Euthanasia Versus Assisted Suicide

On New Years Day 2015, twenty-nine year old Brittany Maynard, a California resident discovered she had an aggressive brain tumor. Nine days after her diagnosis she underwent two different brain surgeries to stop the growth of the tumor only to find out four months later that it had come back even more aggressively. Brittany did months of research and came to the conclusion that her brain tumor was incurable even after the treatments , which would leave her with the feeling of no dignity; because of the side effects of the radiation. Brittany’s options were very limited due to her brain deteriorating but her body being young and healthy, because her body was so young and healthy she was likely to physically hang on longer even though the cancer
However, they are very different, Euthanasia is illegal in all states whereas assisted suicide is legal in five states including California. According to an article by Rita Marker, she states, “Euthanasia is defined as intentionally, knowingly and directly acting to cause the death of another person , Assisted suicide”is defined as intentionally, knowingly and directly providing the means of death to another person so that the person can use that means to commit suicide”(Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and Health Care Decisions- Part 1). In the state of California, the “End of Life Option Act” was first introduced in January of 2015 and was signed into law on October 15,2015. That law allows terminally ill patients with less than six months to live that wished to not live anymore to end their lives with the assistance of their primary care doctor. The laws in California on this matter are that physicians may assist the eligible, terminally ill patients with ending their lives (California Euthanasia Laws) . By being prescribed the medicines that the doctors provide, the patients can end their lives when they want. The patients can end their lives with family around. In Michael Irvin’s section of the article, he expresses, “…. l also believe the law should be changed to let anyone with some severe medical condition which is causing unbearable symptoms to have an assisted suicide. I wouldn't want to be unnecessarily kept alive against my own will” (Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?). By expressing that even if you are pro-life, a human should never have to suffer and that they should be able to pick and choose if they want to continue treatments or to just pass on by themselves. Individuals that have had cancer also have an opinion on the use of