assisted suicide believe that their position is the most compassionate and morally correct one. Most people with a terminal illness along with their advocates, believe that a dying person should have the right to decide how and when to end his or her life. They believe that terminally ill people have the right to “die with dignity.” The alternative is a prolonged death. In this case in which they may be in great pain, heavily sedated, or wholly dependent on family members and caregivers for help in performing basic bodily functions. Many people fear the suffering and helplessness of such a death and, if given a choice, would rather get a doctor’s assistance in ending their suffering rather than to continue to live a life that no longer has meaning for them. Those in favor of legalizing euthanasia say that if a person’s life has deteriorated to the point of misery or meaninglessness, no government entity or medical facility should force that person to go on living. They point out that the Supreme Court has upheld the right of individuals to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment . There is little difference between the right to refuse treatment to continue life and the right to obtain medication to end life, they contend.Proponents also point out that many doctors already help their terminally ill patients to die by administering overdoses of legal drugs such as morphine when asked. Since the practice is common, they say it should be legalized and regulated so that doctors can be given guidelines on the practice so patient safeguards can be put in to place. Supporters say that legally assisted suicide is a compassionate response to dying people who want to know that they can choose a death they feel is dignified if they decide to .Most groups of medical professionals, including the American Medical Association (AMA), officially oppose assisted suicide. The AMA maintains that doctors, as healers, shoul...
