Terminally ill patients should be given the option of assisted death

The poll that you have shared in your argument shows a great point. 82% of those people agreed with the fact that terminally ill people should have the right to assisted death. You said that a lot of people simply agree with what the majority think, however in the poll above, it does not state whether or not the people involved knew the other candidates choice or if it was a private vote. If it were a private vote, then your statement could be considered invalid for this particular argument. Yes, the majority of people ( I would hope everyone would agree with this) want rape to be illegal, and it is, as it should be. So is murder and robbery. However you can look at murder and assisted death as two different things. Yes, they both involve ending someone's life, but murder is done illegaly, violently, and without the consent of the person being murdered. Where in assisted death, it could be done legaly, non violent, and with the consent of the person who wants it done. There are terminally ill patients who don't wish to end their life even with all the pain and suffering they are going through. And that is perfectly fine. If assisted death is legalized, it wont be forced on the patient. It is only an option that is open to them. Yes , there are treatments for depression, which can occur in terminally, and non terminally ill patients. But we are talking about the physical pain caused by the illness, not the mental. Even though that is just as important. People who want to die are considered mentally unwell when there is no physical pain involved with that feeling. When you are talking about a terminal patient wanting to die, you see it more as they are in physical pain, and nothing can fix it. Terminally ill patients and physically healthy patients with a mental disorder who want to end their life are two different things. A mental disorder can be treated with medicine, and if the proper steps are taken to help this person such as therapy, are taken, they won"t die from it. They are not given an amount of time they have left to live because if correctly handled they could live for a long time and not die from the illness, but of old age. A terminal patient, however, can only be treated with so much medication, and they are given an amount of time they have left to live. They cannot stop death from coming. They cannot end the pain they will feel as the disease progresses. There is always a point to finding a cure. The people who are terminally ill now, might not have the time to see that cure. But as we continue to search for the cure, why should we let those who don't have the chance to see it, suffer? Cancer is an illness that has been around for ages. At one point it had no way of being treated, but now it does. Some cancers are still looking for a cure. Just because assisted death becomes an option, doesn't mean we stop looking for cures. It only means that until then, we don"t let the people with the disease suffer. We give them the option to stop it. Like I said in my last argument. It is only a guess at how much time the terminally ill patient has left. As for the video, if you actually sit down and listen to what is being said, you can see and hear how this illness effects not only the mom, but the family. Yes, the son said he doesn't want her to die, but who wants to see a loved one die? And as for the daughter, what she says is that she has been there through the whole illness, from the diagnoses to the time she is at now where she is bedridden and cannot do anything but talk. She says that before her mom's illness took over, they used to be able to go places, have plans, do things together that not only the daughter enjoyed, but the mom as well. And now because of the illness, the mom cannot do anything. What she was saying was not because she WANTS her mom to die, but because she doesn't want her to suffer any longer. I encourage everyone who is following this debate to watch the video. It is only 3 minutes long, but it is perfect for my part of the debate. You can understand all the emotions going through the patient and their family. She doesn't want to end her life for the solo reason being that it is an option, because if you listen to her speak, you will know that at this time, it is not an option. She is in pain. She doesn't want to live like this, she doesn't want to get to the point in her life where she is answering people with blink once for yes and twice for no. Terminally ill children have the right to make a decision about their health as well, even though a parent can override their choice. A child who is terminally tends to have a higher maturity level then a healthy child due to the circumstances. In the video I have linked below it shows a 5 year old girl who is terminally ill. Her parents gave her the decision to choose heaven or hospital for the next time she gets sick. https://youtu.be... Medicine trials are what i was referring to. When a medicine is released and in a trial period, it is only given to those who fit the criteria. Not every patient can get it. It takes time for the medicine to be processed and used in daily medicine. If the patient decides to end their life, and a cure is near to being found that can be used on that patient, they would be informed before they made the final decision to end their life. Sure the patient could have more time to spend with family if they decided not to choose assisted death, but if the patient chooses assisted death, they know when they will die, and they will know how much time they have left to spend with their family. In the link below is an article about a 29 year old woman who has brain cancer. In this article it tells you everything that I have been saying, or have tried to tell you. It is a great article with a lot of good points that I believe not only you should read, but everyone else as well. http://www.cnn.com... Mentally ill patients are not the only ones who cannot wait to die. If someone is terminally ill, they want to die because of the pain they are in, and because it is their choice to decide how they want their life to end. Sure not everyone knows when and how they will die, but in the cases of those who do now, and they now they are dying because of an incurable illness, why not give them the option to end the pain and give them the choice of when to end it? As for taking a terminally ill patient on a road trip, that is not a good idea. If they are at the end stages of life, then their immune system will have trouble fighting off viruses. At that point, something as simple as a cold, could kill them. It is also may be physically impossible to take a terminally ill patient on a road trip. If they are in a lot of pain, they could also have a hard time enjoying the things around them.