Euthanasia has to do with the quality of life, dependency, personal beliefs, suffering, morality, and death itself. The practice of euthanasia is illegal in most countries. According to the site http://members.tripod.com, there are three basic types of euthanasia: voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary active or passive. Everyone deserves respect and the power to control their own destiny. There are medical, religious and ethical arguments about euthanasia.
The issue of euthanasia has been on the media's forefront for several years. There are several pros and cons to this issue. With an assisted suicide a person and his or her family can be relieved of the agony of the illness. According to the Newsweek magazine from last January, some people have suggested that we legalize physician-assisted suicide in California. They argue that we should find death before it finds us, and that the right to die is the right-to-choose. On the other hand, if killing sick people began legal, then people may die simply because they have become a burden. One of the very important things about euthanasia is that it keeps people from suffering like family members, and also the person. If they are choosing euthanasia is because they are experiencing a lot of painful and traumatic illnesses and is it is better to practice euthanasia when there is no cure for them.
It bothers me just to think that someone would kill his or her loved ones, but sometimes is the only way when dead is the one which is extended, and life is hidden with machines making terminally ill patients into prisoners of technology. People should have the right to take their lives if they are totally dependent on others or machines. I feel a person is entitled to
that choice.
Supporters of euthanasia hold autonomy, individuality, and self-determination as their highest values. I think that voluntary euthanasia should be permitted and unnatural death should not be considered unethical or suicide. A person's life and body are their own business. I think we should legalize Euthanasia. We live in a democratic society where we are free to make these decisions.
The assistance by a doctor is not euthanasia, but a relief of pain administered by a doctor. There is an injection to make the patient comatose, followed by a second injection to stop the heart (www.euthanasia.org/dutch.html). This circumstance is obviously one in which the patient is destined to death and is in pain. Euthanasia affects not only the person who dies, but other family, friends and those doctors or individuals who help make that decision.
In the Non-Voluntary Euthanasia cases, the decision is not made by the person who is going to die. The patient must be an infant, very old, mentally impaired, very ill physically and mentally, unconscious, or not competent to make such decision. Is euthanasia ethical? According to religious organizations, some fear that the act will be the first step to a society who will kill elderly or disabled people against their will. If voluntary euthanasia were to become legal, it would not be long before involuntary euthanasia would start to happen. But only the voluntary should be legalized.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, in an entry last updated on Feb. 19, 2007, defines voluntary euthanasia in the following way:"Those instances of euthanasia in which a clearly competent person makes a voluntary and enduring request to be helped to die." Should voluntary euthanasia be legalized? If the lack of money or health insurance exists, why not? Having to lay in bed twenty-four hours a day is no way to live a life. Voluntary euthanasia is when the patient requests that he wants to die by the drug. Someone argue that euthanasia can release pain of patients and it is a mercy way for those who are near death. Should people have the choice to end their own life? The main reason for euthanasia would have to reside upon the unbearable pain of the patient. I believe people should never take the fast way to end their lives, but should be their decision in a extreme case. Some people can just commit suicide without any help. If is legalized, they can say good bye to the loved ones. Let people die in peace, rather than suffering to the end. I am talking about a terminally ill patient’s life that should be ended at his /her request. People shouldn't just give up on life; they should live it out to the end, but when they are sure that the end is very near, why not evict the worst phase of life? Death is an unavoidable event and happens to everyone.
Passive euthanasia, on the other hand, is rarely debated and usually never enters the mind's eye because it is typically looked at as letting someone die naturally. There are many cases in which euthanasia is acceptable. Brain death is one situation. Not one person should have to suffer from a disease that is incurable and leads inevitably to death. Death in dignity is a very important part of life. Euthanasia allows this to happen.
Active euthanasia is a cowardly thing to do because it is like giving up on life as soon as something goes wrong. Is it not better to attempt to keep them alive and they still die a natural death than to not try and give up all hope on our loved ones? My argument is that the person can be sick for twenty years, lying in the hospital bed coupled to machines. After time, this won't be the person that you knew and loved.
Dr. Neil Campbell, author of "A Problem for the Idea of Voluntary Euthanasia," questions whether there can be a such thing as voluntary euthanasia. Euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide, is the intentional termination of life by another at the explicit request of the person who dies. Dr. Campbell's main argument is that "if the pain and suffering are by definition unbearable, then it seems clear enough that the decision to die is not freely chosen but is compelled by the pain." Dr. Campbell, a Seasonal Instructor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary, believes there is no clear cut way to differentiate between "voluntary" and "involuntary" euthanasia under certain conditions. Involuntary euthanasia is when the person who is killed made an expressed wish to the contrary. This is really hard, but some cases such as coma or in a very young baby case, is necessary to make the decision.
Somebody said to me once that euthanasia was bad because it messes with God's will, and I argued that if that were true then keeping people alive with machines was also messing with God's will, and is just as unnatural. People who have experienced this case say that euthanasia is the best option for the patient and the family. People should have the right to end one’s life in a peaceful, dignified manner.
One of the biggest controversies of this decade is euthanasia, is a struggle that involves different points of view. I strongly believe that everyone has the right to choose how to die, if the person is very sick. There are so many different arguments possible on each side of the case; such as it's the people right to choose to pass on or it’s ethically wrong to do this. In either case, active or passive, the victim will die.
No comments:
Post a Comment