Free Essay on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia - Playing God :: Euthanasia Physician Assisted Suicide

Playing divinity fudge A Role That Shouldnt Be Cast   All humans will die. Approximately 2,155,000 masses from the linked States will die in one year. In the United States, during the year of 1989, 34% of all deaths were caused by heart disease, 23% caused by cancer, 6% by strokes, and 2.2% by accidents involving motor vehicles. In that same year, 5.5% of the deaths were caused by medical negligence and suicide (Leading causes). This does not take into consideration the number of people who were killed by assisted suicide and euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is described as the intentional discontinuation, by the patients physician, of vital treatment that could prolong the persons life. Assisted suicide occurs when a health care worker provides a patient with tools and/or medication that will help the patient kill him or herself, without the direct intervention of the care provider. spry euthanasia takes place when the doctor is responsible for the killing of the patient fo r example, when the doctor administers a lethal injection (Schofield, 25). Active euthanasia is illegal in the United States. Only three states have legalized assisted suicide and only Oregon permits physician-assisted suicide. Thirty-five states, including Colorado, have statutes criminalizing assisted suicide and nine states criminalize assisted suicide through common law (Assisted suicide laws). In addition to active and passive euthanasia in that location are three other categories of euthanasia voluntary, nonvoluntary, and involuntary. Voluntary, there is written or spoken consent from the patient nonvoluntary, the patient can not voice his or her opinion because of unconsciousness or comatose and involuntary, which goes against the wishes of the patient, and constitutes performance (Schofield, 26). Assisted suicide and euthanasia, in any form, are murder.   People are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to them (Vaticana, 550). To decide if euthanasia is wrong, one must first off decide whom life belongs to. The Bible says, In Gods hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind (Job 1210). Life belongs to God and since God gave life to the human race, God should decide when it is time to take life. Also, the fifth commandment says, Thou shall not kill. Assisted suicide and euthanasia decline this commandment.   Supporters of euthanasia argue that the First Amendment forbids the establishment of religion and therefore one cant say life belongs to God. However, in the case of Bowers versus Hardwick in 1986, the Supreme Court control that citizens in a democracy may vote away individual rights, even if that vote is based ultimately on nothing but phantasmal faith (Bowden).