The Case Against Euthanasia

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A recent survey by the Canadian Medical Association discovered that “ . . . 44 per cent of doctors would refuse a request for physician-assisted dying . . . ” (Kirkey 2). Euthanasia is defined as assisting a terminally ill patient with dying early. In many countries the legalization of this practice is being debated in many countries. All doctors against assisted suicide, including the 44 percent in Canada, are on the right side of the argument. Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is unnatural, it violates the Hippocratic Oath, and laws are to extensive.
Protecting life is the ethical view of society today, and legalizing euthanasia offsets that. Religious figures have recently welcomed the idea of getting God back into this debate. Ed Feinstein, senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California states that, “It [prayer] recognizes God as the one who decides ‘Who will live and who will die’” (Wood 3). Assisted suicide is a peculiar process and not the intended way to die. Similarly, the constitution of India argues that euthanasia transgresses the right to life in Article 21:
‘Right to life’ is a natural right embodied in Article 21 but suicide is an unnatural termination or extinction of life and, therefore, incompatible and inconsistent with the concept of ‘right to life’. It is the duty of the State to protect life and the physician’s duty to provide care and not to harm patients. If euthanasia is legalised, then there is a grave apprehension that the State may refuse to invest in health (working towards Right to life). Legalised euthanasia has led to a severe decline in the quality of care for terminally ill patients in Holland. (Math and Chaturvedi 1)
Euthanasia is conflicting with the “right to life” campai...

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Hamilton, Graeme. "Terminally Transsexual." National Post. 23 Nov. 2013: A.4. SIRS Issues
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Ho, Andy. "Letting the Terminally Ill Die With Dignity." Straits Times (Singapore). 25 Mar.
2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Kirkey, Sharon. "Only 20 Percent of Doctors would Perform Euthanasia if.."
Postmedia News (2013): n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 4 May
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Math, Suresh Bada, and Santosh K. Chaturvedi. "Euthanasia: Right to life vs right to die." Indian
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Wood, Daniel B. "When Does Life End? Two Emotional Cases Probe the
Complexities." Christian Science Monitor. 19 Jan. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

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