Sievers 1

Trevor Sievers
Mrs. DeBock
English 4
October 9, 2014
Assisted Suicide
Euthanasia is defined as patients with terminal ailments are provided a choice to live until
their disease causes them to perish or to have a physician essentially murder them so they do not
have to suffer. Many patients with terminal illnesses will choose to die rather than stay alive
because of the cost of health care in the United States today, they are considerate of their family
after they are gone, so why should they not have the choice? There are other terminally ill people
who are not ready to leave the world because they have yet to experience what you are supposed
to experience in life such as: true love, true happiness, marriage, and unfortunately some, losing
their virginity. This topic can be sensitive to people have they had an experience in assisted
suicide and are still in the bereavement phase of their mourning.
Firstly, in a biblical sense, Christians and God would oppose to assisted suicide because it
is self-murder. According to Glover Having made this important point however, in this article I
intend to equip the ordinary Catholic Christian with insight into the case against the legalization
of euthanasia from a secular perspective to reinforce the biblical argument. Simply put, if
someone was to kill themselves, even for the better of ones neighbor, it is still immoral and
wrong through the eyes of God. In the Netherlands, one of the countries to legalize assisted
suicide, euthanasia is considered to be out of control. Virtually every guideline established by the
Dutch to regulate euthanasia has been modified or violated with impunity (Glover 23). Dutch

Sievers 2

physicians break the euthanasia policies by performing illegal suicides where the patients are not
terminally ill, they are just depressed, which can be treated with antidepressants. Some would
disagree, and would not want to take medicine for treatment for clinical depression because they
can be easily addictive. Euthanasia has gone from a strict interpretation of the word, to an
extremely loose interpretation. Euthanasia has gone from voluntary to involuntary, meaning that
the physician could terminate the patient without explicit request.
Secondly, the journal HealthDay took a poll to find out the ratio of approval or
disapproval of whether assisted suicide should be legal. The poll found that sixty-seven percent
of the two thousand people voted that assisted suicide should not be legal. Before a physician is
qualified as such, they must take an oath to never harm a patient under any circumstances.
Therefore assisted suicide goes against that oath, and could even lead to euthanasia. Reinberg
states, what you see is a debate between the old paternalistic view of medicine with the
notion that you always have to keep the best interest of the patient at heart and a more
contemporary ethical perspective that to me over-stresses the patients autonomy. The
paternalistic view of medicine relates to the oath that the physicians must take. However, it is
hard to see so much suffering, and not be able to do anything about it other than prolong that
pain. Not only is the patient over-stressed, the physician must be also.
Both sides of disapproval and approval provide facts about why it should be legal or not.
Controversy about this stems from fear that vulnerable populations may be coerced into
premature death, on the one hand, and from fear that dying and helpless patients may be either
abandoned or subjected to unwanted and unnecessary medical treatments, on the other hand
(White). What White means by this quote is that people are scared of their life expectancy
dropping drastically, and people being abandoned because they cannot be treated, or being

Sievers 3

treated and the treatment having no use or effect. Unfortunately, all too often, physicians are not
trained to offer adequate treatment for pain or depression. As a result, many patients feel that
they have only two possible options: to commit suicide or to suffer. (Miller). He is trying to say
that with proper treatment for the illness afflicting the patient, they will not have to suffer or
commit suicide. There just needs to be more qualified physicians to administer treatment.
Many patients believe that if they are afflicted with something that will affect them for
the rest of their life, then they only have two choices. To suffer or commit suicide. However,
with the correct physician, and the correct treatment, they will not have to suffer. They can life
their life while they can without pain. Euthanaisa does not have to be an option for those who are
terminal.

Sievers 4

Works Cited
Glover, Peter C. "Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Unethical." Ethics. Ed. Laurie DiMauro and Tina
Grant. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Euthanasia:
Can It Ever Be Right to Legalise It?" Catholic Insight 17 (Feb. 2009): 8-9.Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
Reinberg, Steven. "Most Doctors Oppose Physician-Assisted Suicide, Poll Finds."Health News /
Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health. N.p., 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
White, Michael H., J.D., and Tracy E. Miller, J.D. "Before I Die: Opinions."Before I Die:
Opinions. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.