Persuasive Essay On Euthanasia

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Euthanasia refers to the idea of a person having an assisted and painless death. Also referred to as “mercy killing”, euthanasia has recently been legalized for children - people under the age of 18 - in Belgium. The most debated point, in my opinion, should be whether or not a child has a deep enough understanding of the gravity of their decision. A child suffering from a minor illness that has a possibility of being cured may still make the on-the-spot decision to end their life there and then, without giving it a second thought. Although their parents might disagree with them, the decision will still be entirely theirs, and the child might not make a logical decision. Although I disagree with children making the decision to humanely end their own life, I do think that euthanization should be available for those who are brain dead, or with a terminal disease that causes pain. I believe that euthanasia should be legalized for people with extreme conditions, and only if they have discussed it with another person beforehand. For example, Tony Nicklinson should have had the option of euthanization open to him, because it’s what he had wanted for over 5 years. Personally, forcing Mr Nicklinson to live in the way that’s most difficult for him is more inhumane than ending his suffering. His is essentially being forced to ask his wife to end his life for him, and it’s not possible for her to do it as quickly and painlessly as it could be. The emotional and mental strain on his wife would also cause a lot of issues on her part, and she might go into a depressive phase. While active euthanasia involves the deliberate ending of a patient’s life, passive euthanasia occurs when a necessary treatment process is simply not performed by med... ... middle of paper ... ...t people who want to live might be killed. Anti-euthanasia arguments generally express the similar concern of whether there is a difference between killing a person painlessly, and letting them die of their own accord. However, people also argue that the patient has the right to choose their own death, as human rights imply that we have the right to die. Overall I think that euthanasia should only be legalized for people with a terminal disease, or one that is causing unnecessary or unbearable pain to the victim. Being a Catholic, I don’t think the idea of killing someone - whether painlessly or not - is something to be encouraged, and I think that people will attempt, and sometimes succeed in abusing the legalization of euthanasia. However I also think that preventing a person from suffering more than necessary is better than denying their wish to die painlessly.

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