Sample Term Paper

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are terms used to describe purposeful actions done with the goal of ending a person’s life in order to alleviate unbearable suffering. Euthanasia is illegal in most states and may result in a prison term. The legislation in the United States differs from state to state.

Assisted suicide is observed when a person who does not possess the means of taking his/her own life is provided the means required to do so by an external source (Weir, 1997). This can be brought about by the addition of an element into the victim’s environment or by the removal of an essential element from the same. For instance, the overdose of a drug may be just as legal as not taking the drug at all and both conditions can be expected to have disastrous consequences.

The traditional interpretation of the Bible in this regard is that the Bible chooses to oppose the very concept of suicide let alone assisted suicide and supporters of this perception find hardly any ambiguity when they quote clearly: “Men may kill only when God has so authorized. We are authorized to kill plants and animals because they are not in God’s image. Killing a person is unauthorized because man is in God’s image” – Genesis 9:2-6. However, people who choose to engage in assisted suicide believe that they are not at sin in light of the statement which affirms: “Do not kill the innocent and righteous” Exodus 23:7.

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