Assisted Suicide: A Growing Trend and Its Consequences

Assisted suicide has become legal in several places around the world. In the United States, eight states and Washington, DC, allow this practice for their residents. Oregon was the first state to legalize it back in 1997. Since then, about 8, 700 Americans have chosen to end their lives with medical assistance. Some people worry about this trend. When governments pay for people's healthcare, they might have a strange reason to want some people to die earlier. This is especially true in countries with socialized healthcare, like the Netherlands and Canada. In these countries, assisted suicide has become quite common. Last year, over 9, 000 people in the Netherlands and nearly 13, 000 in Canada chose this route. Some of these people were not even terminally ill. They just had a lot of physical or emotional pain that wasn't going to get better. The Netherlands legalized assisted suicide in 2002, and Canada did so in 2016. The idea of assisted suicide makes financial sense for these countries. The governments save money by not having to care for very sick people for a long time. There are some worries that people might be pushed into this choice because of money or pressure. In Canada, for example, some people felt like they had to choose assisted suicide because of their financial situation. The United States isn't quite there yet, but the government does pay for a lot of people's healthcare through programs like Medicare and Medicaid. These programs cost a lot of money - over $1. 7 trillion in total. Some people worry that the government might one day see assisted suicide as a way to save money. It's important to think about these issues carefully. Is assisted suicide always the best choice? Who decides when someone's life is no longer worth living? These are tough questions, and there are no easy answers.