Sociology: Right to Die Position Paper

Over the past decade, we have gone from Dr. Jack Kevorkian's first public assisted suicide to the first legal assisted suicide in Oregon. The underlying issue has been whether terminally ill individuals should have the right to ask a doctor to hasten their own deaths. However, larger issues have been raised as well; about dying with dignity and what constitutes a ''good death.'' Dr. Kevorkian's actions are reflective of the Pre-Conventional stage of moral …

…obliged to endure unbearable suffering. Thirdly, the denial of a right to die amounts to imposing a "duty to live" -- no matter what the abject condition of that life might be, which is presumptuous and intolerable. The continuous legal debate centered around this heated ethical dilemma has advanced from stage five, the Social Contract, into stage six, the Universal Ethical Principle, whereas ethical principle is based on the dignity of human beings and individuality.