In recent news, the health care debate has become an important topic. One of the issues in the spotlight is that of physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is when the doctor prescribes a pill that the patient takes to cause death. They are generally expected to die within the next six months. What kind of world do we live in where people believe it is ethically acceptable to kill someone? Society wonders why doctors have started caring less about their patients. This is because things like this go strictly against what doctors are supposed to do; heal the sick and help improve the health of patients. Physician-assisted suicide should remain illegal because it goes against the Hippocratic Oath, corrupts the practice of medicine, taints our culture, and is immoral because it takes life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayPhysician-assisted suicide (PAS) should not become legal as it goes against the Hippocratic Oath that doctors lend when they graduate from medicine. Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, founded the Hippocratic Oath thousands of years ago. The reason doctors still take this oath is because it is the ideal conduct for a doctor, even in modern society. This is an oath that states they will practice medicine fairly and ethically. However, doctors are starting to move away from this wish. For example, the oath states: "I will not give a woman any abortifacient" but obviously some doctors perform abortions (Tyson). The Hippocratic Oath also states: “I will not give a deadly drug to anyone who asks for it, nor will I make any suggestion to that effect” (Tyson). Today, people argue that physician-assisted suicide should be legal even if it violates the oath. Violating the Hippocratic Oath is wrong because it defines what a doctor should and should not do. This oath is a guide to being a good doctor; by not following it, doctors not only go against the ethics of a doctor, but also become bad doctors. If doctors want to violate this oath, why bother taking it? Louis Lasagna, academic dean of the Tufts University School of Medicine, is concerned about the archaic themes of the Hippocratic Oath. Lasagna even released a new version that some believe contradicts the themes of the original. There are more good things than bad things in the original version. Also remember that the oath was developed thousands of years ago. There are things that have changed but the purpose of the oath is to help, protect and preserve life. Physician-assisted suicide not only harms the patient, but also goes further and kills them. By allowing physician-assisted suicide to become legal in the United States, he contributes to the corruption of medicine. According to the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, medicine has already started to become corrupt. Chattopadhyay said “potential institutionalized corruption” has become a problem in medicine. This is when doctors must admit a fixed number of patients even if they are not needed. This shows that the patients are there and that the hospital is making money. It can be inferred that patients are being treated in hospitals rather than being cured, because curing would mean that the patients would not return. This would prevent the hospital and doctors from making money. Physician-assisted suicide directly contributes to the corruption ofmedicine, because the tools that were supposed to be used to heal are now used to kill. In addition to this, some doctors also abuse this option. In Oregon, where it's legal, "one patient was told by his doctor, 'You have ALS [Lou Gehrig's disease]...it's horrible...you should consider PAS.' The patient was devastated” (Physician Assisted Suicide). Doctors can easily persuade a patient to want physician-assisted suicide, which is terrible. Instead of letting the patient decide for themselves, they may feel guilty. People should “demand that doctors learn how to effectively kill pain, not how to effectively kill patients” since they are healers (Physician Assisted Suicide). American culture is tainted by doctors not putting enough effort into the care of their patients. Physician-assisted suicide provides an avenue for those who wish to end treatment prematurely. Creating the ability to die on command could prevent those who might otherwise have survived from fighting. If the patient suffers from depression due to a perceived lack of effectiveness, they may choose to stop treatment prematurely. For example, a cancer patient may observe some of the negative side effects of chemotherapy and choose PAS before treatment ends. Due to the drastic physical effects of treatment, they may have a negative outlook and choose PAS because they believe their life is no longer worth living. The Family Research Council offers words of encouragement when it states that "every life is full of promise" and that "there is no life that is not worth living" (Saunders and Fragoso) . Proponents of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) like to argue that they do it because they want to preserve quality of life. Pope John Paul II addressed physician-assisted suicide when he said that it "always gravely exploits suffering and desperate and exterminating life in the name of 'quality of life' itself." Supporters of legalizing physician-assisted suicide point out that it is immoral and against their religion because of the commandments that prohibit suicide. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, put it simply: “Suicide is not abominable because God forbids it; God forbids it because it is abominable.” The United States has many different religions, covering many different codes of ethics and morals. Most of these religions have in common their horror of suicide. This large population with a strong moral compass is leading the charge in preserving life. Supporters of PAS say the conversation should be between the doctor and the patient, not the government. While the government would need to be involved in some sort of regulation to ensure the process is carried out safely across the United States, this would, however, require a majority of the nation to vote in favor of PAS. However, the people actually involved in this process should have a say. Doctors have their own code of ethics. Since most doctors are pro-life, this makes them anti-physician assistant suicide. The relationship between doctor and patient is one of the strongest partnerships in the professional world. The relationship is vital for the effectiveness of treatment because a poor relationship between doctor and patient can lead to distrust. If there is a lack of trust between the two, the doctor will not be able to treat the patient properly and the patient will never tell the doctor what is really wrong. Physician-assisted suicide will have the effect of ruining this doctor-patient relationship. To do this, it is.