Should Euthanasia be legalised in the UK?
Euthanasia is the deliberate killing of an ill person’s life in order to soothe them from the suffering the illness is causing. This act is usually conducted by people with terminal illness; however there are other incidents which lead to euthanasia. In the UK euthanasia is illegal similarly Islamic countries forbid any form of suicide as they believe in the sanctity of life whereas in other countries such as Belgium and Luxembourg this is not the case .Should a person in a lot of pain be allowed to commit suicide to relieve their suffering? And who has the right to deny a person a peaceful ending to their life and stop the suffering permanently? Euthanasia is a very controversial topic and those in favour argue that it’s the patients choice what they do with their life in cases of terminal illnesses the death is inevitable so what is the point in prolonging the process? Others argue that Voluntary euthanasia will eventually lead to involuntary euthanasia and the termination of people deemed as undesirable.
A strong ethical argument against the use of euthanasia is that, Lord Walton, chairman of a House of Lords committee looking into euthanasia says: “We concluded that it was virtually impossible to ensure that all acts of euthanasia were truly voluntary and that any liberalisation of the law in the United Kingdom could not be abused.” Since involuntary euthanasia is indistinguishable from murder it will be hard to identify and regulate murder cases as they can be passed off as involuntary euthanasia leading to the severity of murder as a crime being mediocre since people can escape the consequence using euthanasia. There is also concern that doctors are bestowed with too much power and...
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... used in other situations other than terminal illness is old age and being able to die with dignity before they are unable to go through with simple tasks such as going toilet alone, this is usually they don’t burden their families and retain pride.
In conclusion, there are many reason for both points of views, I personally disagree with the euthanasia as it is a controversial topic and the cons outweigh the pros. I however, agree with many arguments against euthanasia, such as the danger of it transgressing and becoming murder. I believe that voluntary euthanasia can cover up lots of criminal acts, such as murder which can create fear of doctors which comes with the power they have to kill you and get away with it. Allowing euthanasia contradicts the fact that doctors and nurses are supposed to save lives, and therefore I am against the legalisation of euthanasia.
In addition to lawfulness it is unethical. Doctors should not be given Legislative power to administer death since it can cause a slippery slope. For example, euthanasia is allowed in Netherlands for twenty three years and doctors have went from killing terminally ill who asks for it, to killing chronically ill who asks for it, and to newborn babies who are born with birth defects at their parents request. Furthermore, euthanasia might become the cost effective way treat people with terminal illness. For example, the patient might request euthanasia bec...
Euthanasia is defined as the act of assisting people with death in order to end their suffering, without the backing of a legal authority. There are two types of euthanasia that people consider: from the view of an outsider, the person is not in the shoes of someone experiencing extreme amounts of pain, someone may consider it wrong, but in reality the people “helping the patient with death” is generally doing the person a favor, because euthanasia is brought up by the patient. “Passive euthanasia occurs when the patient dies because the medical professionals either do not do something necessary to keep the patient alive or when they stop doing something that is keeping the patient alive.” (BBC, 2015) Examples include turning off life support machines, disconnecting a feeding tube, not doing a “life extending” operation, or not taking or giving life extending drugs. The American Hospital Association says that about 70 percent of the deaths that happen in hospitals happen after a decision has been made to withhold treatment. “Active euthanasia occurs when medical professionals, or other individual, deliberately does something that causes the patient to die.”( BBC, 2015). Euthanasia is often considered wrong either way, because when a person thinks about it, what is the real difference between stopping something that is keeping someone
Doctors become very powerful, when they can perform euthanasia on patients. In the Netherlands, there are a reported 4,000 cases of involuntary euthanasia, since 2012. This is disheartening because it is legal in this country. There are 900 cases a year reportedly in the United
If living persons become so ill that they cannot tolerate the pain they have a "right to die" to an escape from torment. So long as the right to die means not prolonging the life by undesireable treatment, it may be classified as rational suicide. The term "euthanasia" means "good health" or "well dying"; it is derived from the Greek "eu" and "thanatos". In its classical sense, it is a descriptive term referring to an easy death as opposed to an agonizing or tormented dying.
