A moral option

Roberta Genini’s letter (Julu 23) on physician-assisted suicide has me angry. She has a right to disapprove of the idea and not avail herself of it should it become available to her.

Her statement “our lives are not our own” is the problem. I’m assuming she is making reference to a deity in whose hands she feels her life rests. If so, the extent to which her religious belief has relevance is to her life alone. There is no more profound, fundamental view that one can hold than that of where lies the ownership of one’s life. My life belongs to me; I claim the right to end it how and when I choose.

I understand the importance of the wording of legislation to protect the vulnerable. There are American states and foreign countries which have enacted forms of such laws incorporating such protections. Medical science has progressed amazingly but sometimes is faced with continuing the dying process without being able to prevent extreme suffering.

Should the lucid patient request it, the humane, compassionate, moral option is to bring the dying to an end. No sane person begging for release should be left in agony.

This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 8:35 AM with the headline "A moral option."