Do People Have the Right to Die? Essay -- Euthanasia, Physician Assist

Living life at age twenty-eight is an amazing adventure. People are at their prime – being active and living life to the fullest. However, for Nancy Cruzan, a terrible car accident took that all away. One night, driving on a quiet road in Missouri, Nancy’s car rolled off the road and into a ditch. For twenty minutes she lay there alone and lifeless. Then, a paramedic car drove by and saw the car in distress. They pulled Nancy out, and miraculously revived her back to life. However, she had damaged her cerebral cortex, the vital end of the brain that gives humans all motor functions, senses, and communication. Nancy was left in what is called a persistent vegetative state (PVS), which â€Å"is a legal term defined in 765.101 (12) Florida statutes as: ‘a permanent and irreversible condition of unconsciousness in which there is – a) the absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind; and b) an inability to communicate or interact purpos efully with the environment.† (Snow 3). Many people refer to this state as being a â€Å"vegetable.† After contemplating the situation for a long while, Nancy’s family decided that it would be best to remove the feeding tube that was forcibly keeping her alive. However, Nancy had no living will or health care power of attorney which was needed by law to remove the tube. Does her family have the right to make the decision to end her life, when she cannot make that decision herself? Who does have that right? Do people have the right to die? This incident started many people thinking about what they believe about the issue of the right to die and physician assisted suicide. The story of Nancy Cruzan is only single scenario out of many that people have to decide where they... ...ec. 24 November 1998. Video. Right to Die. Public Broadcasting System, Oregon. Newman, Ed. â€Å"Part Five: Making The Final Choice: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized.† The Truth Seeker 121.5 (1992). 15 October 2005 http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~ennyman/DAS-5.html> Newman, Ed. â€Å"Part Three: Local Perspectives on the Right to Die Debate.† Detroit Free Press FREEP 15 October 2002 http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~ennyman/DAS-3.html> Paris, John. â€Å"Hugh Finn’s Right to Die.† America (1998). 15 October 2005 http://www.americapress.org/articles/ParisFinn.htm> Snow, Constance. â€Å"The Right to Die?† Tampa Bay New Times May/June (2000). 23 October 2005 http://www.altnewtimes.com/e03csn.html> â€Å"The Perspectives in Brief.† Public Agenda Online (2002). 13 October 2002 http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/debate_brief.CFM?issue_type=right2die>