Essay Against Physician Assisted Suicide

Why Physician-Assisted Suicide Must Be Made Illegal
Physician-assisted suicide is currently a hotly debate issue within the United States government. Physician-assisted suicide is defined as when “a physician assists a patient in dying by writing a prescription for a legal dose of a drug that the patient self-administers.” (Behuniak & Svenson, 2003). Physician-assisted suicide is illegal on a federal level, however; the practice has been legalized within 6 states: California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Montana (Author, 2017). The practice of physician-assisted suicide is flawed in several aspects. Firstly, it places people of a lower socioeconomic class and people that suffer from mental illnesses at a greater risk. Secondly, physician-assisted suicide degrades the sanctity of life. Lastly, physician-assisted suicide is exploited by insurance companies as a way to cut costs, because medication for a lethal-dose prescription costs less money than the care of a patient over several months or years. Physician-assisted suicide is a
Society must not allow the atrocities witnessed in physician-assisted suicide to continue to occur. Now to reiterate previous arguments. First, physician-assisted suicide is unequally applied and places certain socioeconomic and mental health groups at extra risk, clearly unjustly and unfairly. Secondly, the squalor of the value human life witnessed in assisted suicide will lead society down a slippery slope to the legalization of murder. Lastly, insurance companies use physician-assisted suicide as an unethical means to exploit human life and suffering for profit. With all points considered, surely, physician-assisted suicide cannot be allowed to continue preying upon vulnerable victims of terminal illnesses and