Argumentative Essay On Mercy Killing

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Mercy killing, also known as controlled suicide or euthanasia occurs when a person ends another person’s life intentionally. Among the reasons is that they believe that it is in their best interest to alleviate pain and suffering from a patient suffering from an incurable disease. The term is used to describe both situations when a person asked their life to be ended and when they never asked. Under the current law, any person who ends another person’s life can be charged with murder and also face mandatory life imprisonment if found guilty. However, mercy killing has long been used to justify euthanasia when the perpetrator is considered to have acted out to free the person from suffering. This creates a conflict over whether the accused are mercy killers who deserve compassion from the courts or whether they are murderers who should be prosecuted and convicted . Many ethicists would justify the action since the ultimate motive was good, but others would say that while the ultimate motive was to stop the person from suffering, no person has the right to kill so as to achieve that end. The paper discusses …show more content…

In history, it has been used differently. However, in the recent times, the concept has come under the spotlight due to technicization of medicine. There are other compounding factors which have pressed the problem in the contemporary society. First, there has been a shift in the understanding and perception of death. Death has been depersonalized and technicized. In addition, focus on human dignity and acknowledgment of people’s interdependence have given rise to new sensitivities in the form of increased manifestation of compassion and solidarity in the society. This has not only given rise to the distribution of health resources and justice, but also supported the idea of euthanasia which is a means of restoring clarity and finality of death which has been protracted by final medicine

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