Arguments Against Euthanasia In The United States

Imagine if one day, you are unable to do simple tasks such as putting on clothes, going to the restroom, eating, or even breathing on your own. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like what an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is euthanasia. Euthanasia is the practice of medically ending a person’s life when he/she has become hopelessly sick/injured without any chance of recovery. As a law, voluntary euthanasia is accepted in some countries, including some states (including Washington) in the United States. Some people believe that this is morally wrong and that this infringes a

However, research proves that this is not true. In fact, many arguments opposing euthanasia are based on the idea that patients’ lives should be preserved because of the possibility of their recovery. Statistics however, show something different. A Dutch survey conducted in 1991 showed that 86% of euthanasia cases only shortened their life by a maximum of 1 week. The standard time it shortened their life was by a few hours only, according to surveys of Dutch doctors and their cases with their terminally ill patients. This clearly shows that terminal illness is statistically terminal. If you add in the fact that in the majority of these cases, the patients were in extreme agony, this shows that terminally ill patients are using euthanasia to end the suffering where they would have had near impossible chances of recovery. This is not the same as the idea made by anti-euthanasia supporters, where the patients may have a chance to survive and make a miraculous recovery. It is because the numbers are so heavily indicative of euthanasia as an out for terminally ill patients in terrible agony that it must be allowed as an option to end their