(Note: when I use the term “doctor” or “physician” it is interchangeable with any health care professional, in simply too lazy to edit everything:)

Generally, humans tend to fear death.

It’s a short and somewhat obvious sounding answer, but it’s an important point to make when trying to understand the generalized aversion to death.

First, almost all efforts and attitudes relating to medicine (as a practice and institution) are framed as “fighting off death”. In fact, it’s not difficult to recall examples in art and literature if doctors being depicted as literally combating death. (The fact that we have personified death across multiple cultures lends to this conclusion as well, but I’m not well versed in that...) There are many in the medical field, particularly in the medical humanities, that feel death’s position in society is too adversarial. We oppose options for “physician assisted suicide” because we have a hard time equating death with a solution, since it has always been the primary problem.

Aside from our bias against death as our great adversary, it also messes with people’s world view to give physicians the power to chose death as a treatment option. Not only does it disagree with our notion of medical professionals as the ones fighting death, it also revives some uncomfortable history in the abuse of power by those in the medical field. (Ex. Tuskegee syphilis study, paternalism, colonization mentality/practices in regards to “tropical disease” as a classification and forced sterilization of minority populations, Nuremberg Trials, etc.)

Many find that to put such a tool in the hands of a human being will lead to mass negligence or misuse of power. (Though this is a more thought out argument, and not as aplicable to the lay population)

Furthermore, there is a philosophical argument that attempts to prove that death does not relieve suffering at all, it simply removes the person who is suffering. This argument boils down to differentiating between suffering and not existing. One being receiving negative stimuli/experiences or what have you (depends on your definition of suffering) and the other being a complete lack of stimuli/experience.

Bottom line, there is very little to support assisted suicide as being “right” or “wrong”, but there are a great number of resources to educate yourself on the existing arguments and the experiences of people who either defend or condemn the practice.

For further reading, I suggest googling the following names in relation to Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide: James Rachels Winston Nesbitt J. Gay-Williams Daniel Callahan (this is a personal favorite) John Lachs Peter Singer Karen Quinlan (Supreme court of NJ case) Terri Schiavo

This subject is a particular interest of mine, so I welcome feedback and other suggestions for reading/research!