Euthanasia, according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, is the act of intentionally ending a person’s life so as to help relieve suffering or pain. It can also be described as physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia is illegal in most places, however, there are a few states in the U.S. that allow it along with a few other countries around the world. The states it is legalized in are Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont. Countries outside the United States that have it legalized are Belgium, Colombia, India, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, and The Netherlands (NEWHEALTHGUIDE.org). The debate whether euthanasia should be legalized or not is active due to some believing that it is cruel and not right while others believe it is fine due to different …show more content…
When someone is terminally ill there is nothing doctors can do for them; they just suffer until their life comes to an end. There are people that believe physician-assisted suicide (euthanasia) benefits these people majorly. In the article “Why Active Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide Should be Legalized”, it is argued that if a doctor knows that the treatment they’re treating a patient with will not benefit them in any way, they should be able to remove all life sustaining treatments such as hydration and nutrition to end their suffering (BMJ). When someone who is terminally ill, such as a cancer patient, and knows they won’t make it then most of them don’t want to suffer. It would make them as possibly their family feel better to not suffer or see them suffer any longer. A second reason why people see euthanasia as something that should be legal is due to constitutional rights. In one article it says, “They argue that the right to die is protected by the same constitutional safeguards that guarantee such rights as marriage, procreation, and the refusal of termination of life-saving medical treatment” (ProCon.org). Some people view euthanasia as the right to die, and see it as equal to the right to do other things in life as well such as getting married. They think it should be legal because if being able to …show more content…
People have their opinion that it isn’t right and shouldn’t be legalized. One reason people believe euthanasia shouldn’t be legalized is because it’s morally wrong and it’s a doctor’s responsibility to keep their patients alive (Hippocratic Oath). People go to doctors to get help with feeling better when they’re sick; they don’t normally go to see a doctor because they want to die. Doctors are seen as people who help you and not assist in your dying which is why people are against euthanasia. A second reason euthanasia is a topic that people strongly feel shouldn’t exist is because a doctor assisting in someone’s suicide can easily be seen as murder. In an article about whether it should be legal or not it states that there’s a “slippery slope” between euthanasia to murder (ProCon.org). Typically, killing someone is murdering someone. This is why people who are against legalization say doctors are murdering their patients due to their assistance in their death. Objectors to the topic feel it should be illegal for doctors to assist in death in any way whether it’s by medicine or something else that would cause them to die. The last reason people think that euthanasia should be illegal is because people dying helps insurance companies. In an article from ProCon.org, it states “...legalizing euthanasia will unfairly target the poor and disabled and create incentives for insurance companies to
Euthanasia is one of the most complicated issues in the medical field due to the debate of whether or not it is morally right. Today, the lives of many patients can be saved with the latest discoveries in medicine and technology. But we are still unable to find cures to all illnesses, and patients have to go through extremely painful treatments only to live a little bit longer. These patients struggle with physical and psychological pain. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the topic of just and unjust laws in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” which brings into question whether it is just to kill a patient who is suffering or unjust to take that person’s life even if that person is suffering. In my opinion people should have the right, with certain restrictions, to end their lives in the way they see fit if they are suffering from endless pain.
...le pain to both the patient and to their families. One procedure, known as Physician-Assisted suicide, alleviates suffering by having a physician provide a patient the means to painlessly kill him or herself. This procedure however, remains controversial and illegal in many states. This is unfair to patients who wish to be assisted in seeking death and escaping their terminal illness. Despite all of the benefits that are brought about because of Physician-Assisted suicide, people across America still seek to ban the practice because it clashes with personal moral and ethical beliefs. Although many people disagree with the procedure of Physician-Assisted suicide, it should still become legal because it alleviates suffering, allows patients to die in a dignified manner, and allows people to take control of the ultimate choice, death, away from their terminal illness.
In life, people encounter many roads; some are pleasant, and others harsh. Humans, just like all other species in the world, have many obstacles in life, and a decision has to be made whether you will continue to struggle, and keep on living, or if you have made it as far as you will go, and end it all. When it comes to assisted suicide, there should be some regulation that the government enforces solely for the protection of the patient. A person who is terminally ill should have the right to go to a doctor who performs euthanasia, and have him or her assist them in ending their life in a peaceful, pain-free way. There are many people in the United States who would agree that a patient who is terminally ill should have the option to die with the help of their doctor, but just as in any other topic, there are also those who oppose it.
Death is not a concept that is well grasped or understood but we all know the cycle of life, we live and we die. We do not know how and we do not know when, our fate is laid out for us, we just learn to accept it because it is just how it goes. Some are lucky enough to live a healthy life with few to none complications and some find themselves fighting for their lives because of a terminating illness or severely injured from any type of accident. In an act of pain, torture, agony and knowing there is no hope for survival why can it not be you that has the upper hand in deciding when it is time to say goodbye.
Euthanasia is a private decision that has to be made in unbearable times. It also is a controversial topic in which people on both sides seem to want their will put on the rest of society. One thing we have to keep in mind here is unless you are facing the decision yourself than it is very difficult to say what should happen.
