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Euthanasi AO Reasoning And Analysis

1095 Words5 Pages

Christie Howell
Jennifer Wiesman
AO Reasoning & Analysis
January 31, 2018 Why Euthanasia Should Not Be Made Legal
Euthanasia, which was derived from the Greek word meaning “good death”, is the practice of assisted suicide with the purpose of relieving pain and suffering (Anderson, 2014). Euthanasia is also known as physician-assisted suicide or mercy killing, it has been a controversial debate due to its infringement of a person’s fundamental right to live (Anderson, 2014). Many people approve such a quiet and easy way of death and argue that euthanasia should be legal. But in fact, euthanasia conflicts with many religions and will bring great negative influences in society. People on both sides of the debate care about the people suffering …show more content…

The matter of death constitutes one of the most important things that religions deal with (Religion and Euthanasia, 2014). Almost all religions pay special attention to death and according to most religions human life is sacred and is worth protecting (Religion and Euthanasia, 2014). Practically all religions state those who become vulnerable through illness or disability deserve special care and protection, and that proper end of life is better than euthanasia (Religion and Euthanasia, 2014). All religions are opposed to euthanasia for several reasons, such as, all religions that have a supreme God states “thou shalt not kill”, human lives are special because God created them, and that human beings are made in God’s image (Religion and Euthanasia, 2014). God gave us our lives and we must allow our lives to end at the time and in the way God allows, not any other way (Religion and Euthanasia, 2014). Only god knows when it’s our time to leave this …show more content…

Such as, a family member that is going to inherit a large amount of money or a doctor that makes a mistake and the patient dies, both of these instances allows people to be killed due to either someone else’s decision or someone’s mistakes. For family members, when it comes to financial considerations, it’s possible for them to resort to euthanasia to get rid of the burden of the person sick. Allowing voluntary euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide releases the door for the disabled, sick, and elderly people to see themselves as a financial and/or emotional burden. In Oregon (one state that euthanasia is legal), 49% of those receiving physician-assisted suicide in 2016 mentioned “concern about being a burden” as a reason for choosing this option. According to Dr. Harvey Chochinov, a palliative care researcher, most of the ones that desired to end their lives did so because of the fear of being a burden (Jalsevac, 2007). Alex Schadenberg, the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, stated “The facts that we need to recognize from this study is that of the 379 palliative care patients who were studied, only 22 seriously considered intentionally dying, and of the 22 people, 12 felt that they were a burden to their family or a drain on health care, 4 felt that assisted suicide was a compassionate choice, 3 expressed a need for autonomy, and the others were either

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“The question of whether or not euthanasia is ethical revolves around the meaning of human existence. Those who favor euthanasia argue that human life only has meaning when the individual is free from unendurable physical and mental suffering” (“Preface to ‘Is Euthanasia Ethical?’” 1). Physician-assisted suicide is a practice that was first introduced by Dr.Jack Kevorkian in June of 1990 (“Chronology of Dr.Jack Kevorkian’s Life”, 1), in which a patient is either injected with life-ending drugs or given a carbon monoxide mask to place over their mouth and nose in order to end his or her life (Jackson 3).While this practice may sound harsh and unethical, it is the exact opposite; assisted suicide grants terminally-ill patients the option to end their suffering early and to avoid the loss of meaning to their life (“Preface to ‘Is Euthanasia Ethical?’”, 1). When a person is faced with the possibility of suffering through a dehumanizing and humiliating death, they should always be given the option of legally undergoing physician-assisted suicide; this option benefits both the patient and their family by allowing the patient a chance to end their life in a euphoric state, eliminating the costs of long term care, and to allow a morally acceptable

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