Euthanasi A Controversial Issue In Today's Society

The matter of euthanasia continues to be a controversial issue in today’s society. Over the past years, there has been a number of arguments that have tried to justify the practice of killing or letting die, otherwise known as euthanasia. Many surveys have been conducted in the past few years and in most of them, people wanted euthanasia to be legalized. However, what many people have overlooked the matter that legalizing any form of euthanasia will go against the sanctity of life and result in no constraints to the explanations of why it is being performed. It seems as if society has become so depraved and shallow that the people honestly feel that they can approve ending the life of a dear person.

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Today, the hospitals are filled with patients who want to die because they suffer from chronic and critical illness. When critically ill patients start to realize that their needs are not being met and their suffering is unbearable, they contemplate death. However, the physician should not agree to heed their choices regarding death but should therapize them and make them realize their worth in this world since it is a physician civil duty is to provide care(The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, 1984). If the doctors start accepting the requests of death, this may lead to a total disregard for human life in future. As Keown said,"life is of such absolute worth, that it is wrong either to shorten the life of a patient or to fail to strive to lengthen it” (Keown, 2002). Life is a gift of God and should be valued as such, whether it be a critically ill patient or a mentally stressed person. Acclaimed German Philosopher, Immanuel Kant, stated it perfectly when he said “always treat people as an end in themselves, never as a means to an end” (Keown,

For example, if a parent has a newborn who has a severe disability, then they can request euthanasia and this is part of the pro-euthanasia argument, that it can be legalized as long as the cause of killing someone is justified but what they fail to understand is the measure of reasons that can be accepted for euthanasia as opinions vary a lot(Lewis, 2007, p. 197). This pro-euthanasia argument proves that even those for euthanasia want certain limitations as they too realize that this issue is morally unacceptable, whether a patient's problems are mental or physical. In my view, when people start to tolerate euthanasia, humanity lowers its discomfort standards and tolerance. Death comes to all people and everyone has to go through a tough experience regarding matters of life and death, but when euthanasia is legalized, people will most likely take a choice that lessens their suffering quickly, most likely "the death". Assisted suicide is another matter which will be dragged into this arguments because if euthanasia is legalized, so will be assisted suicide, where people who want to die will try this method would want to favor euthanasia and try to get lawful restrictions reduced(Lewis, 2007, p.