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Assisted Suicide

Significance of Proper Understanding of Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide refers to the act of an individual deliberately aiding another individual,

who must be in a sane mental state, to end his or her own life at the person’s own behest (Sprung

et al 2018). The most common form of assisted suicide is Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS),

which is described as a physician deliberately aiding an individual of sufficient mental

competence to end his or her life by providing medication for self-administration, at that

person’s own request. That being said, a thorough understanding of assisted suicide is essential

for well educated person in today’s society because it touches on a crucial part of our lives, that

is, freedom of choice (Weir 2017). Bulk of the research that has been done on assisted suicide

over the years has yielded a lot of evidence which give the impression that the inclination to end

one’s own life emanates from the desire to retain some control over same person’s life.

Also, understanding assisted suicide may help shed some light on inequity, end-of- life

inequity in this case (Weir 2017). A major concern in this revolves around accessibility of the

opportunities. Documented statistics paint a picture of some bias in that people belonging to a

class of the well-educated, white and some in the middle class are the ones who typically request

to have access to assisted suicide. A key factor that raises this concern is that underprivileged

members of the society who could in most circumstances require the use of assisted suicide are

less likely to get it. The pressing need for use of assisted suicide by these underprivileged groups
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stems from the fact that their healthcare needs are not met compared to those of the earlier

mentioned groups who have access.

How Assisted Suicide Relates to Other Topics Outside Biology

First we have the relationship between assisted suicide and ethics. A debate arises when

the integrity of ending an individual’s life is weighed against that of lengthening the person’s life

(Bignold 2020). These debates have to be endured especially by medical practitioners, the

executioners of assisted suicide, who have to make a choice between allowing the patients live

through prolonged periods of pain and suffering, and obeying the fifth commandment in the old

testament of the bible which instructs Christians not to kill.

Additionally, we have the relation between assisted suicide and law. This is principally

determining whether or not a person has a constitutional right to assisted suicide (Levin 2001).

The legality of assisted suicide is controversial and is at the discretion of legislators of any

particular jurisdiction for determination, for instance the state of Oregon in the United States

where it has been legalized. Another legal issue that comes with assisted suicide is in relation to

mistakes and errors (Levin 2001). Some argue that mistakes may be made in the determination of

whether a person is either mentally fit to ask for assisted suicide or is terminally ill which

necessitates assisted suicide. The law therefore comes in to try to remedy such situations by

putting in place checks such as sufficient decision making timelines to avert premature decisions.

Social and Ethical Implications of Assisted Suicide

The social impacts of assisted suicide are mostly seen when it is legalized. One

implication we see is society normalization (Finlay 2016). Substantial differences in the

perspective towards demise are witnessed in jurisdictions that have legalized assisted suicide,

marked with an inevitable rise in the numbers of premature deaths via the prescribed means,
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which points to the normalization of this practice. This has been seen in legislatures such Oregon

that have witnessed consistent increases of premature deaths since the implementation of the

‘Death with Dignity Act’.

Additionally, the legalization of assisted suicide has given rise to unavoidable economic

influence, in that people are subtly strong-armed by insurers (Finlay 2016). This is done by

insurers not funding the cost of healthcare, but instead funding the cheaper option in assisted

suicide.

On the other hand, one ethical implication of assisted is in relation autonomy (Paterson

2003). The reasoning that allowing a person to make their own individual decisions and choices

about whether or not to live is part of according the individual their respect. This

notwithstanding, it is critical to note that in applying this principle of autonomy, there is

disregard to the people that are left behind as a result of assisted suicide (Finlay 2016).

Additionally, there an ethical issue relating to dignity. Loss of dignity is used to make

case for those that are pro - assisted suicide (Finlay 2016). They argue that ending the lives of

those who may wish to procure assisted suicide is better than continuing living for the sake of

their dignity.

Strengths and Limitations of Science in Assisted Suicide

Psychology, a branch of science helps explaining what may compel one to seek assisted

suicide. Psychologists, for instance, argue with the aid of research that most of the people who

seek assisted suicide do so for them to regain some control over their lives (Weir 2017). This is a

finding by a psychologist by the name Goy. The argument also goes ahead to say that the need to

regain control is fueled by the need to avert loss autonomy and future worsening of pain.
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Moreover, with the aid of science, there has been discovery of painless, fast acting and

pocket friendly drugs. These drugs have evolved over the years with some being dropped from

use and new ones coming into use (Dear 2019). These include: secobarbital, pentobarbital among

others.

On the other hand, there are limitations to what science can do concerning assisted

suicide, mainly in relation to the social and ethical issues. On the social side to begin with, there

is not much that science can do to contain the increase demand for assisted suicide which in itself

causes a sharp rise in death rates. Moreover, the misuse of the legalization of assisted suicide by

insurance firms to cash in on the misfortunes of those they insure by coercing them to take the

cheaper option of assisted suicide cannot be controlled by science.

Works Cited

Finlay Illora Gillian, 2021. ‘Assisted Dying’: A View of the Legal, Social, Ethical and Clinical

Perspectives.

Rafferty, L., 2001. Physician-Assisted Suicide - Moral, Legal & Ethical Issues. [online] Levin

Papantonio Rafferty - Personal Injury Lawyers. Available at:

https://www.levinlaw.com/physician-assisted-suicide-legality-and-morality