Assisted Suicide

Have anyone been in a situation whereas you had to carry out someone wishes by Euthanasia or Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS)? Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) have been around century. Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide both have similar goal. However they both have differed in whether or not the physician participates in the action that finally ends life. Euthanasia is defined as the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering. Whereas, Physician aid-in-dying (PAD) defines as a physician provides a competent, terminally ill patient with a prescription for a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient's request, which the patient intends to use to end his or her own life. In the article "Confronting Physician- Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: My Father's death" by Susan Wolf, I would also be "forced to rethink my objections to legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia". (Wolf, 2008) Thankful I have never been in this situation and hope I would never will. In this paper I will put myself in Susan Wolf's place and give my point of view on the situation.

Having to make the choice to assist someone in taking their own life sooner to ease the pain and suffering they are dealing with, is not something that can be taken lightly. There are plenty of people who would rather end their life sooner rather than to continue to go on living with the pain and suffering they are dealing with. Susan's father's physical health was declining and it was affecting his mental capacity as well. In her own words she describes her father as a smart, savvy lawyer, the family patriarch.

Having left to make the final decision on ending someone's life to help end their suffering can be completely hard to a love one. Watching someone you love suffer so much can also be very hard to endure. She could see his life just fading at the end when he could not even read or do the New York Times crossword puzzles, which he usually finished within an hour, or even watch TV. (Wolf, 2008)

It is difficult to say what someone would do if they was in a situation like Susan Wolf. I honestly can say that I would want my father to be happy and not suffer. However, if my father had spoken the words "I want to stop" I would fight with every breath I got and find another way to smooth his suffers outside assisted suicide. It takes a very strong person to be able to make it through something as traumatic as losing your father the way Susan had to lose hers. Watching your father lie in his death bed and be helpless. The decisions she had to make couldn't have been an easy one. I believe what she felt in her heart was right and that is all that matters in the end. Susan father looked up to her for guidance in getting him through his death. I agree at some point on the path she had chosen to go down with her father but it would be very hard to not fight