Death with dignity act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Death with dignity act - Essay Example One characteristic of terminally ill patients is excessive pain inflicted on the body by the disease. For instance, cancer patients have to undergo chemotherapy, which is a very painful process. Therefore, patients survive the pain by using strong painkillers that make them loose hair. Other than the pain, the patients lose their independence, sense of self, and failure of some of their systems (â€Å"Washington,† 2010). Therefore, legalizing PAS will go a long way to alleviate pain on patients who will eventually die anyway. Smith et al. suggests that PAS does not indicate a poorer end-life-care but love from the loved ones (Smith et al., 2011). The US government spends an enormous amount of money to treat terminally ill patients who in most cases are neglected by their loved ones and left to die. On average, end-of-life accounts for 10-12% of all healthcare spending. This includes hospice and home care spending amounting to $3.5 billion and $29 billion respectively (Raphael, 2001). Additionally, insurance does not cover end-of-life care, which rests a big economic burden on the government. As the population shifts to a bigger percentage of Americans in the age bracket of 65 years and above, there is need to legalize PAS law to do away with the increasing number of the terminally ill patients at will. Legalizing the bill on PAS will protect people who do not want to suffer lingering and painful deaths by prolonging their lives (UIC, N.d). Most terminally ill patients depend on life support machines such as respirators. Additionally, they have many medical problems including failure of some organs like the kidney. Thus, they require frequent dialysis (Washington, 2010). Therefore, they solely understand the extent of their pain thus the decision of their dying is personal. Legalizing PAS will empower patients to choose when and how they want to die. After all, judges have in the past