More than 80% of Americans facing eminent death from chronic disease say that they would prefer not to spend their last days of life in a hospital or care facility. Since death impacts every single person on Earth, effective end of life care is a critical component of our healthcare system. Approaching the topic of death between patients and their doctors requires a balance between the rules and regulations that all medical professionals abide by, and the compassionate empathy that dying individuals seek. For that reason, the topic of voluntary, medical euthanasia remains a hot debate.   

Proponents in favor of physician assisted suicide believe that citizens have a Constitutional right to make their own choices regarding their personal healthcare. They believe that voluntary euthanasia provides terminally ill patients with the opportunity to end suffering and die with dignity, citing that prolonging inevitable death for those who are in pain is immoral and wrong. They argue that medical professionals have an obligation to honor the free will of the patients in their care and that the precedent has been set by doctors who use medication (like morphine, that reduces a patient’s heart until they’re no longer breathing) to control pain in the final days of life.

Those who oppose the idea of medical suicide argue morality in a different way. They believe that euthanasia is in direct contradiction to the oath that medical professionals take to “do no harm” when they are granted a license to practice. Siding with the American Medical Association (AMA), which currently condemns the practice, they believe that physician assisted suicide has the potential of putting vulnerable patients at risk. Their chief concern is that legalizing euthanasia on humans has the potential of impacting patients not in their sound mind, who might otherwise not make the same choice. 

With both sides holding firm, earnestly believing in the morality of their justification, the topic remains up for debate. Should terminally ill patients have the right to terminate their own lives?