Human Euthanasia and Emotions

In this book, a collection of ten stories about the medicine drama in real life are presented. The stories are filled with extremely agonizing decisions that patients and their family members confront. In contrast to the wooden and rigid cases found in text-book scenarios representing the literature of medical ethics, the individuals who are involved in these crucial moments of ethically charged decisions come to life. The characters and the settings they encounter are enriched and vivid. These compelling stories bring up ethical issues that range from parents faced with donating the organs of their daughter, who had traumatic brain damage; to a young woman's decision to refuse her last therapy (Munson, 2009).

Probably the most intriguing story I found was about euthanasia. The story was about a man with throat cancer. He suffered the disease and the treatment so badly that he decided to ask his family and friends not to keep him alive since his quality of life was beyond being acceptable. With the progress of the story, he finally had the last surgery which removed most of his tongue and both upper and lower parts of his jaw. It was then imaginable that with the lost of almost half of his face, his life would not last long without the life support. He was dying anyway of cancer, so his wife had no choice but stepped up to help him fulfill his wishes. She persuaded the doctor and made him hasten the death of her husband (Munson, 2009). Such action is actually highly controversial since whether to make euthanasia legal is often debated. While I think it is necessary to perform euthanasia in certain cases, the opinions of the people who argue against are still worth considering and should never be ignored.

Medical technology t...

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...e from a patient and unburdening the family from mental and emotional strain of having a fatal condition is nothing but ethical (Munson, 2009). On the other hand, in order to properly apply euthanasia without abuse, it is our society's job to ask what the cost of life and death is: physically, emotionally, and financially. One person or group should never determine how, when, and if another person should die. Ending a people's life just because someone consider that person's life provides little value to others is not ethical and never will be. Complete and circumspect rules and regulations about euthanasia should follow.

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References

Economist.com. (1997). Last rights: Pros and cons of physician-assisted suicide. Economist.com. Retrieved from http://swtuopproxy.museglobal.com/

Munson, R. (2009) The Woman Who Decided To Die. Oxford University Press.