Assisted Suicide: bad for the economy and the soul

Freshman+Braden+Heisler.

Freshman Braden Heisler.

Braden Hiesler, Student Contributor

EDITOR’S NOTE: Freshmen in Mr. Naylor’s ninth grade honors English class recently read an article by Rob Wright titled “Why Death With Dignity in the U.S. Remains the Holy Grail.” The article looks at the controversial subject of Physician Assisted Suicide from many different angles. The students were then asked to compose an opinion piece expressing their feelings on whether or not Physician Assisted Suicide should be legalized in all 50 states in the USA (currently it is allowed in five states). What follows are some of the top student responses, both in favor of and opposing Physician Assisted Suicide.

I believe that physician assisted suicide is inhumane and should be illegal in all 50 states.

First of all I want to begin with the economical part of physician assisted suicide. Truly, it would be bad for the economy of the United States in general.  To explain, healthcare in general is an enormous business and a huge part of it is pre-death care.  We are talking billions and billions of capital which go into the pockets of the care-workers.  Doctor assisted suicide would hurt the economy because it would be cheaper than the means we use now to aid a patient who is sick and near death.  A domino effect will then occur where care-workers will lose their jobs and the whole pre-death care part of the healthcare system will shrink.  This is all because of this cheaper “solution.”  Furthermore, every economist knows if people have less money the economy will fail because those people, healthcare workers, will not be out consuming like they used too.  What I am trying to say is that by creating a pre-death healthcare exit, the economy will become injured.

However that’s not the main reason I believe doctor assisted suicide should be illegal in all 50 states.

Killing your loved ones just because they are sick isn’t the morally right thing to do.

The main point I want to bring up is that doctor assisted suicide is not ethical at all.   It is not right for someone  to end the life of someone else just because they are ill.  People may argue, “Well you are getting them out of their misery.”  You might be; however you are defacing human values.  Killing your loved ones just because they are sick isn’t the morally right thing to do.

All of this assisted suicide stuff might sound good on paper but it doesn’t feel good in the soul and in reality.  As humans, we feel lost and depressed when people die and if we use doctor assisted suicide we will feel worse.  We, humans, find comfort in the people that we love so why end their lives quickly.  Think about it: if you were losing someone you loved, wouldn’t you want to spend more time with them, even a few seconds to tell them something like I love you? If you do, why would you support doctor assisted suicide? Because it just took away those final few hours, days, even maybe years.

In conclusion I believe that doctor assisted suicide is not humane, it hurts the soul, and is economically bad.  Therefore I do not support making doctor assisted suicide legal in all 50 states.