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The Right to Choose

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The Right to Choose

“I should be able to talk with my doctor and plan this, not ask my mom. Mom, what if you go to prison? What will happen to you?” Hopefully not many people will ever have to face the decision of whether to choose life or death for their own child but unfortunately it is happening everywhere. The dialogue above was that of a young girl who was dying of bone cancer. She reported to her mother she was; “tired of suffering”. The mother of this child made a monumental choice to assist her daughter with medication that would end her life, simply because no doctor around would grant her daughter the assisted suicide medications. The ethical controversy being dealt with all around the nation is that of whether assisted suicide, by means of the DIGNITY ACT, shall be legal or not. The DIGNITY ACT is now effective in Oregon, Vermont, Montana, and Washington. The act consists of a competent terminally ill person, who is under the care of a physician, to allow the use of prescription medication that will control the time and manner of death. There are more strict guidelines that have to be followed in order to carry out the DIGNITY ACT. One of the dueling sides claims that it is perfectly legal, if all the guidelines are met and the terminally ill person is competent enough to give the rights to end their lives using prescription medication. On the flip side of that, it is said that the DIGNITY ACT is against religion and personal morals, and it decreases the ill fated person’s ability to enjoy the time they have left because of the fact that their autonomy is lost. Assisted suicide should be legalized because of the fact it allows a humane and dignified time of death, it is purely the choice of the terminally ill person whether they should choose to carry through with it or not, because the DIGNITY ACT has a strong set of rules that need to be followed

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