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
Euthanasia, as defined by the Encarta Encyclopedia, is the “practice of mercifully ending a person’s life in order to release the person from incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death” (Encarta, 2004). Euthanasia is a Greek word, which means “good death.” As humans, we understand death is something we cannot avoid but having some control over death is empowering and reassuring to us. If someone is suffering from a terminal illness, intolerable pain, or in a long-term coma, euthanasia is an acceptable option for someone to end his or her life. With the consent of their doctor(s) these people should be able to have the law on their side supporting their decisions.
For many years the topic of euthanasia caused a mixed reaction in society and it still does. Attention to the issue of euthanasia has increased with the development of social progress, and in particular with the technology to sustain seriously ill people. Relevance of this topic is difficult to overestimate, first, because it is associated with the most expensive a person has - his life, and secondly - because of poor knowledge of the euthanasia problem, lack of underlining it in the writings of scholars-lawyers. Doctors, psychologists, lawyers, religious figures and politicians constantly lead numerous debates upon this issue. However, euthanasia’s practice still has not found a clear common answer to the question of its justification.
Euthanasia is an action that result in the death of a person. There are four types of euthanasia, such as voluntary active euthanasia, nonvoluntary active euthanasia, voluntary passive euthanasia, and nonvoluntary passive euthanasia. Among the four types of euthanasia, voluntary active euthanasia or VAE is the most controversial ethical issue in the United States. It is the killing of a competent patient who decided to end his/her suffering by ending his/her life with the help of the physician. VAE is illegal in the Unites States; however, it is morally just. Voluntary active euthanasia is legitimately moral on the basis of Immanuel Kant’s human dignity, the utilitarian’s Greatest Happiness Principle, and James Rachel’s view of active euthanasia.
The debate on whether voluntary euthanasia should be legalized has been a controversial topic. Euthanasia is defined as ‘a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering’ [1]. Voluntary euthanasia refers to the patients who understand the terms in the consent and sign up under consciousness, while involuntary euthanasia is performed against patient's wishes and some people may regard it as a murder [1].
Our values, opinions and beliefs depend on what culture, religion and the society we come from. People who are against view euthanasia as murder and that we must respect the value of life. Those who are in favor of euthanasia believe that doing such act eliminates the patient’s pain and suffering. Also, the right to die allows the person to die with dignity. Euthanasia may involve taking a human’s life, but not all forms of killing are wrong nor consider as murder. It depends on the underlying reasons and intentions. If you value a person’s life and the cause of death is for the patient’s benefit and not one’s personal interest, then euthanasia is permissible.
Death is final. Some die naturally in a peaceful manner while others suffer through tremendous pain in order to get there. Euthanasia is the only way for some people to leave all their pain behind. Euthanasia is the act of killing another person in a merciful way. Of course, euthanasia has many more meaning to it than that. A person that is suffering from a terminal illness decides that life is not worth living because there is too much pain involved and ends his own life, would that be wrong of him? That is the question that is at hand.
My opponents and their followers “see it as a term of murder, killing those who are sick, infirm, or disabled, young and old alike, with or without their permission.” (Urofsky 22). They could even say that by allowing euthanasia, we could possibly be encouraging people that it is ok to end your own life when you see fit; inadvertently telling people it is okay to commit suicide. My opponent also believes that euthanasia should not be allowed as it allows doctors to play God with the lives of people who are ill.
Lastly, I support the idea of legalizing euthanasia because the patients own their bodies, and they can do anything with it. Even though the doctor is the one who put the patient to death in a process of euthanasia, the patient is the one who makes the decision to be “killed”, and therefore, euthanasia is a type of physician-assisted suicide, which is not any of other people business.
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.
Each form of euthanasia also has a set of arguments that accompany them. Some of the common pro euthanasia arguments are the right choice. The patient should be able to be given the option to make the decision to die and to do with dignity. The quality of life argument is another. This is when only the patient knows what it is like to have persistent unstoppable suffering, and pain. Even with pain relievers it is not enough. With the pro arguments comes the cons. The most common cons are guilty, slippery slope to murder, competence, and what the doctor’s role is in all of