The first method, which is the lethal injection requires the patient to be attached to an IV which would be attached to three containers. Each holding a different solution; saline, sedative, and potassium chloride (mixture of muscle relaxant). The first assistant would begin by allowing the saline to flow into the patient’s body. The second step

Lack of human worth, inconsistency with a just legal system, and an oxymoron in the medical practice are the three main reasons why we should not legalize physician assisted suicide. Although some patients seek assisted suicide as a form of escaping depression, costly treatment, or even a feeling of worthlessness this is not the best choice. A medical practitioner is supposed to preserve life and the worth of it, not try to find quicker means of ending it. Good medical care can give patients relief from pain and control over their medical destiny without creating the severe risks posed by assisted suicide.

In my opinion, physician assisted suicide should not be legalized because it is usually a cry for help, from the ill patient. In one study, of the “twenty four percent of terminally ill patients that desired death, all had clinical depression“ (Braddock). This should show physicians that the problem is not the severity of the pain, or illness, but of the depression related to feeling worthless. Although most doctors cover up by saying that this is the only way out for the patient because pain is not controllable, that is not true. Modern medicine allows us to alleviate the most severe pain by adding a dosage. In this case doctors should not encourage suicide, but better medicine, and treatment. In a recent survey , 93% of physicians in Oregon thought that a patient might request physician-assisted suicide because he or she feared being a burden to others; 83% thought that the request might result from financial pressures on the patient. In a survey done in Washington State, physicians who had received requests for physician-assisted suicide cited fearing future loss of control, being a burden, being dependent on others for personal care, and losing dignity as the primary reasons for the requests. In summary, physicians perceive that issues of dignity, control, and independence motivate requests for physician-assisted suicide more often than do unrelieved pain or other symptoms.

Physician assisted suicide undermines the dispositions we require in doctors and is destroying the practice of medicine. Killing is incompatible with the professional duties of a physician, and goes against their oath. A physician has a clear moral obligation to cure and comfort, and no where along the lines of cure and comfort is killing. “Our Constitution isn’t a suicide pact. It wasn’t written to protect doctors who play executioner.” (Shannon 10).

The second method of assisted suicide is the inhalation of carbon monoxide. T

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