Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
"Doctor-assisted suicide should be legal in the United States of America."
Please review the arguments for and against the statement and enter your response.
Pros There is no more private medical issue than the patient's right to a dignified death. This decision should remain with the patient and his or her doctor. Opposition to such a choice seems to believe that death can be avoided and that there is no condition too inhumane to bear. Allowing a patient the option of doctor-assisted suicide, is in reality an affirmation of the highest quality of life. Death is not the opposite of life; death is the opposite of birth. The denial of a dignified death places the patient into a torture chamber.
Cons Death is an event with deep social consequences, and it is very appropriate for a society to codify its ethical standards into law. The only ethical legal stance is to be against medically assisted suicide. If legalized, it would be very difficult to draw a line defining "appropriate" suicide. Can human suffering be measured on a scale of one to ten? Do we arbitrarily say a pain score of 8.5 is the legal suicide limit? Unfortunately, suffering is an inherent part of the human experience; it is a natural part of life. It should not be a cause for "legal" death.