The Right to Die: Legalization of Assisted SuicideINTRODUCTIONMedical science has seen significant progress since the 1960s and has made great strides in prolonging people's lives, even giving time to those who suffer from terminal illnesses. However, some patients, after weighing the high cost of medical procedures and the very limited lifestyle of those living on borrowed time, turn to assisted suicide as a possible option. Assisted suicide is based on the belief that individuals should have access to medical assistance to voluntarily end their lives, when and how they choose. Assisted suicide typically involves the doctor providing access to a lethal dose of medication, which the patient then self-administers. Physician-assisted suicide differs slightly from active euthanasia because it requires the patient to administer the lethal dose, instead of allowing the doctor to do so. The practice of refusing certain medical treatments based on the patient's informed refusal and stopping life-sustaining treatment, or not starting it in the first place, is already legal and common. None of these measures is considered murder, even if such a decision results in the death of the patient. However, the line blurs in the case of assisted suicide, and in the eyes of many people and under the law in most places, assisted suicide amounts to killing, which is illegal. BODYArguments in favor of legalizing assisted suicide the right of the individual to choose the time and circumstances of their death and/or to seek assistance to facilitate their death should be guaranteed and protected by law. The rationale for legalization encompasses the...... middle of paper ...... protected by law. Opponents of legalization who preach the “sanctity of life” commit a fundamental error: it is not only the quantity of life that counts, but its quality; and since dying is a living act, the quality of the experience at the end of life, or under conditions of incurable distress, is the primary consideration. To believe that the mere duration of existence, however unbearable and painful it may be, outweighs the kindness of granting someone's request for help to put an easy and quick end to their suffering, is have completely wrong priorities. Others warn of the “slippery slope” of legalization and possible abuse of physician-assisted suicide. However, abuse is possible in all areas, and a carefully drafted law would provide the necessary securities, protections and controls while offering those in unbearable distress the sanctuary of an easy end to suffering...