Persuasive Essay: The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia

Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering of any individual from an incurable disease. People who are against euthanasia believe that any individual suffering from an incurable disease should not be given the ability to end their suffering. According to Sherif Emil, “Legalizing euthanasia can become a slippery slope” (Emil). In other word, euthanasia will open the doors to those that will mistreat it and will cause a great amount of increase in deaths. But many for euthanasia would certainly take issue with the argument that it will not be a slippery slope but, that it will give the right to end the life of a terminal ill patient who is going to die a painful death. I disagree

For instance, in the Netherlands, they must follow strict guidelines to be considered for euthanasia. These guidelines include: The request for euthanasia must come from the patient and be completely voluntary, well considered, and persistent. The patient must have adequate information about his or her medical condition, the prognosis, and alternative treatments. There must be intolerable suffering with no prospect for improvement, although the patient need not be terminally ill. Other alternatives to alleviate the suffering must have been considered and found ineffective, unreasonable, and unacceptable to the patient. The euthanasia must be performed by a physician who has consulted an independent colleague. The physician must exercise due care, and there should be a written record of the case. And the death must not be reported to the medical examiner as a natural death. With guidelines like these, no one would be able to mistreat euthanasia or take advantage of

Suicide and assisted suicide is often viewed as the most logical choice when faced with these circumstances. As far back as the 16th Century, people have been arguing for the terminally ill to be aided in ending life by physicians who should not be held morally or legally to blame for assisting the individual. The beginning of the 21rst Century saw many bills supporting the use of euthanasia proposed in many Western legislatures with little to no success. The fact is that everyone is going to die, the only question that remains to be answered is when, how, and under what conditions. Supporters of euthanasia state that everyone should have the same degree of control in choosing the circumstances surrounding their death as they do in choosing the manner in which they live” (Economist.com, 1997) I agree with this assertion, everyone should be able to choose their own