PAS The Right of Each Patient - 1624 Words

As a congressman from the state of Oregon that currently has a regulated physician assisted suicide program for the terminally ill, I am writing to you today, Mr. Blumenauer, to possibly convince you to draft a national law to legalize PAS for the United States specifically for the terminally ill. As you may know, the talk within this issue has been going around quite some time. Many americans fear that by legalizing PAS that it might create problematic issues that could lead to abuse as well as lack of advancement for medicine. Due to this fear, I feel as though you are the best person to draft this bill because you know what works and what does not. This also makes you adequate to advance this conversation currently going on about†¦show more content†¦Through this ruling, it established the fact that â€Å" U.S. has recognized the right of at least competent adults to refuse even basic, life-sustaining medical care† (Cassity 471). In a way, this show that states a re â€Å"already condoning a form of suicide by recognizing the right to refuse care† (472). Following this logic, should it not be perfectly legal for patients to get access to assisted suicide when they already have the legal right to refuse to death? I mean by refusing treatment a patient, at most, is making a statement that they want to die. In a way, it’s a tedious and painful way of committing suicide because it takes a long time for it to actually succeed. By legalizing PAS, it minimizes the time and reduces the pain. I know this proposition was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in the court case of Washington v. Glucksberg, but if you look at it, â€Å"five votes on the Court appeared to be leaning in favor of recognizing a constitutional right to assisted suicide ‘for competent, terminally ill persons suffering severe pain’ (472). Seventeen years has pass since this ruling, and I believe if you presented this idea to the Supreme court today, the n they will more then likely to rule this motion to be true, and apply PAS only to terminally ill. If you look at the percentage of americans who favors PAS for the terminally ill against the percentage who does not, it will show that â€Å"55 percent favor it against 45 who does not† (Hensley par 5). This statistical data isShow MoreRelatedPhysician Assisted Suicide Should Be Legal1461 Words   |  6 PagesPhysician-assisted suicide, abbreviated as PAS, is a topic that carries wide concerns to people in the United States. PAS is being deliberated on whether a physician should be legally allowed to prescribe a lethal drug to its patient. Many views conflict each other on this topic, whether it is because of religion, morals, or ethics. As PAS can be a difficult subject to others, PAS is usually decided by the patient itself. 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