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Debate Info

23
22
Yes it should be No it shouldn't be
Debate Score:45
Arguments:23
Total Votes:59
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Argument Ratio

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 Yes it should be (13)
 
 No it shouldn't be (10)

Debate Creator

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Should Assisted Suicide be Legal?

A new issue in today's world regarding assisted suicide. Should it be legalized or not?

*This debate will discuss legalization within the United States.*

Yes it should be

Side Score: 23
VS.

No it shouldn't be

Side Score: 22
3 points

Everyone has a right to their own life. Laws that prevent a physician from assisting in a patient's choice to end their pain and suffering are antiquated and rooted in religious beliefs. Physician aided dying is when a doctor gives a terminally ill patient medication or some other means to assist in their passing. Someone who is terminally ill should not be forced to live out their last days in misery because of a law. There are many reasons for a patient to favor dying on their own accord, like being able to say goodbye to loved ones, being in control of their own life, and dying with dignity. They may also choose to avoid expensive treatment that only delays the inevitable or to spare their family the heartbreak of watching them slowly and painfully die. Why would anyone want to watch their loved one suffer and slowly lose what is left as they grow closer and closer to death? Choosing to die is a personal choice and religious beliefs should not play a role in the outcome of laws regarding euthanasia. Physician aided dying should be legal because forcing someone to live in pain and misery is inhumane. The right thing to do is give every patient the option to end their final fight on their own terms.

Side: Yes it should be
1 point

Yes. If someone is suffering without hope of recovery, they have the right to die with dignaty.

Side: Yes it should be
Jace(5222) Disputed
0 points

Why does that follow? And why is dignity important?

Side: No it shouldn't be
Sitar(3680) Disputed
0 points

Why not? People have the right to die with dignity. .

Side: Yes it should be

Yes it should, if a person is suffering and going to die they should have every right to die on their own terms. To force someone to succumb to an illness that would kill them slowly and painfully purely because of another's belief is dehumanizing and wrong.

Side: Yes it should be
1 point

Yes, it should be. If somebody feels that their suffering too much to bear, they should legally be allowed to end their own lives with the help of others. The Roman Catholic Church says that it isn't legal but it doesn't matter what they say. Assisted suicide should be a humane way to end somebody's suffering.

Side: Yes it should be

I have the right to choose what to do with my body. I have the right to choose how and when I die.

Side: Yes it should be
0 points

We "put our pets to sleep" to prevent them from needless suffering. For some reason we want to watch our "loved ones" suffer. Is there ANY common sense left in this world??

Side: Yes it should be
-1 points

Yes, especially for Muslims. Even if they looked a little depressed they should be helped on their way to see Allah. Bon voyage Abdul.

Side: Yes it should be
verbluffen Disputed
3 points

What does this have to do with assisted suicide? Take your xenophobia somewhere else.

Side: Yes it should be
3 points

Yes but what about people like Steven Hawking who had been "terminally ill" for 52 years or so. What if assisted suicide was offered to him? Imagine what this world would have lost.

Also:

"Euthanasia weakens society's respect for the sanctity of life

Accepting euthanasia accepts that some lives (those of the disabled or sick) are worth less than others

Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable

Euthanasia might not be in a person's best interests

Euthanasia affects other people's rights, not just those of the patient"

SO many people who are euthanized are the elderly, depressed, and abused. How are they "terminally ill"? If an elderly man or woman is deemed "terminally ill", shouldn't we all be deemed so? We are all slowly dying. Why not put us ALL out of our misery?

Supporting Evidence: A Terminally Ill Woman's Testimony (www.lifenews.com)
Side: No it shouldn't be
Jace(5222) Disputed
3 points

If Steven Hawking wanted to die he probably would have found someone to help him, whether it was legal or not. Even if we make the rather large assumption that he would have used assisted suicide if it were an option, but otherwise not taken any effort to end his life, it does not follow that this would be wrong. It is extraordinarily selfish to demand that other people endure a lifetime of suffering just so we can benefit from them; why should your selfish interest take precedence over the personal interest of any other individual?

