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When we hear the word euthanasia, most of us automatically associate it with the act of murder-suicide. We also immediately refer to the so-called Dr. Kevorkian who has personally assisted suicides. Euthanasia may not be our natural way to die, but who determines what that is?
One would think that the only person, who could decide if euthanasia is the right or wrong way to die, would be the person directly affected by it. It varies from country to country whether euthanasia is accepted. In the United States the government has chosen euthanasia to be illegal and as a result, if someone were to attempt to end their lives and did not succeed he or she would have to pay the consequences in jail. Unfortunately, there are many circumstances in which people suffering from a terminal illness and / or are undergoing an unbearable amount of pain that may want to seek euthanasia are not given that choice. Euthanasia that is commonly called mercy killing occurs when incurably ill people ask their physician, or maybe even a friend or a relative to put them to death. There are two types of euthanasia to consider Active euthanasia and passive euthanasia. "The distinction between active and passive euthanasia is thought to be crucial for medical ethics.
The idea is that it is permissible, at least in some cases, to withhold treatment and allow a patient to die, but it is never permissible to take any direct action designed to kill the patient. " (Rachel's, 1975, p. 560) Active euthanasia, which is most commonly committed by administering a lethal injection, is illegal in the United States, Canada, and almost all other countries. Most religious groups consider it to be suicide or murder and, therefore, immoral. Some supporters of euthanasia claim that it allows a person to die with dignity instead of being kept barely alive by machines. Passive euthanasia is the withholding of most types of medical treatment.
This method allows the patient to die naturally and it usually legal. Regardless, the type of euthanasia preferred the problem becomes more intense after considering that there is another party involved in the process. Whether the person is assisting by administering a lethal injection or by simply withholding medical intervention, their participation makes them guilty of murder. It may seem that they are only helping the patient by fulfilling their request to die and not realize that they are consequently murdering the patient during the course. Actually killing and letting someone die makes that person equally guilty in a moral sense.
In some cases there are people who purposely do not intervene and prevent the patient from dying for personal gain. Anyway one chooses to analyze these sort of situations they frankly just do not seem appropriate. Such predicaments are what make the issue of euthanasia undoubtedly controversial. Euthanasia is subject to controversy because it has no restrictions regarding the people who will embrace it as a form of death.
Euthanasia is most commonly associated with elderly people. However, a broad range in age groups can seek euthanasia. Within the definition of euthanasia according to volume 6 of World Book Encyclopedia it states that the practice is intended for people who are suffering from " an incurable, painful, or distressing diseases or handicaps. " (Abernethy, 1988, p. 430) There exist cases where people have the opportunity to live long healthy lives but due to improper medical care they look into death as their last resort. It is matters such as those that cause euthanasia to be frequently misused. Most importantly people who do not have an incurable disease and are only looking for an easy way out of the difficulty life can bring often abuse it. Not only do people need procure proper medical attention, but also need to request the opinions of different doctors to determine what their actual state of being is.
This makes the intent of euthanasia to be better understood and then maybe solicited by people who are suffering from a terminal illness. Euthanasia is meant "to do away with the suffering of the sick, to lessen the violence of disease and to refuse to treat those who are over estimated by their disease. " (Street, 2001, p. 388) There are existing many illnesses, which can be extremely painful that remains present until the end. Most recently euthanasia has become more desirable for patients suffering from AIDS. "An estimated third of people living with AIDS in the developed world have considered asking for assistance to hasten death, which is ten times the rate among several negative controls. " (Lavery, 2001, p. 362) In the Netherlands it has been reported that nearly 25 % of the patients suffering from AIDS have died through euthanasia before their diseases kills them. The reason why people chose to die through euthanasia is because it makes them feel as though they defeated the disease rather than the disease killing them. Other patients are not able to make the decision. There are several patients who maintain alive through means of artificial machines that would otherwise be dead.
When a person is already more dead than alive the circumstances of euthanasia become very debatable. One should not be capable of making the decision whether that person should remain on Life support. If the patient is given 80 % chance of dying that still leaves a 20 % chance of recovering. That 20 % shows us that that person is still alive.
Maintaining someone alive through life support has it consequences when it is time to make the crucial decision whether to pull the plug. " The alternative would be either to continue respiratory support indefinitely or to stop the paralyzing drugs first and wait for any effects to wear off completely before withdrawing ventilation. " (Street, 2001, p. 388) The problem is that while the decision is being debated the delay is actually killing the patient. With no doubt we can agree that it was being done with good intention, as a result good things can backfire sometimes. " The ability to treat diseases and sustain life by artificial means is continually advancing, but at the same there is a need to acknowledge when limited have been reached in a patient and continued treatment is no longer in his of her best interests. ' (Street, 2001, p. 388) Therefore, maybe trying to hold on to someone is not our best option. At the end euthanasia can be the right answer for many terminally ill people. Regardless there is never a sure way of knowing what the right thing is. "Providing mere freedom from pain and discomfort and letting nature take its course to a natural death, and actively intervening specifically to end life itself might be the way. " (Kal, 2001, p. 1742) It seems that most people who are ill and close to death really only want one thing, eternal peace. Alike, "Diane Pretty, who is 42, has had a motor neuron disease since 1999 and cannot do virtually nothing for herself.
She wants to die with dignity at home with her family around her at a time when she chooses, but she is physically unable to take her own life. " (Kmietowicz, 2001, p. 416) References Kmietowicz, Z. (2001). Right to Die.
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Research essay sample on People Who Are Suffering Die With Dignity
