Assisted Suicide: An Analysis of Arguments

Text 1 and 2 revolve around a debatable issue on whether we as society, should be able to bend the current laws, so a person has the right to decide if he or she wants to die if they are unable to commit suicide themselves and needs help from others. This issue is common debate in our modern society. In text 1 and 2 they both have cons and pros for legalizing assisted suicide. In text 1 “Perhaps I´ll say goodbye on Twitter” is an article written by journalist Nina Lakhani and was published on the British newspaper The Independent in 2012. Nina Lakhani focuses on what the law thinks about the issue assisted suicide and the consequences that might happen if society changed their laws. Nina Lakhani presents more positive side than negative side in her article. For example, she uses a lot of quotes from Tony Nicklinson, who is a man suffering from locked in syndrome due to a stroke, he got back in 2005 and he is fighting for right to die. When you read about him and his case, it seems logical that a man like him that is unable to do anything wants to end his life when he wants to. But the case raises a larger debate because do we as people have the right to die? That question is answered with more negative point of view in text 2, which is written by Allison Pearson. In her opinion, we as people don´t decide if we have the rights do die the way we want to. She argues that about what would happen if we changed our laws, such as the doctors might become executors. Any doctor could just justify that the patient asked for it and that is very concerning.