Assisted suicide: Should it be legal - Essay Example

He begs his family and his doctors to end his life so he will no longer feel the pain. John has been diagnosed with a cancer that is not treatable and this cancer will take his life eventually. A medically hastened death that speeds up the process should be an alternative for John. The suffering of John cannot be understood by anyone else apart from John himself and to choose for death over life is not an easy option. Thus the decision of John implies a very important aspect of human suffering and if he wants to end his misery by ending his life, he should be permitted to do so as this is the only option left for him.

With the development in the world, the human mind has broadened its perspectives. The spread of knowledge has enabled a person to know how human beings have evolved as well as to understand their position and rights in the society. Gone are the times when people used to be suppressed by their powerful counterparts. With this evolution the recognition of the self and civil liberties have been understood. People have reached to levels where they believe that they possess complete control of their lives to an extent that they can strongly advocate the fact that they can choose for death as an option and they consider this demand to be their due right.

Pain and suffering is a feeling which is very difficult for a human being to bear. If a person feels that he has lost all hope of living a normal live and his life would only be filled with pain and suffering, he can opt for the decision like assisted suicide. It is extremely important that all options relating to the aspect of assisted suicide should be considered before legalizing it. It should be a practice which should be allowed for people but there should be a set of strict rules and regulations to check for all the aspects of the person before he opts for this option.

This is because many people could opt for this method without any sound and important reasons. Thus a set of rules should be implemented along with the legalization of this method which must include thorough research on the life of the person who opts for assisted suicide. This should be followed by a confirmation of the fact that there is no way in which the condition of the patient can improve. The practice of assisted suicide has been met with much criticism by many groups. The religious groups argue against this practice very strongly.

According to these religions human beings are not the judges of the lives of other human beings and thus euthanasia that is assisted suicide is an unethical issue. Moreover, these religions say that the individuals have to suffer as it has been written in their fate by God himself and human beings have no interference in killing these individuals and relieving them from pain. A person has to face all the difficulties and hardships that come in their way. Thus opting for assisted suicide is not justified according to the religious perspective (Bowie, 2001).

The critics of Euthanasia have other concerns as well as they believe that following this practice may divert the professionals from their original line of work. The doctors and physicians were supposedly the ones who saved the lives of people and provided them the hope of living their lives and providing them with the best possible forms of treatment. Their function is not to kill them out of mercy. So if a doctor or physician carries out such a practice then he is disobeying the rules set out for him in this field