Essay On Ethical Suicide

The act of suicide or the act of taking one’s own life, is a worldwide problem. But even though it’s an issue that has yet to be resolved, does it make it ethical to allow such acts? Suicide ethics argues that suicide is wrong due to the human life being precious; others say that an individual has the right to commit these acts. Regardless of opinions, ethics is the true moral standards in which a person will react to a problematic situation or dilemma. Most are mistaken that ethics is based around feelings and/or beliefs, this is incorrect (scu.edu). Due to these misunderstandings, the outlook on certain dilemmas, such as suicide, have been wrongly discussed. How law and religious views can affect the outcome of the views of suicide ethics.
In law regarding suicide, the case of assisted suicide is the major conflict in medicine discussing whether it is right or wrong.
Normally, it’s not illegal of a person to kill themselves but a person can and would most likely be guilty if they assisted the suicide in any way. One could also be charged for homicide if said person drives one to commit suicide. But euthanasia and assisted suicide could possibly be labeled morally acceptable when it comes to the medical condition of a suicidal patient. Libertarians argued that it is a right for a patient undergoing a terminal illness or possibly a vegetative state to kill themselves or ask to be “relieved of their suffering” through assisted suicide (Science). Physicians have been faced with assisted suicide to the point that they have rules regarding the issue. As a physician, you are obligated to protect your patient, regardless of the cost. So if their patient wanted to die, to be relieved of their suffering, are they obligated to assist in their suicide? This scenario is similar to that of Should I Protect a Patient at the Expense of an Innocent Stranger? in which a physician had to keep the secrets of the patient’s guilty backstory due to the promise that he assured his patient in his office but his patient’s secret was effecting an innocent man’s life. Being the physician, do you keep it to yourself or do you break the promise and risk your patient's life? Regardless, moralists believe taking one's own life is wrong and
immoral, most philosophers traditions comply with the idea that suicide is unacceptable following the moralist position. Various religions play major roles in making ethical decisions even though ethics are not centered around religion according to A Framework of Thinking Ethically. Most of the time religious views affect the outcome of a suicide dilemma due to a religious belief. With the influence of religion, there are conflicts in the true value of a human life. These views normally come down to their higher being or their God. In Christian beliefs, a human life is God’s property and a special gift from him to man. Taking life, whether it is one’s own life or someone else’s, is ruled as theft to God and considered a sin (ieet). But how much is a human life actually worth? In A Callous Passerby, we are faced with a drowning young boy by a peer; the subject in this story notices the boy and knows that he could save him but doesn’t. His argument was that it wasn’t worth him messing up is clothes or catching a cold to save the boy. A child’s life was less worthy than that of clothes or another’s well being. A perfect example as to why religious views or any religion doesn't always address everyone's way of thinking, because not everyone thinks as virtuously as others.