Should euthanasia be legalized.
Euthanasia is described as the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or when in an irreversible coma. It is done to relieve the patient from their suffering. The term comes from the Greek word ‘euthantos’, meaning easy death.
In most cases, the person suffering has an incurable condition while it can be different for others. At the person’s request, their life may be ended as per their instructions.However, there are times when the person is too ill to make the decision and It is done by family members, medics or in some cases, the courts. Euthanasia in most countries is illegal and is subject to imprisonment or other harsh consequences for whoever assists another to kill themselves. Even if it is their wish.
Contrary to this, euthanasia is legal in some European countries and there are even agencies to call that can assist with a euthanasia procedure. For example, a man suffering from a disability or prolonged illness may feel their quality of life is poor and prefer to die. They are also people who are devastated by the consequences of an accident, or medical procedure etc. and prefer an ‘easy death’.
For many years. Euthanasia has been at the center of many debates that have caused an ethical, religious and moral uproar at the consent and refusal to perform the act. Ethically, some have argued that its equivalent to helping someone commit suicide, and therefore it is a wrongful act. Morally it weighs on one’s conscience having assisted someone to end their life. From a religious perspective, the only power with the right to end a life is God. Be it in the Hindu, Islam or Christian practice. The argument is that it is not in the power of a human being to do choose whether a human being lives or dies. Even if it is their own life.
The ‘do not resuscitate’ instructions given by patients has been put to the comparison. However, it is not completely similar because the patient has an emergency that may lead to their demise whereby the family and the patients themselves choose whether to continue or die naturally. This may fall under the extraordinary care plan, whereby a patient may die after refusing extraordinary or burdensome medical treatment.
Euthanasia can either be done by taking the necessary actions like administering a lethal painless drug, or by inaction. Failing to keep a feeding tube going or the oxygen machine etc. Giving of medication in order to reduce pain is not considered euthanasia. Many patients do undergo a lot of pain, especially those who have terminal illnesses like cancer and need to be administered for pain medication to numb their pain. Too much of this is an overdose and essentially wrong because an overdose can lead to death. More than that, administering pain medication should be monitored because most of them are highly addictive. Making addicts out of the already suffering patients.
This can be recognized as many patients who leave rehabilitation centers for physical therapy leave addicted to medical drugs. This is because of the pain they feel from associated with past injuries that leads them to take prescribed drugs more often than recommended making them prone to addiction. The people who support euthanasia look at it as a form of mercy killing. Pleading the case for mercy killings, the same way it is done for animals that are sick or badly injured.
Animals are ‘put down’ by their owners and veterinarians when the animals are ill and can no longer live without pain. For example, animals that perform in a circus or participate in animal shows are willingly put down as they are of no use to their owners or the company they perform for. In the same way, they are those who believe it is a mercy killing to implement euthanasia. Due to my spiritual beliefs, I do not believe in administering euthanasia.
