From Jack Kevorkian to Terry Schiavo

From Jack Kevorkian to Terry Schiavo, much media attention has been minded(p) in recent years to the question of the justly to die. Most American states deal laws against taking iodins own biography and many excessively have specific laws against assisted suicide. umpteen others drag down those who would assist with suicide with manslaughter or attempted murder. Opponents of euthanasia say that there is no provision in American law for the function to die. Many specific in force(p)s are spelled out in the Bill of Rights and others have been granted through the Constitution and its am ratiocinationments, but nowhere has the law granted a person the dependable to die.Proponents claim the right is inherent, God-given and a matter of free will. The truth lies roughlywhere in between. Americans should have the right to determine when their lives should end. That right is granted them by the Declaration of Independence. Americans have the right to die, as it is included in the right to life, the right of self-determination and the followers of happiness. The first legal standard allowing Americans to choose to die should be the words of founding father Thomas Jefferson.In writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson said that people should have the right to life, shore leave and the pursuit of happiness. By simple logic, death is an inherent part of life and therefore should be protected by Jeffersons words. As death is the ending of life and the right to life is guaranteed by the Declaration, it is clear that citizens should be afford the right to die as they choose. By guaranteeing people the right to life and liberty, Jefferson may have been simply spouting the philosophies of John Locke and others, but he inadvertently guaranteed people the liberty to choose their own death.Clearly, in 1776, the concept of keeping people alive through the use of machines was non a consideration. However, Jefferson makes it clear that self-determination is a right of the people. It is that very self-determination that gave the American colonies the right to disintegration against England and pee-pee their own country. That same right of self-determination should also apply to the average citizen. Nothing is more(prenominal) a matter of personal freedom than the right to die. Other cultures have long practiced this form of self-determination.In many cultures, the sick, infirmed or elderly would leave their society to die when they decided it was time. The concept that society has cash in ones chips more civilized should not prevent people from making this choice if they desire. The reality is that modern music has allowed many people to live beyond what would once have been a normal life expectancy. Many of those people regret their longevity as they feel isolated, due to the deaths of contemporaries, and feel the guilt of being a financial or emotional burden on their families.Others do not want to face the trouble oneself of chro nic disease. These people have earned the right to do as they please and by the scheme of self-determination, they should be granted that right. Finally, the Declaration grants people the right to the pursuit of happiness. Again, despite the advances of modern medicine, there is no guarantee that simply lengthening a persons life grants them additional happiness. In fact, some elderly persons are simply lonely and in pain. The pursuit of happiness for them might include an end to their suffering and as such, the right to die.The simple matter is that by guaranteeing people the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and by predicating our society on the right of self-determination, America has already made it clear that the right to die is inherent in our beliefs. It should be as clear as the right to freedom of the invoke or the right to bear arms. Unfortunately, though we preach a separation of church and state, America is also a religious country and the right to d ie will not be acknowledged until the fearfulness of the moral repercussions is overcome.