The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia

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Euthanasia is an extremely controversial topic in today’s society. It is defined as the act or practice of killing someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent undue pain and suffering (Webster Dictionary). There are two main types of euthanasia; voluntary and involuntary. Involuntary is without consent from the patient; while voluntary euthanasia has the patients consent. While euthanasia is illegal in the United States, it is still in practice in many other countries. In this paper I will argue that it is morally wrong for someone to kill a person, even it is on medical terms.
Health professionals should aim to improve health and suffering, not kill because providing care becomes overbearing. Many people go into the medical profession in order to help people and improve their daily living. If doctors and nurses are enabling people to terminate their lives simply because they are suffering, it means that these professionals aren’t doing their job correctly. Health professionals are taught to have hope and to be optimistic about the future: allowing people to mentally and physically give up would go against everything that they are trained believe in. With technology in today’s society, there are many drugs and different pain relieving methods to limit the amount of suffering to a minimum.
The Hippocratic Greek Oath of Greek medicine claims, “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. (PBS)” This code dates back to 5th century BC when medicine was being practiced. This clearly states that doctor’s or people that practice medicine will never kill someone on purpose or even suggest ending their lives. Doctors become hypocrites when they participate in pr...

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...day’s society and will continue to be for centuries. This brings together both moral and ethical issues that everyone has different perspectives that are instilled at young ages. In this paper I have argued that: Health professionals should aim to improve health and suffering and not kill because it becomes overbearing, If hospitals had good palliative care then euthanasia wouldn’t be necessary, A patient who is in the process of dying isn’t in the right state of mind to make a decision such as ending their life, If euthanasia becomes legal, it doesn’t allow research to find cures for chronic illnesses, Euthanasia gives too much power to the doctors, Euthanasia destroys societal respect for life, and Giving the doctors this much power essentially leads to a variation of murder. Therefore, it is morally wrong for someone to kill a person; even it is on medical terms.

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