Euthanasia is an unnatural way to die. It is assisted suicide. ¨Shouldn’t it be called murder?¨ No because it’s the person’s way to decide if they want to die, but doctors should have regulations. They shouldn’t be euthanized if they are just depressed. They should use it if it is an incurable disease and the person is in a lot of pain and suffering. To be honest, it is illegal for a reason. If it was legal in all 50 states there would be alot of euthanizations in the united states. Its unnatural because doctors prescribe medicine for you to die. And instead of living
The term Euthanasia is derived from Greek, meaning good death. Taken in its common usage however, euthanasia refers to the termination of a person’s life, to end their suffering, usually from an incurable or terminal condition. It is for this reason that euthanasia was also coined the name “mercy killing”. Another type of euthanasia is Active Euthanasia refers to the deliberate act, usually through the intentional administration of lethal drugs, to end an incurably or terminally ill patient’s life. ("The Ethics of Euthanasia.") The earliest recorded date of euthanasia is dated back to 5th century B.C.-1st Century B.C. In ancient Greece and Rome, before the coming of Christianity, attitudes towards active euthanasia and suicide tended to be
Euthanasia is the fact of ending somebody’s life when assisting him to die peacefully without pain. In most cases, it is a process that leads to end the suffering of human beings due to disease or illness. A person other than the patient is responsible for the act of euthanasia; for example a medical provider who gives the patient the shot that must kill him. When people sign a consent form to have euthanasia, it is considered voluntary, involuntary euthanasia is when they refuse. When people are not alert and oriented they are not allowed to sign any consent including the consent to euthanasia. When euthanasia is practiced in such situation, it is a non-voluntary euthanasia. In sum, people who practice voluntary euthanasia in honoring other
Euthanasia is debated globally about whether or not it should be illegal or become legalized. Some will say that it is wrong, that it is taking the life of a human being; however, others will say that it is just taking the life of a human who is already terminally ill, and suffering. Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Columbia, and Luxemburg. Assisted suicide; which is another form of euthanasia is legal in Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Canada, and in some parts of the U.S: Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Montana, and California. Despite many beliefs of euthanasia being morally wrong, it provides terminally ill patients an alternative to the painful suffering they are to experience before their death.
Doctors prefer to never have to euthanize a patient. It is a contradiction of everything they have been taught for a doctor to euthanize someone, because a doctor’s job is to do everything in their power to keep the patient alive, not assist them in suicide. The majority of doctors who specialize in palliative care, a field focused on quality of life for patients with severe and terminal illnesses, think legalizing assisted suicide is very unnecessary. This is due to the fact that if patients do not kill themselves, they will end up dying on a ventilator in the hospital under the best possible care available, with people around them trying to keep them as comfortable as possible. Legalized euthanasia everywhere has been compared to going down a slippery slope. Officials believe that it could be done over excessively and the fear of assisted suicide numbers rising greatly is a great fear. This is why euthanasia is such a controversial subject worldwide. But, even though it is a very controversial subject, euthanasia is humane. Every doctor also has a say in whether or not they choose to euthanize a patient or not, leaving only the doctors who are willing to do this type of practice, for euthanizing patients. Medicine and drugs prescribed by a doctor for pain or suffering can not always help a person to the extent they desire, even with the help of doctors
As patients come closer to the end of their lives, certain organs stop performing as well as they use to. People are unable to do simple tasks like putting on clothes, going to the restroom without assistance, eat on our own, and sometimes even breathe without the help of a machine. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. “Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations, Medical practioners should be allowed to help patients actively determine the time and circumstances of their death” (Lee). “Arguments for and against assisted suicide (sometimes called the “right to die” debate) are complicated by the fact that they come from very many different points of view: medical issues, ethical issues, legal issues, religious issues, and social issues all play a part in shaping people’s opinions on the subject” (Lee). Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is considered murder, it goes against physicians’ Hippocratic Oath, violates the Controlled
Others will argue that if a patient is terminally ill, they are not in the correct mindset to make that decision. Although, what opposers fail to recognize or acknowledge is what the person is going through. Like how I mentioned earlier that the pain they are experiencing is unimaginable. When you are in pain, you want it to be over as soon as possible. We all know when enough is enough. This kind of pain is prolonged and more severe like the heart racing. There are other ways for stopping pain, minimal pain, but this pain is way too severe to stop with some medication. The only way to stop it is to end it all at
Euthanasia, according to the dictionary, means the killing of a person who is suffering from an incurable disease. Lately, it had been a huge debate over whether euthanasia should be legalized or not. Personally, I believe that euthanasia should be legalized if it is voluntary. I have three reasons for my argument.
Euthanasia is a medical procedure which speeds up the process of dying for people with incurable, painful, or distressing diseases. The patient’s doctor can stop treatment and instead let them die from their illness. It come from the Greek words for 'good' and 'death', and is also called mercy killing. Euthanasia is illegal in most countries including the UK . If you suffer from an incurable disease, you cannot legally terminate your life. However, in a number of European countries it is possible to go to a clinic which will assist you to die gracefully under some very strict circumstances.
Euthanasia is the process of killing a patient with the intention of relieving their suffering and pain. It is also commonly known as mercy killing, and many often do not agree with it most especially in cases where a terminal illness is not inclusive. While euthanasia has been legalized in certain states in the United States such as Oregon, a lot of opposition has arisen as to whom so legible to receiving this treatment.