PHYSICIAN AIDED SUICIDE

I’m a bit of indifferent on this topic, mainly because there are so many different circumstances that can alter your decision on whether it’s right or wrong. I agree that under certain parameters with specific guidelines and laws governing the process of physician aided suicide, it could be beneficial to our society, which is a society with rising health care cost, a growing aging baby boomer population, coupled with a looming recession. But it is still murder at the same time. If a patient wants to die because of a terminally ill disease or state, is it the doctor’s duty to “KILL” them? I don’t think it is! It undermines the profession of being a doctor. It may be more efficient economically, but if we start putting a cost on someone’s life, where do we draw the line? If you allow doctors to aid patients to death then you leave open the opportunity of moral hazard and both patients and doctors taking advantage of the system. There is always going to be that factor of abuse. It may be a good idea in some circumstances, but a part of me fears that if you allow it, it will be abused. I feel terrible about and do not agree with letting patients suffer, but to the extent of the doctor KILLING them, what kind of a psychological effect would that leave on a doctor? What if you were a doctor and you were asked to kill someone? Would you do it? If so, does this make you a murderer? That is the dilemma.

RESTRICTION AND LAWS ON ABORTION: WAITING PERIODS

I think there should be a waiting period on abortion so the mother can have the chance to make a well-though out informed decision. There should be a grace period for the mother to think about her possible choice and what that choice is going to mean in the future. What impact is the choice going to have on the mother? A pretty big one no matter whether she aborts the fetus or not. The choice is going to impact the mother’s life. With no waiting period there are reckless abortion being performed and I have encountered several women that have experience sever emotional damage due to an abortion because they believe that they made an impulsive decision too soon. Once the fetus is aborted, it’s gone! Forever! You can’t get that child back. We are talking about life or death for a human fetus, so there should be at least a grace period for additional thought, information, counseling, or other resources to make a rational decision about the child. I think the waiting periods should be more than 24 hours. I think it should be at least 5 days to ensure that there are no external pressures or influences forcing a mother to make such a pivotal decision. In most states a person has to wait 5 days to purchase a hand gun to purchase a grace period that eliminates the retaliation factor. The way a mother may feel after conception or finding out she is pregnant may exhibit an immense amount of stress, anxiety, and even fear on her at that time and for her to be able to make an impulsive decision on something that is going to affect more than just her life is not, in my mind, right. If the mother is made to wait five days then you will see that her thought process on day 5 is very different than her thought process on day 1. If she really wants to abort the fetus then there shouldn’t be a problem with waiting because whether or not she can get it on day 1 or wait till day 5 she is still going to get it regardless. The only way I could see a person able to get an abortion as soon as possible is in an emergency situation.