Assisted Suicide

Essay by nhenzieHigh School, 12th gradeA+, January 2005

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Forty-one year-old Peter Cinque was in the terminal stages of diabetes. He was

blind, had lost both legs, and suffered from ulcers and cardiovascular problems

as well. He was being kept alive by a kidney dialysis machine. Then one day he

asked his doctors to stop the treatment. As a conscious, rational adult, he had

the legal right to determine what should or should not be done to his body. But

the hospital authorities refused to honour this right until he had been examined

by two psychiatrists to test his mental competence. After this, the hospital

obtained a court order that required him to continue with dialysis treatments. A

few days later, Mr. Cimque stopped breathing. He had suffered from brain damage

and was in a coma. Only after this and two court hearings in the hospital that

he was finally permitted to exercise his constitutional right of

self-determination. What an unfortunate incident.

Mr. Cinque was forced

to prolong his suffering due to a lack of guidelines to ensure the right of

self-determination. For this reason, euthanasia must be legalized in a way that

individuals to decide for themselves what should or should not be done to their

bodies. That is, laws must be strengthened and guidelines must be set to ensure

the right of euthanasia will not be denied to people. The case for euthanasia is

justified on three fundamental moral principles: mercy, autonomy, and justice

First, there is principle of mercy. This means that one ought to relieve

pain of another and that it is a doctor's duty to relieve pain and suffering

for the patients. Granting mercy sometimes require euthanasia, both by direct

killing and letting die. Moreover, allowing doctors to end the life of

terminally ill patients is more merciful than allowing them to die slowly...