Value of Life: Euthanasia

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“Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering” (Euthanasia, 2013). Every year, hundreds of people are injured greatly both physical and psychological. Some of these are so heavily hurt that they feel they have nothing left to live for. Their lives are ruined and all they can do is sit, eat and sleep. In some cases it is discussed if euthanasia could be an option. However, it has always been a question how bad an injury is before one can perform euthanasia. Is the value of life bigger than the pain of a victim? In this term paper I will therefore, through facts, researches and personal beliefs, try to answer the question: Who and/or what determines which lives are worthy or not?

Firstly, to show how widespread euthanasia is, we can look at the legality. The law is a very restricted law and it is only legalised in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. However, passive suicide is a passed law (an even more restricted variation of euthanasia) in Switzerland and four US states: Washington, Oregon, Montana and Vermont. This fact does on the other hand not certify that only people from these states are helped to die. In Switzerland the organisation Dignitas reports to have helped 164 British residents (as euthanasia is completely illegal in the UK) over the last 13 years, and that the numbers are increasing each year. (Ertelt, 2012) Nevertheless some people are not completely happy with the situation. They wish for an easier way to get help and want the government to pass the law in their country/state.

Furthermore we can look at what worthy really refers to. It can refer to the concrete value of a human life measured in dollars or pounds or it can vary depending on family and s...

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Ertelt, S. (2012). “Switzerland – assisted suicide deaths up 700% in 11 years”. Localised 11. 11. 2013 on the Internet: http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/29/switzerland-assisted-suicide-deaths-up-700-in-11-years/

Euthanasia (2013). Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia. Localised 11.11.2013 on the Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia

Facts and Statistics on Euthanasia (2013). Religion facts. Localised 28.11.2013 on the Internet: http://www.religionfacts.com/euthanasia/stats.htm#6

Henig, R. M. (2013). “A life or death situation”. Localised 11.11.2013 on the Internet: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/magazine/a-life-or-death-situation.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=euthanasia

Kip Viscusi, W. (2005). The value of life [pdf]. Localised 11.11.2013 on the Internet: http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/olin_center/papers/pdf/Viscusi_517.pdf

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