Euthanasia is the Right to Live or Die Euthanasia is unnatural and should be stopped immediately. The opposing side says that it is mercy killing, but it is still killing. There are three important points when discussing this issue: what is euthanasia, the decision, and the doctor who performs this awful task. Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act has opened the door to a private matter that had been handled privately between doctors and patients for years (Siegel). Euthanasia is withholding vital medicine or providing means for the patient to ease him or herself into death. Active euthanasia is when someone else injects lethal doses of drugs into the patient. Passive euthanasia is when someone provides the poison for the patient to kill him or herself. Death is a natural process, and it is a part of life. It is a time to come to terms with our selves, and our last chance to become our best selves. Besides, miracles happen every day, and this may be your big chance! The decision of euthanasia should not have to be made. No one has the right to say whether death should be inflicted on him or herself. That decision is left to someone of much higher power as it has been since the beginning of time. The patient may not be aware enough to make a sane decision. In this case, the decision would be left to the family. How would the family know whether the patient would want to live or die? No one has the right to judge that another person’s life is not worth living, and no one’s life should be taken because someone else thinks his or her quality of life is too low. There would be some cases in which family members would want the parent’s money instead of it being spent for hopeless medical treatment and request that the parent be put out of his or her misery. There have also been some cases in which the doctor performed the inhumane task without any form of consent (Katz). Doctors should also disagree with this practice. Almost 2500 years ago, this idea of “good death” was thought about by Hippocrates and rejected. Hippocrates created an oath that is still taken by physicians now. In this oath, he wrote “I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel” (Katz).
In 1994, Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act. This law states that Oregon residents, who have been diagnosed with a life ending disease and have less than six months to live, may obtain a lethal medicine prescribed by a physician, which would end their life when and where they chose to do so. This law or act requires the collection of data from patients and physicians and publishes it in an annual r...
“On October 27, 1997 Oregon enacted the Death with Dignity Act which allows terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose.” (The Oregon Health Authority, 2010). Physician assisted suicide can be constructed to have reasonable laws which still protect against its abuse and the value of human life. Recent Oregon and U.K. laws show that you can craft reasonable laws that prevent abuse and still protect the value of human life. When one thinks of suicide, we think of a person who takes their own life. But in physician-assisted suicide, this is not the case. “In physician-assisted suicide, the patient self...
In all of history, "there are only three circumstances that have been an acceptable way for taking a life: killing in self-defense or in protection of another life, killing in war, and in the case of capital punishment, killing by agents of the state. This law doesn't allow anywhere in the United States the right for one person to kill another even if the latter requests it to be done" (Callahan. pg. 71). However, Dr. Jack Kevorkian has committed this last type of killing several times. In the Hippocrates Oath, a physician swears not to give poison to anyone, though asked to do so, nor to suggest such a plan (Biema).
The right to assisted suicide is a significant topic that concerns people all over the United States. The debates go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Some are against it because of religious and moral reasons. Others are for it because of their compassion and respect for the dying. Physicians are also divided on the issue. They differ where they place the line that separates relief from dying--and killing. For many the main concern with assisted suicide lies with the competence of the terminally ill. Many terminally ill patients who are in the final stages of their lives have requested doctors to aid them in exercising active euthanasia. It is sad to realize that these people are in great agony and that to them the only hope of bringing that agony to a halt is through assisted suicide.When people see the word euthanasia, they see the meaning of the word in two different lights. Euthanasia for some carries a negative connotation; it is the same as murder. For others, however, euthanasia is the act of putting someone to death painlessly, or allowing a person suffering from an incurable and painful disease or condition to die by withholding extreme medical measures. But after studying both sides of the issue, a compassionate individual must conclude that competent terminal patients should be given the right to assisted suicide in order to end their suffering, reduce the damaging financial effects of hospital care on their families, and preserve the individual right of people to determine their own fate.
Because only the individual or their families can decide what that particular persons quality is they should have the right to choose if euthanasia is an option. For those who suffer from terminal illnesses, euthanasia would be a way to escape from intolerable pain that cannot be alleviated by pain relieving drugs (Minois, 131).
Euthanasia is divided into two separate classifications consisting of passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. Traditionally, “euthanasia is passive when a physician allows her patient to die, by withholding or withdrawing vital treatment from him…euthanasia is active when a patient's death results from his physician's killing the patient, typically by administering lethal medication” (Varelius, 2016). While active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide share many of the same characteristics, they differ in the role for committing the final act, resulting in the death of the patient. A third party, consisting of either a family member or the physician, is responsible for “pulling-the-plug” in active euthanasia. On the other hand, in physician-assisted suicide, it is ultimately up to the patient to commit the final death-inducing act. Varelius suggests that the separation of passive and active euthanasia can be explained by the involvement that the physician partakes in their patients’ death
The Oxford English Dictionary defines euthanasia as “the action of inducing a gentle and easy death” (Oxford English Dictionary). Many people around the world would like nothing more than to end their lives because they are suffering from painful and lethal diseases; suffering people desperately seek doctors to help them end their lives. Many people see euthanasia as murder, so euthanasia is illegal in many countries. Euthanasia is an extremely controversial issue that has many complex factors behind it including medical costs, murder and liberty rights. Should people have the rights to seek euthanasia from doctors who are well trained in dealing with euthanasia?
