WHY SHOULD EUTHANASIA BE LEGALIZED?
It is apparent that euthanasia should be permitted everywhere for the following reasons: individual liberty; one's undesired pain, suffering, and misery; and the individual's frustration from having a valueless life. First of all, one should be able to understand the term euthanasia. "In ancient Greece, eu thanatos meant 'easy death.' Today's euthanasia generally refers to mercy killing, the voluntary ending of the life of someone who is terminally or hopelessly ill" (Euthanasia 1). Knowing that, it is seemingly appropriate to say that one has the right to die an easy death if, and only if, he is terminally ill. Otherwise, different situations should not play any part in this issue. To understand more about the pro-euthanasia side of this issue, it is best conceived through the viewpoints, strong beliefs, and perspectives of proponents of euthanasia. An individual has liberty, which includes the right of owning his life. He is the possessor of his life. Just as he can do whatever he wishes with his possessions, such as selling his new house, he can also wish to discontinue his life if the reasons were rational. In a typical situation, a person has some terrible, deadly disease. He is trapped in a hospital be
d, with all sorts of medical equipment connected to him, unable to move or do much of anything except exist. He is in terrible pain; he begs to have these machines disconnected so he can go home and live out whatever life he has left and die in peace. He does not want to endure the pain, but instead, to assuage it. However, the doctors refuse because to turn off the machines would surely result in his death, and they have a presumed bias against doing this. If a person decides that he wants to die, and someone does not think that this is a good decision, what right does the opposing person have to tell him that he cannot do this? "It is clear that a patient's decision to ask for a cessation in treatment, reflecting his own preference for death rather than for a continuation of discomfort or suffering, must be respected, barring exceptional circumstances" (Behnke 17). Therefore, that individual's decision should be carried out because he has that right to his own personal decision, which is only one of many reasons why euthanasia should be legalized. Mabie, Margot C.J. Bioethics and the New Medical Technology. New York: Atheneum, 1992. Behnke, John A., Sissela Bok. The Dilemmas of Euthanasia. Garden City: Anchor Press/ Doubleday, 1973. Like any other issue, there are opposing viewpoints regarding the legalization of euthanasia. Pro-lifers, people who are against euthanasia, place the emphasis on killing. They believe that "we are merely stewards of our lives; it is for God to decide when our lives are to end. Further, suffering, is an inevitable part of life; our task is to understand and grow from suffering, not evade it" (Mabie 65). Pro-euthanasia people, who place the emphasis on mercy, argue that "stewardship has not prevented the religious from exercising control in other areas of their lives-for example, in using analgesics for surgery and childbirth. If it is for God to decide when life will end, if suffering is ennobling, then the very practice of medicine is and always has been wrong. Further, they hold that theological arguments against euthanasia pertain only to the religious; the constitutional separation of church and state requ
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Approximate Word count = 1472
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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