ll talk about physician assisted suicide. “ Physician assisted suicide is the provision by a doctor, consciously and legally, to a patient who has competently requested it, the means for that patient to end his or her own life” (McCuen 12). I also found a definition on the World Wide Web that stated, “In assisted suicide, a non-suicidal person knowingly and intentionally provides the means or acts in some way to help a suicidal person kill him or her.” I personally find the second definition a little bit easier to understand. An example of an assisted suicide is if a doctor writes a prescription for a drug that he or she knows will kill the patient. Physician aid in dying (euthanasia) is a little different from assisted suicide. “Physician aid in dying is assisted by a qualified medical practitioner in implementing a patients considered wish to end his or her own life usually by means of lethal injection” (McCuen 13). The stronger and more widely held opinion is against Euthanasia primarily because society feels that it is God's task to determine when one of his creations time has come, and we as human beings are in no position to behave as God and end someone's life. The church holds very strong views against euthanasia. They feel that suicide is a sin because murder is a sin. "Murder is a sin, not only because it is contrary to justice but, also because it is opposed to charity which a man should have towards himself: In this respect suicide is a sin in relation to oneself. In the relation to the community and to God, it is sinful, by reason also of its opposition to justice" (Donnelly 41). The church is trying to say that if a person decides on euthanasia it not only affects that person but it also affects the community and God as well. The church feels that God is the only one who has the right to take someone's life. Many people believe that when humans take it upon themselves to shorten thei...
