Why Assisted Dying Should Not Be Legalized

Assisted dying includes both the practices of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide
(PAS). Euthanasia is the act of ending the life of a terminal patient intentionally through
their doctor's medical procedures under the patient's consent. On the other hand, PAS
refers to the act of prescribing drugs by a doctor for a terminal patient to end their own
life (Mroz, Dierickx, Deliens, Cohen, and Chambaere,2021). Over the past 20 years, the
practices of assisted dying have expanded significantly around the world. According to
Mroz et al (2021), assisted dying is now legalized in 18 jurisdictions. The Netherlands
and Luxembourg have legalized both euthanasia and PAS. In the United States, the
states of Oregon and Washington have legalized PAS, but not legalized euthanasia. The
proponents claim that legalization means respecting the will of the individuals.
Although this is true at first sight, this is too a simplistic point of view. This essay will
focus on the significant drawbacks of the legalization of assisted dying and clarify why
assisted dying should not be legalized.

Supporters of the legalization often believe that a number of patients decide on assisted
dying to avoid painful deaths. Whereas it is true that some patients decide for such a
reason, the majority of people decide for other reasons: ones associated with disability.
The state of Oregon’s report (2021) shows that patients who choose assisted dying are
more concerned about disability than pain; losing autonomy (93,3%), the inability to
engage in activities making life enjoyable (92,0%), and the loss of dignity (68,1%)
while the inadequacy of pain control (26,9%). This data implies that by designing an
inclusive society, where disabled people can live comfortable lives, the number of
patients who choose assisted dying will significantly decrease. Conversely, legalizing
assisted dying could mean abandoning challenged people. Thus, instead of legalizing,
making society more friendly to everyone is surely important and will liberate patients
from suffering who have a desperate will toward death.

Assisted dying proponents tend to appeal to the right to self-determination. Although,

in theory, patients are given free choice of dying by legalizing assisted dying, Disability
Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) (n.d.) argues that, in reality, legalized
assisted dying would deprive patients of individual choice and self-determination. In
other words, people would choose assisted dying due to external pressure from their
family or doctor. According to the state of Oregon’s report (2021), 47,1% of assisted
dying patients worry about the burden on family, friends, or caregivers. This suggests
that they decide to die not by their own will but by the influence of others. The concept
of self-determination is far from realization.

Advocators of assisted dying assume that laws of assisted dying are eligible for a
patient ‘’suffering hopelessly and unbearably’’ as the Dutch law defined (Pereira,2011).
This ambiguity, however, could lead to unnecessary deaths. For example, people with
depression could be regarded as ‘’suffering hopelessly and unbearably’’ and then
become the subject of assisted dying, in spite of the fact that most of the depression can
be cured in a relatively short period of time. The survey of Spijker et al (2002) shows
that 50% of depression patients recovered in 3 months, 63% within 6 months, and 76%
within 12 months. Since there is much of a possibility that depression can be cured,
depression patients are often not actually “terminal”. And yet, the laws treat them as
“terminal”. Therefore, legalizing assisted dying could lead to unnecessary deaths of not
“terminal” people.

In conclusion, assisted dying should not be legalized. First of all, there is still much to
be done before allowing patients to choose death; society should make itself more
inclusive. Hence legalizing could mean deserting patients, especially the challenged. In
addition, the concept of self-determination is just an imagination; legalized assisted
dying would amplify the silent pressure, which might force vulnerable patients to
choose death. Furthermore, as the definition of “terminal patients” is ambiguous, even
patients who can be cured such as depression patients could make the decision to
abandon their treatment. Although legalization may seem to respect the right of patients,
it would violate the right of some patients. Therefore, legalizing assisted dying should
not be conducted.

References
・ Sarah Mroz, Sigrid Dierickx, Luc Deliens, Joachim Cohen ＆ Kenneth
Chambaere.2021. “Assisted dying around the world: a status quaestionis” Annals of
Palliative Medicine, Vol 10, No 3 (March 2021) : (3528 － 3539). AME Publishing
Company.
https://apm.amegroups.com/article/view/50986/html (accessed July 13, 2022).
・ Oregon Health Authority.2021. “Year 24(2021)” Death with Dignity Act Annual
Reports. OREGON.GOV.
https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PROVIDERPARTNERRESOURCES/
EVALUATIONRESEARCH/DEATHWITHDIGNITYACT/Pages/ar-index.aspx
(accessed July 13, 2022)

・Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. n.d. Why Assisted Suicide Must Not Be
Legalized. Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund.
https://dredf.org/public-policy/assisted-suicide/why-assisted-suicide-must-not-be-
legalized/ (accessed July 13, 2022)
・José Pereira. 2011.‟Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards
and controls” Current Oncology, Volume 18(2) : (e38–e45).Multimed Inc.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3070710/　(accessed July 13, 2022)

・Jan Spijker , Ron de Graaf, Rob V Bijl, Aartjan T F Beekman, Johan Ormel, Willem A
Nolen. 2002. “Duration of major depressive episodes in the general population: results
from The Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS)” British
Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 181 - Issue 3 - September 2002 :(208－213).Cambridge
University Press.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/
duration-of-major-depressive-episodes-in-the-general-population-results-from-the-
netherlands-mental-health-survey-and-incidence-study-nemesis/
406A1D35C7346CB742DFF42A90DE2462 (accessed July 13, 2022)