Euthanasia/Physician Assisted Suicide Should Not be Legalized

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Recommended: Ethical, moral and legal implications of euthanasia

I. Introduction

An admired man, loved and respected by his family, was burdened with a life or death situation; his. At the age of 72, this man was diagnosed with cancer and being middle class, the costs of treatment seemed more painful than the cancer itself. He was distressed with the thought of putting his family through financial hardships. Living in Oregon, with the Measure 16 law just passing for the legalizing of euthanasia, he felt he had no other choice. Knowing his family would disagree, he decided to ask for his doctors’ advice. The doctor knowing he would receive a cash bonus and be financially better off if he did not provide patient care advised the modest man to be euthanized. He took his doctors advice and there was nothing that would change his mind from what he thought would be the best thing for his family. Still grieving his loss till today, his family will never forget how euthanasia murdered that beloved man, my grandfather. Euthanasia/Physician assisted suicide should not be legalized in the United States. The definition of murder is “killing intentionally and with premeditation”, how is euthanasia any different? (Miller) Not only is it morally wrong, but logically and ethically as well. Human life is not anyone’s to take and destroying it is devaluing a gift given to us. “Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death among Americans” and making it lawful would only move it closer to 1st. (Krug EG)

Reason 1: Legalizing Voluntary Euthanasia will lead to Involuntary Euthanasia

Euthanasia classifies murder as good instead of bad. Controversy about the right to die leads to worry about whether voluntary euthanasia will lead to involuntary euthanasia in a debate entitled the “slippery slope argument”. (Wesley ...

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Krug EG, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, Zwi AB, Lozano R, editors. World report on violence and health [serial online]. 2004 May. [cited 2006 Aug 9]. Available from: URL: www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/wrvh1/en

Miller, George A.. WordNet a lexical database for the English language . Princeton University. 14 Nov 2008 .

United States. National Archives and Records Administration. The Bill of Rights 29 Jan. 1998. 10 Oct. 2005 charters_of_freedom/bill_of_rights/bill_of_rights.html>. United States. U.S. Census Bureau. Poverty in the United States: 1998. Sept. 1999. 12 Nov. 1999 .

Wesley , Smith, JD. Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America. 1st. San Francisco, CA: ENCOUNTER BOOKS, 2000.

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