Right To Die Persuasive Essay: The Right To Die

Elizabeth Chen
Mrs. Dalton
English Report
08 February 2016
The Right to Die The word euthanasia is derived from the Greek words “eu thanatos,” meaning good or easy death. It refers to the act of purposely ending the life of a person with an incurable, terminal, or painful illness or in an irreversible coma. Also known as mercy killing, the process has two different procedures- passive and active- and can be correlated with physician assisted death. Naturally, this practice is highly controversial and illegal in most countries as it deals with a person dying prematurely. But in the case of a patient in a terminal situation, euthanasia should be made legal so as to allow the person a painless death, instead of one marked with suffering. The
She was a teenage girl who drank gin-and-tonics and swallowed tranquilizers. Soon after, she lapsed into a coma. The doctors believed her brain damage was caused by the lack of oxygen and that it was irreversible; however, they could not give the exact reason she stopped breathing. After placing her on a respirator, she moved into a “fetal position,” with her arms and legs drawn underneath her tightly. Because of this, her family hoped she would come out of the coma, but the brain damage simple progressed and they lost hope after a few weeks. Her father noted that even though she was kept alive by the machine, she wasn’t really living and was basically a vegetable. He signed a release for her to be taken off the respirator, but the doctors refused to follow through. Because of controversial beliefs over the legal definition of death and patients’ rights at that time, Quinlan’s request was not granted. It was only after a year that the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected the lower court’s decision and allowed the father to decide whether or not Karen would be removed from the machine. However, when she finally was taken off the respirator, she breathed on her own. Karen lived the remainder of her life in comatose and fed through a tube until she died of pneumonia at thirty-one years of age. (Karen Ann Quinlan Case and the Right to Die) It is for cases such as these that euthanasia should be made legal. After all, Karen never did wake up, and her life in the vegetable state was artificially extended for a decade, only dying due to an illness at the end. For other patients like her, with no hope of being cured, euthanasia is seen as a painless exit from suffering. In this case, would it not be justified to free them from their cruel fate? How could forcing a person to continue to live in unending distress and pain be considered ethical or moral? Furthermore, many people state their stance