Right To DieWeek 11Ken WinklerGE217February 25, 2012Steve Ryan |

This paper will cover the topic of the right to die for people who are terminally ill. The issue is physician assisted suicide and should individuals have the right to decide for themselves that they want to have their life terminated. There are no laws against a person taking their own life but a terminally ill person probably would need the help of a physician to take their life, and that it is explicitly illegal in 34 states (Euthansia.com, 2012). Christian clergy state that the laws of the church will not allow anyone to take their own life or to have help in taking their life as it is viewed in the same light as murder. Anyone who chooses physician assisted suicide will have to abandon their religion since they will not have support of their clergymen if they decide to end their life. Since they are terminally ill and not going to be able to do this by themselves, they will need a physician to help. They will have to find a physician who has abandoned the principle of ethical standards that all doctors swear to live by, the Hippocratic Oath. Most Christian and Jewish religious laws forbid any form of assisted suicide and condemn any person who does this or helps anyone with this.
Physician assisted suicide is one of those issues that both sides of the argument have strong feelings for supporting their position, the right to die may not invoke fist fights but vastly different opinions exist for it in all levels of society. Viewpoints differ from secular to religious people some people argue that the right to die is a basic civil right and that physician assisted suicide for people suffering terminal illnesses should be legal. The author Pavone would argue that suicide is forbidden and that of person’s soul is not his to take, even refusing to take treatment can be looked down upon. “What is