Accepting euthanasia does not mean accepting that some lives are worth less than others. It means accepting that personal autonomy is more valuable than the value of life, for everyone. This is hardly a novel proposition since we value other things above life rather consistently; driving, self-defense, pollution, wars, triage, presidential bunkers, etc.

There is nothing to suggest that voluntary euthanasia will lead to eugenics, and not only because they are fundamentally different both in practice and in justification. You call your own fallacy out when you refer to it as a slippery slope; that is a formal logical fallacy, not a legitimate argument.

If someone is interested in using voluntary euthanasia then doing so is literally in their interest. They are the best person to determine their interests since self-interest necessarily derives from the self, not from some outside opinion of what their interest should be. Your paternalism is a violation of their autonomous pursuit of their interest, not a gesture of support.

What possible right does anyone have over another's autonomy over their own body and life? Making this argument right after arguing for their interest only underscores how little you actually value their interests, given that you are willing to sacrifice their interests to others.

Your argument that we should all be involuntarily euthanized because we are all slowly dying is a disingenuous slippery slope, at best. No outside force is determining who should or should not be involuntarily euthanized; the individual who would be voluntarily euthanized is making that decision. There are also fundamental differences between someone dying from a painful, terminal illness and simple mortality.

Side: Yes it should be
3 points

Killing yourself is already bad enough, why would you want it to be supported?!

Side: No it shouldn't be
2 points

My first argument I would like to make is the Hippocratic Oath that every physician and doctor takes before being permitted to work. The modernized version of this oath states, "Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God…”

This alone should show people that euthanasia should NOT be legalized.

My second point is that on the Washington Health website, a PDF of information about the proper way to write the death certificate of euthanize patients is as follows:

lf you know the decedent used the Death with Dignity Act, you must comply with the strict requirements of the ffien completing the death record:

1. The underlying terminal disease must be listed as the cause of death.

2. The manner of death must be marked as "Natural."

3. The cause of death section may not contain any language that indicates that the Death with Dignity Act was used, such as:

a. Suicide

b. Assisted suicide

c. Physician-assisted suicide

d. Death with Dignity

e. l-1000

f. Mercy killing

g. Euthanasia

h. Secobarbital or Seconal

i. Pentobarbital or Nembutal

All in all, a medical professional is NOT allowed to write the TRUE cause of death on a death certificate. If a mortuary or funeral home receives a death certificate with one of those items listed above, they are to report it.

Sounds to me like these people are getting away with murder.

Side: No it shouldn't be
Jace(5222) Disputed
3 points

Hippocratic Oath

(1) You are committnig an argumentum ad antiquitatem fallacy. Just because we may have or currently might understand the Hippocratic Oath to forbid physician assisted suicide does not mean that we should forbid it.

(2) The Hippocratic Oath is not universal to all legal systems, nor does God have any legitimate role in a secular society.

(3) If a patient requests assisted suicide then the physician is not determining that they should die but complying with their wishes, ergo not playing at God.

(4) If the mere act of ending a life is playing God, then we must also conclude that saving a life is as well.

(5) Assisted suicide need not be carried out by a physician, and where it is not the Hippocratic Oath does not apply.

Death with Dignity Act

(6) This is an argument against the DDA, not against assisted suicide itself.

(7) Had the terminal disease not existed there is no reason to suspect the assisted suicide would have occurred, and therefore the cause of death is arguably the terminal disease rather than the assisted suicide.

(8) If the act is legal then it is not murder. It is hard to argue it is even wrongful legal killing, given the element of consent involved.

Side: Yes it should be
TheOriginal(6) Disputed
3 points

Yes, but think of the message we are sending out to this world, to every teenager, to every depressed individual. Our society used to say, "Suicide is not an option. It is not a way out. It is not good."

Now what are we telling the society? "Suicide is never an option... Except well, maybe sometimes..."

Side: No it shouldn't be

The reason of this being illegal is because it is the encouragement of death to one another and will probably be the law of "attempted murder" due to forcing a person to die by their will.

Side: No it shouldn't be