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Andrew Ovsepyan
Professor Makarosyan
English 114B
May 5, 2016
Physician Assisted Suicide: Should It Be Legal?
The single worst moment of my life... was the moment I was born, said Dr. Jack
Kevorkian, some would argue, one of the most controversial doctors to ever live. Dr. Jack
Kevorkian helped many people end their lives through physician-assisted suicide. Only five
states have legalized assisted suicide. More states can follow giving the rising amount of support.
Why? Although five states have legalized assisted suicide, physician assisted suicide should be
illegal because sometimes the decision to commit suicide can have alternative motives behind it;
advancements in medicine make it easier to accommodate patients pain; it is not fair to put a the
physician in a position that forces them to take a life; ending someones life impacts his/her love
ones; and wrongful diagnosis negatively influences a persons final decision.
Although euthanasia is legal in five states, there are requirements to be met first before
becoming eligible for assisted suicide. According to the End of Life Option Act (SB 128), in
California, the patient must be 18 years old, capable of making the decision for themselves, been
told that they have less than six months to live, and are able to self-administer the drug. Also, in
those five states, the physician who helps out the patient is protected from being prosecuted.
However, if a physician helps aid a person in assisted suicide in the 45 states that are illegal, the
doctor can be charged with murder. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is one of the most famous doctors to be
charged with murder for his part in helping a patient commit suicide. Dr. Kevorkian videotaped

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himself injecting Thomas Youlk with chemicals and sent the video to be aired on TV. The judge
found him guilty of second degree murder and sentenced him to 10 to 25 years in prison. The
case with Dr. Kevorkian shows that a physician should not be allowed to help an ill patient
commit suicide as that is against the law.
Many people think since it is our body, we can do whatever we want with it. Those same
people do not stop and think that it not the persons choice. Family members can use coercion to
get the patient to make a quick decision. It is unfortunate to say that this has happened many
times where a family member just looked at the insurance money or the inheritance they would
receive if the patient dies. Also many other factors tie into a decision to commit assisted suicide.
Those other factors can be irrelevant to the situation at hand, but in the moment, it can cause a
person to not think straight. A prime example of this can be looked at in Maxine Hongs book,
Woman Warrior. The narrator talks about how one of her aunts committed suicide because she
brought disgrace to her family by having a child without being married to the man. Her house
was raided and she took the blame all on herself. From a point of view of a person reading the
story, that would not seem like a good reason to take your own life. However, with all the factors
that came upon her so quickly, it skewed her decision without giving her a chance to think about
her actions. People are quick to say something is not a big deal, but they fail to see that even the
smallest things can change a persons mind.
Physicians and surgeons diagnose and treat injuries or illnesses. Nowhere in the
definition of the term physician does it say that physicians should resort to helping a patient
commit suicide. Dr. Ira Byock, the director of palliative care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical
Center in Lebanon, N.H., shared his thoughts on what the role of a physician is. Dr. Byock
writes, Our primary role in society is to protect and preserve life, while recognizing that our

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care extends to people who are facing the natural end of life (Byock 1). Dr. Byock talks about
the care to be provided to someone who is on the verge of the natural end of his/her life, not the
end that has been decided by the patient who is trying to commit suicide. Many people would
argue that speeding up the patients death challenges the essential role of the physician. If the
medical profession accepts physician-assisted suicide, it could be saying to the public that
physicians are providers of services, completely controlled by their patients. This would give the
public a false opinion that physicians are incapable of making judgment calls and are just
service-providers for their patients, ready to follow their every command.
Physicians are known as healers. Assisted suicide also gives them the right to kill. Putting
a physician in a situation where he/she has to take a life away is putting a high burden on
him/her. As somebody who wants a career in medicine I could not imagine being asked to take
someones life away. I want to help people but not kill them. I could not live with myself if I had
to help someone commit suicide. I do not think it is right to put a physician in a situation where
he/she has to live with guilt, maybe for the rest of his life, because his/her patient wanted to
commit suicide.
Physicians have the job of identifying an illness and doing the best to accommodate the
patient to recover whether that be through medicine or any other form of treatment. Dr. Byock
also talks about how with the advancements made in medicine, there are many ways to control
the pain and comfort the patient. There should be no reason why a physician thinks about helping
end a persons life when in fact they know that they can help the patient with medicine.
One of the main arguments for allowing physician assisted suicide is that it will let the
patient end all suffering and go out on their own terms. No one wants to see a person who knows
that end is coming soon be put through misery. I can relate to this argument. A year ago, my

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family decided to put down my dog of 11 years. He was diagnosed with blood cancer and did not
have much longer to live. We tried to let his death happen naturally, but after a few days, we saw
that it could not wait. My dog would barely eat and would not walk around anymore. He was
suffering from the pain and we were suffering watching him go through the process. It is hard to
take care of a sick dog and make him feel comfortable. Dogs cannot communicate so we cannot
tell for certain how much they are suffering and what they need in that moment. This is the
reason that animal euthanization for a sick dog seems like the best choice. However, the
suffering in humans can be controlled quite easily. Pain medicine and other forms of treatment
are out there to help patients get through this. Physicians can communicate with their patients
and their family members to find the best possible method for treatment or pain reliever.
Everyone makes mistakes. Doctors are no exception. There have been many times that
there has been a misdiagnosis determining how long a person has to live. According to National
Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), An estimated 10 percent to 20 percent of cases
are misdiagnosed, which exceeds drug errors and surgery on the wrong patient or body part, both
of which receive considerably more attention. One report found that 28 percent of 583 diagnostic
mistakes were life threatening or had resulted in death or permanent disability. From looking at
these statistics, it can be said that many people have been told they only have six months to live
when in reality, they can live for a longer time. With the advancement of medicine, new cures
surface almost every day; by gaining more time, you also gain the chance to potentially be cured.
Without 100 percent accuracy of diagnosis, the decision to commit physician-assisted suicide
could be premature.
A persons actions affect many people, not just themselves. No family member wants to
see a loved one make a decision to end their own life. Stress and depression is brought upon the

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family members and most put the blame on themselves for the action committed by the patient. I
do not feel that it is right to put the family through such guilt and depression because their loved
one decided to commit assisted suicide.
Even though five states have made physician-assisted suicide legal, the rest of the states
should not follow. Decisions about life and death are not easy to make. It is always tough when
someone is hurting to the point that they would rather die. However, the benefits of physicianassisted suicide do not outweigh the consequences. When kids dream about becoming a doctor,
they do not dream about ending another persons life. Physicians are not supposed to commit
homicides nor should they help commit suicides.

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Pierce, Jessica. "Human and Animal Euthanasia: Dare to Compare?" Psychology Today. 29 Nov.
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"Text." Bill. California Legislative Information, 16 June 2015. Web. 15 May 2016.