Ethics of Euthanasia

Euthanasia One of the most hotly debated topics going on through the government is the one concerning the ethics of euthanasia also known as assisted suicide. Euthanasia comes from the Greek language meaning ‘Good death’. Euthanasia is suicide, but with the help of a doctor. The government and people argue about whether it should be legalized or not, this is because it can be seen as unethical and it taking the ills life.

I think assisted suicide should be legal because we have the right and moral obligation to euthanize our beloved pets when they are suffering and in pain... why are we not morally obligated to provide the same options for ourselves and our loved ones who have no quality of life? Euthanasia fascinates me because not much people of my age are aware of what it is exactly and how much that it could actually help out in the society if it was to be legalized. Euthanasia should be legalized we have ‘the peoples rights’, it cost more to keep someone on life support and it is a way out of unnecessary suffering for the ill.

I was interested in researching this topic because I don’t think this topic gets as much attention as I think it should. I am all for assisted suicide and believe people should not be denied their wishes when they want to end their pain when they are terminally ill. However, I was open to learning more about the opposite stance and what the reasons for opposition were. Which I understand that some people are not for euthanasia, but with you reading my essay I hope to persuade you to take in some of my ideas that I will explain to you throughout my paper.

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I wondered how someone could just deny the peoples right of wanting to pass when they are terminally ill. There are two main kinds of euthanasia; one is voluntary euthanasia which refers to the action taken by the physician and the patient, who both agree to end the patient's life with an informed consent. Then there is involuntary euthanasia that refers to a third party taking a patient's life without the informed consent (like putting and animal down). There are more people for euthanasia than what I expected there too be.

This graph shows the debate on whether people are for or against euthanasia. They selected random people and were asked whether they were for euthanasia becoming legal or not. Euthanasia should be legal to save the terminally ill from the unnecessary suffering they face and the families of the terminally ill. We all have our rights being an American, but our country sometimes does not agree with those rights like wanting the right to die. Being an American we should enjoy a right guaranteed in the European Declaration of Human Rights, the right not to be forced to suffer.

People who are terminally ill and know there is no life to look forward to should not have to live everyday suffering and make their family suffer with them by watching them, if they want to die by assisted suicide they should be allowed that right and not deny it. I feel like if it was my family member suffering I would suffer watching them suffer and I don’t think that’s fair to me or my family. We use euthanasia on our animals as an act of kindness why can we give humans the same act of kindness and with their consent?

Keeping someone alive against their will in my book is morally wrong, and assisted suicide should be legal for those that consent to die that way. People who do not understand the concept of what euthanasia is see it as being morally wrong. The government has set laws against euthanasia because they think they are trying to prevent abuse and to protect the people. People who are against euthanasia see it as an easy way out of their suffering. Most of us who do not understand what euthanasia is fully do not understand why it should be legal, and that when they hear “suicide” they automatically think “bad”.

Euthanasia is not about the right to die it is about the right to kill. I think the main argument for the support of euthanasia and assisted suicide is that people should have the right to control their life and death, and should be able to end their lives when they wish. People who are terminally ill tend to be on a machine to keep them alive. In this fact of matter is the doctor or the nurses are playing god to their patients by keeping them alive, on a machine. I think we should be able to play god for once and choose our death.

For example someone with ALS who is on a machine breathing for them, the machine is keeping them alive and being their god. Why can’t they be their own god and decided if they want to die by assisted suicide? Keeping someone alive and playing god for them isn’t the ethical thing to do. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, better known as "Dr. Death" was one doctor known as playing the role of “god”. Dr Jack Kevorkian was the only doctor to let people have their dying wish. This is a passage from Terry Youk; Jack Kevorkian helped terry’s brother with assisted suicide. I of course felt that Jack [Kevorkian] never should have gone to prison I don't believe that the medical service that he provided my brother and others is a crime. I think people look back and see that Jack was the only person that was willing to stand up during a divisive time and fight for what should be a right for all human beings to have choices at the end of their life. I think Jack provided for people that had fallen through the cracks of the health care system a way to die with some peace and dignity. Ultimately, Jack Kevorkian was our only option... I am very grateful to Jack Kevorkian.

I feel like he was a compassionate practitioner for my brother at the end of his life. " Feb. 25, 2009 - Terry Youk. I think people should be their own god and choose their own path to death even if it means euthanasia it’s their choice and their consent. With this comes the cost of keeping someone on life support or a machine to help them breath. Life support can cost between $9,000 to $15,000 a year. Drugs for assisted suicide cost up to $45 for each death. So it’s cheaper to let someone die by assisted suicide and have their consent than to keep them on life support.

The counter argument for this is clear that people who are not for the legalization of assisted suicide say that the only person that can play god is god himself. God is the only one who can make the decision on when the right time for us to die is. People think that assisted suicide is morally wrong and god has planned their life to be that way and lived that way. They say that god plans out your life for a certain reason and you should just live the way he has made it for you, even if that means suffering.

This is a religious view of why euthanasia should not be legalized. Certain religions think that if you choose euthanasia you will go to hell because god did not seek this out to be their path. “I am dying. There’s no sense and trying to deny that fact”. This is a quote is from Craig Ewert a patient that decided to die by euthanasia. Craig had ALS and decided he didn’t want to live a life where he couldn’t do anything for himself so he passed with assisted suicide. The way he died was the doctor provided him medicine to drink that would stop his heart.

Assisted suicide may not be right in some people’s mind, but in reality the one choosing euthanasia isn’t harming anyone because it is their life and they should be in control of what they do without being judged. Euthanasia is a highly debated subject when it is talked about. Euthanasia should be legal to perform in the United States to end the suffering of the terminally ill, that do not want to live a life where they can’t do anything but suffer and watch the ones they love suffer because they are suffering.

Making it legal also gives us more of a people’s choice and us to play or own god and not have someone else make the decisions for us. Euthanasia in my point of view should be legal because it is morally wrong to deny someone their wish in dying and taking their rights from them.

Work Cited

1. International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide "Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Frequently Asked Questions," www. internationaltaskforce. org, Jan. 2010
2. "Frequently Asked Questions," www. nternationaltaskforce. org (accessed May 27, 2010)
3. "Statement on Euthanasia," on www. usccb. org, Sep. 12, 1991
4. “ Terry Youk,” http://euthanasia. procon. org/view. source. php? sourceID=009779 , April 28th. 2010 Stephanie Clayton.
5. "This House Believes that assisted suicide should be legalized. " idebate. org. 16 Feb 2012. idebate. org, Web. 26 Oct 2012.
6. http://idebate. org/debatabase/debates/philosophy/house-believes-assisted-suicide-should-be-legalized

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