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English 101 Sec. 007 September 15, 2003 Should Doctor-Assisted Suicide be allowed in the United States of America? Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. May I die before I wake and pray the Lord my soul to take. This is the prayer of many terminally ill supporters of physician-assisted suicide. Patients around the world that are terminally ill are suffering at the hands of the state. Dying is no longer a natural event for most Americans. Many Americans die in hospitals, where efforts are made to keep patients alive until no possible chance of recovery. The Hippocratic Oath prohibits physicians to “neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor make a suggestion to this effect.” The Hippocratic Oath was written at a time when physicians were providing assisted suicide for ailments as minor as gallstones. Times have changed, due to scientific advancements in medicine. Doctors can more accurately diagnose terminal illnesses, giving the patient a better understanding of their quality of life, pain, suffering, and life expectancy.
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