Raechel Tuckman

10/23/15
Professor Deadrick/EN102
Exploratory Paper
Death With Dignity
I had never really thought about dying on your own terms before until I heard about the
story of Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old recently married woman with terminal brain cancer who
decided to end her life on her own terms. I started to wonder what death with dignity was, and
became interested in the topic. I wanted to find out more about the subject. After searching
around I found out that death with dignity was a doctor assisted suicide, and that it was only
legal in the states of Washington, Vermont, Oregon, and Montana.
Each of these states allows doctors to write a prescription for an overdosing amount of a
medication that patients can take when they feel like they are ready to end their life if they are
suffering from a terminal illness, and are suffering. According to an article in TIME magazine
written by Emily Barone there are over 750 people in Oregon who have ingested a lethal dose
of prescription medication since the Death With Dignity Act went into effect in 1997. (para. 2).
After reading more about this my question was why Death With Dignity wasnt legal in all 50
states.
The first source that I looked at to try and get more of an understanding was the article
written by Brittany Maynard herself. I chose this source because this was the most recent event

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that was publicized on the topic. She starts her article off by explaining her illness, and a little
family history going on to talk about doing research on Death With Dignity to see if this was the
right choice for her, and later decided that this was the best option for her. She up-rooted her
whole family from California to Oregon since California didnt have the Death With Dignity Act.
In the last part of her article Brittany expressed her stance that its no ones right but her own to
end her life, Who has the right to tell me that I don't deserve this choice? That I deserve to
suffer for weeks or months in tremendous amounts of physical and emotional pain? Why should
anyone have the right to make that choice for me? (para. 15). Though this article was a good
read, and a good use of pathos in terms of really capturing the emotion of the article, and
speaking from personal experience, it didnt really give me any information on the laws, or what
the process was for being eligible for Death With Dignity.
The next source I reviewed was an article written by Chris Bateman published in a South
African Medical Journal. The article talks about several options from different people on the
subject of patients requesting to be killed by their doctors, and it being legal. He brings up a case
in South Africa where a man was ill with cancer, and wanted to die. The man underwent a
physiological evaluation to make sure that he did not have a history of suicide attempts,
depression, and thigs of that nature. It was determined that the man was perfectly conscious of
the decision he was making, and seemed to be at peace with it. In this mans case it was said that
there was no logical distinction between withdrawing treatment to allow the natural process of
death, and physician assisted death(para. 5). As I continued reading this article I realized the

amount of logos that was used to support it. In the third paragraph of this article it educates you
on the studies
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done in Holland on 42 euthanasia cases that involved psychiatric illness where therapy was no
longer beneficial for the patients in the year 2013. In one case in particular, a 62 year civil
servant who decided against tribunal became deactivated from becoming approved for Death
With Dignity. He later on found two doctors that supported his decision. This article again was a
good read, and very informative, but didnt provide me with the information I was looking for
when it comes to the laws of Death With Dignity. I was still searching for the process, and how
someone would become approved for D.W.D.
The last source that I reviewed was written by Michael J. Sandel. This is about the
government having say over assisted suicide. He believes that the courts can approve assisted
suicide without passing judgement on the moral of suicide itself. He explains that according to
certain philosophers, that the people have the right to their own lives, and that if they feel that
their life is not worth living anymore due to terminal illness that they should have the right to end
their life if they feel like they are done struggling just to see another day. He gives the view
points on the issue from six different philosophers including Locke and Kent. He explains that
they both believe that some rights as a human are just that. Rights. In the 6 th paragraph it states
that, the philosophers' emphasis on autonomy and choice implies that life is the possession of
the person who lives it. This ethic is at odds with a wide range of moral outlooks that view life as
a gift, of which we are custodians with certain duties. Such outlooks reject the idea that a

person's life is open to unlimited use, even by the person whose life it is. I felt like this was a
good use of pathos because it helps me to connect to the subject by thinking about my own life,
and if I would allow
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someone to tell me whether I could manage my own pain and suffering if I was in a medical
distress situation. This article was a little more informative, but again didnt educate me on the
laws and processes of D.W.D.
After reading and reviewing all the articles, I feel that Death With Dignity should be
leagel in all states even though I wasnt provided with any information on the process or the laws
of this act. I believe that we as human beings have the right to end our own lives if we are
suffering from an illness that decreases our quality of life. No one should have the ability to tell
you what pain and suffering you can and cannot manage. My understanding of this issue hasnt
changed much because I was already a believer in this act, but didnt have a lot of formal
information about it. I did not come across an answer to my question, but I do intend on doing a
little more research for my own personal knowledge on the topic. I dont feel like my opinion is
inconclusive, but rather lacking hard facts about the act and the policies itself. I believe that in
order to find out the answer to my question on why D.W.D is not a law in all states that I would
need read the actual law that the approving states have put in place. In conclusion Death With
Dignity should be approved in all states. Think about it. Wouldnt you want to have a say over
the amount of suffering your willing to put up in for the duration of your life if youre sick? I
sure would.

Work Cited
Barone, Emily. "See Which States Allow Assisted Suicide." 3 Nov. 2014. Print.

Bateman, Chris. "Euthanasia in SA--sacrificing one to render many vulnerable?" South African
Medical Journal 105.10 (2015): 801+. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Maynard, Brittany. "Brittany Maynard: My Right to Death with Dignity at 29." CNN, 4 Nov.
2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Sandel, Michael J. "Last rights." The New Republic 14 Apr. 1997: 27. Academic OneFile. Web.
21 Oct. 2015.