AJ Maiorana

English 12 Senior Project

Essay outlilne

Should doctor assisted suicide be legal?

I.

II.

Introduction
a. Start with mind blowing statistic: 500,000 Americans will die of
cancer this year. I can then mention how many people out of that
many are currently suffering and pose a question.
b. I will define what Doctor assisted suicide is, and what
circumstances someone might request it.
c. So many people are ill and or in terminal conditions causing
them a lot of pain. Making this a pressing issue
Counterargument
a. Doctor assisted suicide is wrong.
b. Paving the way for legalizing murder-too many technicalities and
forgeries that could happen.
c. Religious reasons making it wrong. People may begin to feel
obligated to end their lives.
d. Hippocratic Oath prevents killing
e. Government involvement right to assistance in committing
suicide is not a fundamental right protected in the constitution or
by the due process clause. Laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide
are in place to prevent abuse and to protect people from unscrupulous doctors
and others. They are not, and never have been, intended to make anyone suffer."
(2)

III.

IV.

f. Living wills
g. However, everyone should have the right to die. They should be
allowed to make their own choice.
Healthcare Spending and the economy says that we should make it
legal.
a. Drugs for assisted suicide cost $35-$45.
b. With all the money the United States currently spends on Health
care ($3 trillion a year according to
(https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-andsystems/statistics-trends-andreports/nationalhealthexpenddata/downloads/highlights.pdf) this
could help us save others by avoiding cutbacks. This money
could be better invested because of the treatment of death. (1)
c. Analysis of these- it could be beneficial to legalize doctor
assisted suicide.
Right to Die
a. Right protected by bodily integrity
b. Its your life you should be allowed to do what you want
c. For a competent, terminally ill patients who wish to avoid
unendurable pain and hasten inevitable death they should be
allowed.

AJ Maiorana
English 12 Senior Project
Essay outlilne

V.

VI.

Patient Suffering
a. People make calls and relentlessly search for doctors like Jack
Kevorkian to end their lives because their lives arent worth living
anymore in their eyes. Why make them suffer? This isnt moral.
b. Americans should have the right of not being forced to suffer.
Note all members who took my survey agreed humans shouldnt
be made to suffer, but the answers were mixed when asked if
they agreed with doctor assisted suicide.
c. Argument that it should be a crime to not grant mercy to those
who want it. (3)
d. Therefore, doctor assisted suicide should be made legal as it is a
basic human right.
Conclusion
a. Restate ideas, redefine what doctor assisted suicide is and say
my opinion that it should be legal and people should have the
choice.
b. Show how many people this affects, and the economy.
c. Call the reader to action, pose a final question that makes the
reader think.

AJ Maiorana
English 12 Senior Project
Essay outlilne

WORKS CITED
(1) -- International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
"Frequently Asked Questions,"www.internationaltaskforce.org
(accessed May 27, 2010)
(2) Rita Marker, JD
Executive Director
Kathi Hamlon
Policy Analyst
International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
"Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Frequently Asked Questions,"
www.internationaltaskforce.org
Jan. 2010
(3) -- Faye Girsh, EdD
Senior Adviser, Final Exit Network,

AJ Maiorana
English 12 Senior Project
Essay outlilne
"How Shall We Die," Free Inquiry
Winter 2001