Week 1 Assignment

Running Head: ASSISTED DEATH 1

Assisted Death

Henry C.O. Boyd

PHI 208

Nick Alvarez, Instructor

Monday, December 14, 2020

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ASSISTED DEATH 2

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

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1

2

3

4

5

1. Assisted death is

where a person, usually a

physician, helps another

person, a patient, to

commit suicide.

Assisted death includes

euthanasia, which is not a

form of suicide. [Nick

Alvarez]

2. morality.

Unclear what you mean by

this. A person who feels

PAS should be an option for

people, and who bases this

opinion on a concern for

respect, would of course be

making a moral argument.

[Nick Alvarez]

3. 2019).

This introduction is

underdeveloped. You should

be doing more to set the

context for your discussion.

[Nick Alvarez]

4. The specific question

being addressed here is:

should assisted death be

an option for individuals

with poor health

conditions?

Please use the assigned

format. [Nick Alvarez]

5. Article in support of

assisted death as an

option for individuals with

poor health conditions

What is this? [Nick Alvarez]

ASSISTED DEATH 3

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).

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ASSISTED DEATH 4

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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ASSISTED DEATH 5

References

Jansen, L. A., Wall, S., & Miller, F. G. (2019). Drawing the line on physician-assisted

death. Journal of medical ethics, 45(3), 190-197. Retrieved from

https://jme.bmj.com/content/45/3/190.abstract

Klitzman, R. (2018). The terminally ill should be allowed to die. Retrieved from

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/28/opinions/physician-assisted-suicide-opinion-

klitzman/index.html

Payne, D. (2018). Assisted suicide is not about autonomy. It’s a tragedy that we shouldn’t

allow. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/06/01/assisted-

suicide-tragedy-devalues-life-euthanasia-column/652290002/

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