Euthanasia is a highly controversial issue that entangle concerns over religious, moral, ethical and compassionate arguments. It is extremely ambiguous to draw a straight line of what is right or wrong because right to life or die is considered differently according to countries and states. There are some people who are terminally ill whether young or old, those who wish to end their lives because they suffer from unbearable pain or believe they are a burden on their family and friends. They ask for euthanasia but there are also others who condemn them that the act of euthanasia is a violation of a basic human right, a ‘right to life’.
DEFINITION OF EUTHANASIA AND ITS TYPES
Euthanasia can be defined as the practice of ending a life in a painless
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The ethical argument claims that every one of us should be able to have autonomy over how we want to die and that we should be able to do so with dignity. The important concept with it is the ‘quality of life’ aspect. The religious argument against euthanasia in terms of life being sacred is rejected. Ethical argument suggests that life should continue as long as the person considers it valuable and feels that their life is worth living. For example, a person advocating euthanasia with ethical argument would say that patients suffering from intolerable pain or feel that their quality of life is diminishing should have the right to decide whether they want to end their life or not. Pragmatic argument claims that many of the practices exercised at the end of life care are a type of euthanasia in all but name. For example there is a practice of making a ‘do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ or ‘DNACPR’ order. This is where a person requests not to receive treatment anymore if their heart stops beating. Many critics argue that this is one form of passive euthanasia. Moreover another controversial practice is called as palliative sedation. This is an exercise where a patient is put to sleep using sedative medication when it is determined that he/she is suffering from extreme pain with no effective treatment. Although this procedure in itself does not always lead to death, it does help speed it up therefore it could also be argued that this is another form of active euthanasia. Pragmatic argument in overall states that euthanasia is already being performed anyway hence the society might as well legalize it to ensure that it is at least properly regulated. However it is important to keep in mind that pragmatic arguments and its interpretations are highly controversial and are not accepted by most of the