When he was three years old, Dan Crews of Antioch, Ill. suffered a serious car accident. Crews is paralyzed from the neck down, and although he can speak and eat, he requires constant medical aid in order to breathe. For 23 years he has lived in his bed with nothing to do but watch television and imagine what it might be like to participate in a world that he can only observe. According to an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Crews feels that he has ""no friends."" ""I have no education. No education prospects. No job prospects. I have no love prospects,"" he said. ""All I want is to no longer live like this.""
Crews wants to die.
But his wish faces opposition from his caregivers at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, Wis. Froedtert has continually refused Crews' request for assisted suicide on the basis that his depression must first be treated before taking such a drastic step.
Treat his depression? Good luck. Put yourself in Dan's shoes for a week and then imagine what that might be like for 23 years. His devastating accident has no doubt made his life insufferably difficult, and sadly little hope remains for his situation to change.
Complicating the situation is a lack of funding for his 24-hour care. Crews was awarded $4 million in settlement money at the time of his accident, enough funding for only twenty years of care. His disability is a heavy financial burden upon his family, and some worry that economic motivations might be pressuring his decision.
The controversy surrounding Crews' situation reflects a long-standing debate over the inalienable rights of American citizens, and whether assisted suicide and euthanasia should be legal. The debate has garnered more attention in recent years thanks in part to the Terri Schiavo case in 2005 and the 2010 HBO film ""You Don't Know Jack""—a film in which Al Pacino recreates the life of the infamous right-to-die activist Jack Kevorkian.
So does Dan Crews have the right to die? The answer has great significance not only to our individual rights as citizens, but also to the overbearing power of the government. If our independence was founded upon the universal rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then the assisted suicide of any suffering individual can be considered an act of patriotism. Americans should have the right to end their life in the pursuit of happiness, and should maintain the liberty to do so.
Assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington and Montana, but progress in legislation on the matter is slow to develop across the United States. Euthanasia, or the direct killing of a patient by another individual, remains illegal in all 50 states, yet the refusal of life-sustaining medical procedures remains legal across the country.
Such slow development is a result of public fear, generally due to worries of abuse, the devaluation of human life and religious moral values. While such social barriers needlessly extend the suffering of competent, death-seeking individuals, slow progress is probably good. Heavy debate and careful progress will help lead to more responsible legislation that grants the inalienable right of life and death to the individual, while simultaneously addressing the possible complications and consequences of such change.
But make no mistake: The right to end one's life is our most basic human entitlement. We abide by the laws of our government in return for the protection of our life, liberty and property via a social contract. This protection, however, is from others, not from ourselves. As long as our actions do not impede upon the life, liberty and property of another, the government has no business interfering.
Dan Crews has suffered an extremely difficult life, and I have no doubt that we would all wish for him to find happiness and meaning. But the quality of his life is not for us to decide. If Crews believes he can find happiness in death, then that is his choice. The development of legislation to guarantee such a basic right of human existence will prove to be one of our most difficult social battles, and also one of the most important.
Miles Kellerman is a sophomore with an undecided major. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
