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It seems counterintuitive that we label some peoples lives as “poor quality” but physician-assisted suicide isn’t legal in every state. Physicians-assisted suicide is “when a physician facilitates a patient’s death by providing the necessary means and/or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act”. It would make sense that if a lives quality is so bad they have the choice to end it.

There are currently 9-US states that allow medically assisted suicide. The states are California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Maine (starting January 1, 2020), New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. The drug would allow for patients that get approved by a license physician to receive a drug that allows terminally ill people to choose when they want to pass.

In the states that are legal many steps and precautions must be taken to assure that only the required patients have access to these types of drugs. Currently, there is a list of steps that physicians must take before prescribing the drug. Step One is to “insure the patients desired cure is impossible.” The next step is for the physician to “provide appropriate comfort care and adequate pain control if the patient doesn’t want the medication”.

Obviously, proper steps are being made to ensure the safety of this drug. Patients must be examined before this drug is prescribed. Therefore, it should be legal in every state and these options should be given to those that suffer.