Pain is universal. In life, everyone will feel pain; it is inevitable and cruel. Physical or emotional, insignificant or serious, it's there. The pain continues to grow until it becomes an unbearable amount of suffering. The suffering that erases everything that is worthwhile, such as family, love, aspirations and optimism. Despair takes over any will to resist. Without any way to ease or control the pain, people often go to extremes to get rid of it. Many take their own lives to escape the horror. Committing suicide is a traumatizing experience for everyone involved. Life is precious. The chance to live is given only once and cannot be taken for granted. Preventing even a single life from ending prematurely is imperative and obligatory for everyone. Suicide can never be an option. Why then is it acceptable as an alternative treatment for serious medical conditions? Physician-assisted suicide has a negative impact on those involved and is unethical. In 2007, the American Geriatrics Society defined physician-assisted suicide as “When a physician provides equipment or medications, or informs the patient of the most effective use of medications already available, for the purpose of helping the patient end the own life” (qtd. in Lachman 121). Doctor-assisted suicide is what it says, suicide. In the United States the controversy over the “Right to Die” is not new. According to Vicki D. Lachman, associate clinical professor, after the 1997 Supreme Court decision, it was established that there is no constitutional right to die. The Supreme Court allows states to pass laws to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Since then three states, Oregon, Washington, and Montana, have made it legal to perform Phy...... middle of paper ......urses 19.2 (2010): 121-125. MEDLINE. EBSCO. Network. September 27, 2011.Linda Ganzini, et al. “Quality of Death and Dying in Patients Requesting Physician-Assisted Death.” Journal of Palliative Medicine 14.4 (2011): 445-450. Premier of academic research. EBSCO. Network. September 27, 2011.Luc Deliens, et al. "The role of nurses in medically assisted deaths in Belgium". CMAJ: Journal of the Canadian Medical Association 182.9 (2010): 905-910. Premier of academic research. EBSCO. Network. September 28, 2011.Stevens Jr., Kenneth R. “Emotional and Psychological Effects of Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia on Participating Physicians.” Problems of Law and Medicine 21.3 (2006): 187-200. Premier corporate source. EBSCO. Network. September 28, 2011. Sullivan, Stephen. "The Right to Die: A Discussion of 'Rational Suicide'." Mental Health Practice 14.6 (2011): 32-34. Premier of academic research. EBSCO. Network. September 27. 2011.