Euthanasia: Making it Legal, and Is it Mercy or Murder?

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Should euthanasia be legal? Should we consider it mercy or murder? Every day many people are diagnosed with terminal illnesses and some have to suffer a long agony before dying. Euthanasia basically means ending someone's life to stop the person's suffering. Euthanasia can be classified into passive and active. Passive euthanasia is to stop medical treatment with the intention to accelerate the death of a terminally ill patient, while active euthanasia is taking a specific measure, usually a lethal dose of medication, that causes a patient’s death. For many years euthanasia or assisted suicide has been one of the most controversial and emotive topic in our society. There are many people against euthanasia and who think it is inhuman. In addition, in most countries euthanasia is not legal, and a doctor or a nurse could lose their job and even they could face a sentence in prison by this practice. However, it is legal in some countries such as Belgium, The Netherlands or Australia and steps are being taken to legalize euthanasia in some other countries. Patients should be able to control how they live, and more importantly how they die. In some cases, the patient doesn’t wish to spend their last days in a hospital bed. Euthanasia can helps the patient in many positive ways.Therefore, euthanasia or assisted suicide should be legal all over the world. People who oppose euthanasia claim that it is wrong since it devalues human life. They say euthanasia is not different from murder because it involves killing a person. They think that by legalizing euthanasia, society would accept the doctor’s decision to kill terminally ill people. Besides, some doctors might then choose the shortest way out, helping people die instead of helping them recover. Although some of what opponents say makes sense, they don't see euthanasia from the eyes of a patient and they undermine the rights of every person. A terminally ill person wants to end their life in a dignified manner. It would be cruel and inhumane to force a person to stay alive when they want to avoid excruciating pain. Not let people ask for euthanasia goes against freedom. Freedom to decide is a fundamental part of every person and every society. The first reason for allowing euthanasia by law is to end the suffering of those who are terminally ill. Some people go through enormous pain and euthanasia allows them to die with dignity.

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