It's a tragedy that we shouldn't allow". According to the article, assisted death devalues life by depicting it as worthless and should therefore not be allowed (Payne, 2018). The author uses the following premises to support his argument:

Premise 1: If assisted death is allowed, the number of people doing it will rise and the boundaries of application will expand.

Premise 2: The medical practice is about improving healing in terminal cases and not the opposite.

Premise 3: Every human life is precious and worth honor and protection (Payne, 2018).

Conclusion: Assisted death should not be allowed because human life should be protected and honored. Doctors should focus on improving life and not ending it. Also if this practice is allowed, the number of people doing it will rise significantly (Payne, 2018).

Evaluation

The author of this article uses various forms of support to build on the premises of his main argument. He uses the example of the Australian scientist, David Goodall, to show that he only opted for assisted death because he was miserable. He also compares the suicide rates between countries that have legalized assisted death and those that have not to show that legalization increases the number of people practicing this. The author uses emotional appeals to support his argument by claiming that assisted death is similar to killing the weakest and most vulnerable people.

The reasoning that is given by the author strongly supports the article's conclusion that assisted suicide should not be allowed because it devalues life. It shows that assisted death is not about assisting the patient to end suffering but it is an evasive and cowardly act. Although there seems to be insufficient support to support the argument in this article, the author does great in convincing the readers that something better than supporting assisted death can be done. This article does not incorporate evidence from any credible sources. Also, it represents the opinion of the article's author and this means that it cannot be used as a credible source of information.

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