by: Harry
The Physician assisted suicide is a very controversial topic. Should we have the final say? Should the doctor make the decision? Should the family make that decision? Well the government is trying to implement laws that ban physician assisted suicide but Does the public really want that?
There are many different opinions . What do people feel for doctors that have doe this, Are they heroes or killers. An article that was in the newsday last week about this topic said "Well when you have been thru it, you will really understand and now how it feels and then you will really start thinking about it" all that is trying to say is that many people don't think about it because they don't really have to but if someone was ill they would start thinking.
Doctor Shwartz, now living in N.Y. was interviewed on National television and he says he have not committed any crimes, at the same time people were calling and it's amazing how they spoke "assassin, killer" those are only few of the names he was being called. At the same time people who have had someone ill called and treated the man with respect. There are two major views, people who are pro that really think that this should be done for the good of the ill person and people who think that it is totally wrong.
In the other hand even though both had different views most of the people agreed that the
government shouldn't have the final say. In our questionnaire we asked people some basic
questions and lets see the answer.
I interviewed one hundred persons. Sex 48 % were males and fifty two % were females. I chose this question to see if there is a difference in the male opinion and the female opinion.
Religion forty five % were catholics, fifteen % were Protestants and five percent were Jewish, ten percent were other minor religions and twenty five declared no religious preference. We choose religion so we know who are we dealing with. A person that has a religion will not think the same way as someone who doesn't have a religion. We aren't getting too deep on this but we could have also analyzed the differences between religions. The age twenty six % were under 20, fifty eight % were between the ages of 20 and thirty, eight % were between the ages of 30 and forty and2 % were between 50 and sixty. This question was picked just to have an idea of who are we dealing with, a 20 year old will not think the same way a forty year old would, not only that but as you advance in age you will get pains and you health starts bothering you and you think more about it. Income, student 28 % were students who don't work, sixty two % made under twenty in their part time jobs or some full time, four % made between 20 and thirty five. Someone who is economically stable and have an insurance plan won't really have to think about this but someone who doesn't have enough money for insurance wouldn't want to put his family in debt. Years of education twelve 8 %, thirteen or fourteen 30 %,fifteen or sixteen 44 %, seventeen 18%, this question was obviously picked because of the factor that education play, usually people with more study are more mature and understand things better. Medical insurance thirty six % of the people had medical insurance but sixty four % didn't, most likely this are families with low income. I chose this question because a person without insurance is more likely to want to have assisted suicide. Next question have you ever known someone terminally ill forty four % answered yes,fifty six % answered no, this is also an important question because if you have known someone who is terminally ill you know what it is like and you may think different. Do you believe in assisted suicide sixty two percent answer yes and thirty eight answered no. Now we are getting to the main point, this was a straight forward question do you believe or not and the answer is amazing. Next should the government have the right to make this decision for you twenty six % answered yes, seventy four % answered no, in this case even though many people may not agree with the topic they still don't want the government to make any decisions for them. Last question who should decide, eighteen % said doctors, six said panel, twenty two % said patient and fifty four % said the family. That is another important question because if you agree who should make the decision?
Therefore the questionnaire reflected that most of the people believe in assisted suicide. The question is who should decide, because many doctors could take advantage of this and tell every patient that they aren't good and they should die. Another factor that influenced our people was no medical insurance , if you don't have medical insurance you are going to try to get away of it any way you can, all this questions reflected that people believe in assisted suicide and that they don't want the government to make decisions for them.
This topic has occupied a very important stand on the news lately. Doctor Shwartz, native from
Ohio performed more than one hundred assisted suicide and was taken to court, he argues that "I
only did them a favor" he committed all kind of assisted suicides, turn off the machines, injections
and others. He was take to the Grand Jury of the State of Ohio and the jurors found him innocent
but them the case was appealed and is on in the State of Ohio Supreme Court. The Grand Jury
composed of jurors that are normal people that go in for a couple days for juror duty decided that
he was innocent. Should the government have the right to make this decision for us? It has been
proven by many studies that people want to have their basic rights and they don't want them to be
violated.
Physician assisted suicide
1)sex M F
2)religion
3)age A under 20 b 20 to 30 c 30 to40
D 40 to 50 e 50 to 60
4)income A student b under 20 c 20 to 35
C 35 and higher
5)years of education A 12 b 13,14 c 15,16 d 17
6)medical insurance A yes b no
7)have you ever known someone
terminally ill A yes B no
8)do you believe in assisted
Suicide A yes b no
9)_Should the government have
The right to make this decision ayes b no
10)who should decide Adoctors bpanel cpatient dfamily