UCLA Library

Suicide can be defined as either the decision to die when death is not imminent, or the choice to die in the circumstances of an already fatal and severely debilitating disease. End-of-life decision making has become more and more intertwined with the modern medical practice, as interest in assisted suicide has continually grown all over the world, especially in first-world countries that have high standards of medical care. Paradoxically, increasing focus on assisted suicide parallels the expanding capabilities of modern medicinal technologies to preserve life in situations of imminent death. It is evident that public policy and legal issues are closely tied with ethical problems posed by the relevant practice, and similarities surrounding the problems underlying the practice of assisted suicide are common to many countries. However, due to a variety of historical, cultural and political factors, the legal responses vary between these first-world countries in regards to the treatment of assisted suicide. The controversial topic results in responses that oscillate between the Hippocratic tradition that forbids any physician to actively bring about the death of a patient to legislation allowing assisted suicide as part of a legally protected patient right. Amidst the variety of legislative action and numerous rights-based arguments presented by both sides of the debate, it is evident that some form of legalization of assisted suicide is necessary, and should be allowed for not only patients who are in terminal conditions. Ultimately, criminal law should not dictate nor prohibit private, personal, and final choices in regards to ending one’s own life.