Should Assisted Suicide Be Made Legal or Not - Essay Example

           Kevin is in the hospital suffering from mouth cancer and has been told by many doctors that he will not survive for many days. He is suffering from extreme pain which is unbearable without medications. He urges his family members to help him get relief from the pain. Moreover, it is also learned that his cancer is untreatable and he would die soon or late even if the medications are continued. It is in this situation that the possibility of assisted suicide is taken into consideration by the family members and John. Now it is for them to decide as to if to carry out the process or not. John wants the process to go ahead so that he can die easily. In my belief, this situation can only be handled by assisted suicide so that his pain can be relieved.  In my belief assisted suicide should be made legal for those people who are mentally sound to make decisions. It is the last moments of life that put people in a terrible condition that they are forced to take decisions that would take their life. In these conditions, it should be analyzed as to if these individuals have a normal state of mind or not. As time passes by it is seen that individual rights have been understood and in my belief, it is the right of an individual to decide if he has to choose between death and life. It is entirely the decision of the person involved because he feels all the pain and agony. When a person cannot bear this pain he can opt for assisted suicide in my belief. Assisted suicide is the best option for these kinds of patients because they can help in other ways too. The hospital in which these patients are admitted may be on life support for many days before dying naturally. It is better to put them through this phase of life as it would make way for other patients in better conditions to get quality care. Hence the resources would not be wasted if assisted suicide is opted for in these situations (Quaghebeur et al 2009). However on the other hand I also argue that the patients who do not have a normal state of mind should not be allowed to undergo this process. The state of mind of the patients can be checked by seeing if the person responds to other things normally too.  
            The critics of Euthanasia have other concerns 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 (Mengal et al 2002).
            I agree with Wolf’s view after she is considering her views on assisted suicide. She saw her own father’s death and realized the suffering of death. She is right in considering her opinions on assisted suicide. However, if the other point of view regarding assisted suicide is taken into consideration it can be concluded that Susan Wolf is wrong in her plea. In many cases, it is seen that people after suffering from immense agony and pain do recover. This can be the case for many people and assisted suicide should be discouraged if this view is kept in mind. On the other hand, considering the views about civil liberties one can conclude that assisted suicide should be made legal and everyone should be allowed to seek the option if they want to. Susan Wolf has the right to consider her views about assisted suicide as this option can help to relieve the agony and pain that one feels (BBC News).