“If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality” (Socrates ). Death. The means to an end. Game over. Do we as humans have a choice in the matter of choosing life or death, or is that all left up to a higher power? Which is a highly debatable question that has no exact answer. Where should we draw the line in deciding who has that right, the patients, after all it is their life, the family or should it be up to the doctors, the ones who have to partake in ending one’s life? When searching for the solution a person must contemplate their beliefs and the many perspectives of people who could possibility sway his/her choice. In doing so, patients religion, values, and traditions come into play. The main reason behind the argument is , what is suicide? "suicide is death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with any intent to die as a result of the behavior"(CDC). Conversely the option of death should be granted to a patient who is suffering from severe injuries or a situation involving a predicted death, unless otherwise stated in their wishes beforehand.
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 has been a controversial topic in the United States for many years now. Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending ones life, to relive them from any more pain or suffering. Euthanasia can also be known as mercy killing or mercy death. There are many different viewpoints on whether euthanasia is right or wrong. Those who are for euthanasia believes it is a way to relive extreme pain and suffering and it is a right of freedom of choice to do what one wants to their body. Those who are against euthanasia believe euthanasia devalues human life, goes against religion, and it can cause a slippery slope effect. Euthanasia is a topic that is viewed in different ways in the eyes of different people it is either viewed as a persons
As patients come closer to the end of their lives, certain organs stop performing as well as they use to. People are unable to do simple tasks like putting on clothes, going to the restroom without assistance, eat on our own, and sometimes even breathe without the help of a machine. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. “Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations, Medical practioners should be allowed to help patients actively determine the time and circumstances of their death” (Lee). “Arguments for and against assisted suicide (sometimes called the “right to die” debate) are complicated by the fact that they come from very many different points of view: medical issues, ethical issues, legal issues, religious issues, and social issues all play a part in shaping people’s opinions on the subject” (Lee). Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is considered murder, it goes against physicians’ Hippocratic Oath, violates the Controlled
Euthanasia has been an ongoing debate for many years. Everyone has an opinion on why euthanasia should or should not be allowed but, it is as simple as having the choice to die with dignity. If a patient wishes to end his or her life before a disease takes away their quality of life, then the patient should have the option of euthanasia. Although, American society considers euthanasia to be morally wrong euthanasia should be considered respecting a loved one’s wishes. To understand euthanasia, it is important to know the rights humans have at the end of life, that there are acts of passive euthanasia already in practice, and the beneficial aspects.
However, instead of making them comfortable until their death, this one involves a doctor helping a patient to end their life. Physician-assisted suicide is a very controversial topic. Many people think that if physician-assisted suicide were to be legalized in cases where the patients are terminally ill, it could then be opened up to be legalized in other cases as well. This could include mentally ill patients and chronically ill patients. In some states, physician-assisted suicide is already legal, such as in Oregon. Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act allows for doctors to prescribe lethal dosages of medications to their terminal patients. Doctors who are opposed to the act are allowed to refuse to participate. The most important part of this act, to me, is that while the doctor prescribes the lethal medication, they do not administer it to the patients. Even after the patients receive the prescription, they are not obligated to take the medication. As I understand it, those who get the prescription but don’t take the medication do so because they want to feel as if they have a choice. While they may not want to end their lives now, they have the power to if at any point their suffering becomes too much for them. Learning about physician-assisted suicide in this course made me even more comfortable with the idea of legalizing it. If I was terminally ill, I would want as
Euthanasia is the Greek word meaning “good death”. Euthanasia is the act of assisting in ending one’s life, killing a person or an animal in a painless or minimally painful way.
There are so many opinions and thoughts about this particular topic, euthanasia. For those of you who do not know what euthanasia is when a person voluntarily wants to end their lives due to an incurable disease. They decide whether or not it is worth the suffering they have to go through everyday, or they can stick it out until they pass. It is an ongoing debate in the United States, to whether this should be legal or illegal. If it is inhumane or humane. It never stops, people are always going to give their own opinions on this. As many issues on this come from family members, doctors, to nurses. It all determines whether or not their family respects that person’s wishes or not. This can lead to overwhelming stress for that patient, because they are stuck in the middle with, should I do what I want or what they want. If that family doesn’t agree then they are spending valuable time arguing, instead of spending quality time with the patient throughout their days they have left. They all have their own opinions all the way to an medical expert for a family member, on how someone should die, the way they should die, or just the